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Technology image of the week: Europe’s Galileo satnav system at work on smartphones

The first gravitational wave observed from a neutron star merger offers the potential for a whole raft of new discoveries. Among them is a more precise measurement of the Hubble constant, which captures how fast our universe is expanding.
Ever since th…

Titan experiences torrential downpours of methane rain, which help shape the surface of the alien world.

Delivering breast cancer screening results in a day instead of today’s standard two weeks is being proposed by an ESA incubator start-up company using paperless technology and online image transfers. Screening vans are already on the stree…

What better way to show your love of science than entering a hackathon? Organised by the Merck science and technology company, alongside ESA, the Space2Health hackathon recently attracted a set of talented individuals who crunched numbers …

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Underground excavation

Firefighters are battling to keep the 30-acre blaze from reaching the observatory’s historic equipment.

Before “he went to Jared,” two neutron stars collided.
That’s what scientists learned from studying the debris fallout after a cosmic explosion called a kilonova — 1,000 times brighter than a standard nova — which appeared…

Sentinel-3A took