ESA and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, with the BBK Foundation, are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Spanish arts centre with a performance of Chasmata, a journey to Mars through contemporary art, music and architecture. Monday’s concert can be seen online starting at 18:30 GMT (20:30 CEST).

Our week through the lens: 2-6 October 2017

For nearly 70 million years, the Moon had an atmosphere formed by volcanic gas.

Join us Friday, 6 October, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme

Operations image of the week: A meteoroid burns up in the atmosphere as seen over Ermelo, the Netherlands

Dunes are prominent indicators of prevailing winds, as can be seen on this crater floor on Mars, imaged by ESA’s Mars Express on 16 May.

One of the most mysterious stellar objects may be revealing some of its secrets at last.

Evidence is growing for the existence of Planet 9 — a world perhaps 10 times the mass of Earth and 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune.

NASA’s longest-lived mission to Mars has gained its first look at the Martian moon Phobos, pursuing a deeper understanding by examining it in infrared wavelengths.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Is it a bird? Is it a Space Station? It is both …

As preparations for the launch of Sentinel-5P continue on track, the team at Russia’s Plesetsk site has bid farewell to the satellite as it was sealed from view in the Rockot fairing. Liftoff is set for 13 October at 09:27 GMT (11:27 CEST).

Technology image of the week: ESA’s cavernous Hertz test chamber will be on show to the public during Sunday’s Open Day in the Netherlands

A NASA mission is sponsoring undergraduate research to test space-based manufacturing.

Three American physicists have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contribution to detecting gravitational waves.

Celebrating 60 years of the Space Age

InSight, NASA’s next Mars mission, will include two microchips bearing names from the public.

The first direct observations of gravitational waves have earned the Nobel Prize in Physics for three key players in the LIGO collaboration.

A space-based study finds underground water reserves in California’s Silicon Valley rebounded quickly from the recent drought in response to conservation measures.

Sixty years ago, the first ‘beep-beep’ signal from Sputnik was heard from the heavens on the night of 4 October 1957, marking the beginning of a new era for humankind.

From the barren Sahara to lush jungles, the first high-resolution map classifying land cover types on the entire African continent has been released. The map was created using some 180 000 images from Sentinel-2A

After nearly two years in limbo, the long-delayed Thirty Meter Telescope receives fresh construction permit.

Operations image of the week: ESA’s deep-space dish in Australia sports a haunting green glow

Europe’s next two Galileo navigation satellites have touched down in Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana ahead of the launch of a quartet by Ariane 5 at the end of this year.

Venus, Mars, Mercury and the Moon rising as lightning strikes Earth in this video timelapse from ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli

Researchers have reconstructed a previously unseen image of Comet 67P taken by Rosetta.

Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, Intelsat-37e and BSAT-4a, into their planned orbits.

An unexpectedly strong blast from the Sun hit Mars this month, observed by NASA missions in orbit and on the surface.

Our week through the lens: 25-29 September 2017

Relive European Researchers’ Night at ESA’s Earth Observation Centre, ESRIN, 29 September

Cassini may be done, but our solar system still calls us to explore.

Get ready to study some pictures like a true detective.

Tempus Pro, a portable vital-signs monitor offering telemedicine via satellite, is helping medics at ESA astronaut landings. Thomas Pesquet was the first to benefit at the end of his mission in May.

Earth observation image of the week: the jagged islands along the west coast of Greenland in a Sentinel-2 false-colour image, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme

Reanalysis of data from a NASA orbiter suggests significant hydration near the Martian equator, a mysterious finding because scientists figure water-ice shouldn’t be there.

A NASA-produced map showing areas of eastern Puerto Rico that were likely damaged by Hurricane Maria has been provided to responding agencies.

NASA is testing cutting-edge propulsion for upcoming asteroid mission.

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli speaks at New Scientist Live from the International Space Station, Friday 29 September starting 12:40 GMT (14:40 CEST)

Scientists analysing the final telemetry sent by Rosetta immediately before it shut down on the surface of the comet last year have reconstructed one last image of its touchdown site.

Join us Friday, 29 September, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme

Operations image of the week: In future, engineers will command satellites and rovers with the wave of a hand, and astronauts will train on Earth to extinguish a fire in a Moon habitat

Researchers using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) have mapped a planetary nebula for the first time ever.

Ten years ago, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft set sail for the two most massive bodies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter: giant asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.

Cubesat experts are helping to map out icy, underwater caves.

Last year, physicists made history by observing the first-ever gravitational wave. Their discovery confirmed Albert Einstein’s century-old theory of gravity and capped decades of effort to build an instrument sensitive enough to catch these rippl…

Technology image of the week: A new full-size model of ESA’s ice satellite arrives at the Space Expo visitor centre in the Netherlands

Representatives from the Netherlands Space Office and Airbus Defence and Space join the programme to discuss Sentinel-5P’s unique Tropomi instrument and building the satellite to carry it

A long radar boom that will probe below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moons has been tested on Earth with the help of a helicopter.

The teams that will fly Sentinel-5P are training intensively for launch, ensuring that everyone knows their job and can react to any emergency.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Australia’s Adelaide, host city of this year’s International Astronautical Congress, seen from space

Here’s the future humanity has in store for our ringed world.

A start-up company from ESA’s business incubator in Bavaria has developed a training app to help runners to exercise in a healthy way, and to reduce injuries from over-training.

Engineers have been at Russia’s Plesetsk launch site for a month now, ticking off the jobs on the ‘to do’ list so that the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite is fit and ready for liftoff on 13 October. With the satellite now fuelled, the team has passed another milestone.

After nearly 50 years, researchers show the highest-energy cosmic rays have extragalactic origins.

Highlighting Rosetta’s ever-changing view of the comet, a year since the mission concluded

Origami has taken on new shape at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Disaster relief workers in Mexico City who are responding to a 7.1-magnitude earthquake used a suitcase-sized radar instrument than can detect human heartbeats under rubble.

Our week through the lens: 18-22 September 2017

Our Moon is a graveyard of satellite crash sites, including the demise of SMART-1.

A new NASA-produced map of areas likely damaged by the Sept. 19 magnitude 7.1 Raboso earthquake near Mexico City may help responders and groups supporting response efforts.

This week will see the second ESA bedrest study investigating a mix of antioxidants and vitamins that could help astronauts to combat the side effects of living in space.

Ten volunteers will lie in beds with the head end tilted down 6º for 60 days, keeping at least one shoulder on their bed at all times. Intense bedrest such is this is no fun: muscles and bones waste away, and the tilted beds makes blood and fluids move to the head – similar to the changes astronauts endure in space.

As all animals on Earth, humans have evolved to live in gravity so finding ways to stay healthy in weightlessness is important for further exploration of our Solar System. To test new exercise regimes, diets and understand what happens to astronauts, ESA conducts regular bedrest studies that simulate the effects of weightlessness on the human body.

Join us Friday, 22 September, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme

Operations image of the week: The webcam on Mars Express spots the craters where rovers have roved

The sky could be filled with brief blasts of energy that will help reveal the universe in greater detail.

Until a few days ago, the huge chunk of ice that broke off Antarctica’s ice shelf in July has remained close, buffeting back and forth against the shelf. A68 is now on the move and drifting out to sea

In the first act of lunar exploration, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were major characters. In setting its sights on the Moon, ESA hopes to bring many more actors to this off-world stage.  

Technology image of the week: Proba-V captures the world’s largest salt plain, so flat that it is used to check satellite instruments

The SAGA Survey is studying Milky Way siblings to find out.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Searching for clues in planetary geology

The flow speeds of Antarctica’s fastest-accelerating glaciers in 2008-2014 likely increased because of warm water blown into their bay by La Niña and another climate pattern.

Pepijn Veefkind from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute joins the Earth from Space video programme to discuss Sentinel-5P’s Tropomi instrument

These whirlwinds can affect climate at home and on the Red Planet.

The Sun’s recent activity has caught the interest of scientists and space weather forecasters worldwide, highlighting the need to keep a watchful eye on our star and its awesome power.

Thousands of new jobs and boosted local economies are the direct results from ESA’s investment in young companies through its business incubators, which have now fostered more than 500 start-ups that adapt space technology and satellite services for use on Earth.

An app that uses satellite imagery to give flight travellers an interactive, bird’s-eye view of their routes took the top prize at this year’s Space App Camp at ESA’s centre in Frascati, Italy.

Are you passionate about our planet and interested in how satellites help to improve everyday lives and do you share your passion via social media? Then ESA’s next SocialSpace event is for you.

Video: highlights of a month in space on Paolo Nespoli’s third mission

Space Science Image of the Week: Share your favourite memory of the Herschel space observatory as we celebrate the legacy of this extraordinary mission

Leaving Earth means learning how to produce necessities like food, water, and oxygen.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.

Our week through the lens: 11-15 September 2017

Follow the presentation of projects from this year’s Space App Camp via live webstream at 08:30–13:00 CEST on 18 September

Cassini’s last look around Saturn’s neighbourhood before concluding its 13-year journey of discovery

The international Cassini mission has concluded its remarkable exploration of the Saturnian system in spectacular style, by plunging into the gas planet’s atmosphere.

Four of the latest set of Galileo navigation satellites will be launched on Ariane 6 rockets – ESA’s first contract to use Europe’s new vehicle.

A chapter in the exploration of the outer solar system ends. Hopefully, it will someday resume.

In the 1960s, photographs of Earth taken by the first astronauts captured the imaginations of people across the world. The pictures not only became icons for space exploration, but also the fragility of our planet. But astronauts were not …

Earth observation image of the week: the southeastern coast of the Italian island of Sicily, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme

With one of its twin satellites almost out of fuel after 15 years measuring Earth’s gravity field, the U.S./German GRACE mission is making plans for a final science collection.

With one of its twin satellites almost out of fuel after 15 years measuring Earth’s gravity field, the U.S./German GRACE mission is making plans for a final science collection.

Operations image of the week: ESA mission control in 2005 as data arrive from the Huygens Titan lander, relayed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft

Whether you are on a diet or just want to be healthier, you might be one of those millions of people around the planet who use a mobile app to track everything you eat. The trend has arrived in space: European astronauts are now logging th…

Join us Friday, 15 September, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme

Counting down the final moments of Saturn’s epic spacecraft.

With liftoff set for 13 October, engineers at Russia’s Plesetsk launch site are steaming ahead with the task of getting Europe’s next Copernicus satellite ready for its journey into orbit.

An impactor smashing into an ice-rich surface gave rise to the complex flow features around this ancient crater on Mars.

Before and after the wildfires in Portugal with Sentinel-3A

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet’s atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 15.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is on final approach to Saturn, following confirmation by navigators that it is on course to dive into the planet’s atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 15.

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has begun the steep ascent of an iron-oxide-bearing ridge that’s grabbed scientists’ attention since before the car-sized rover’s 2012 landing.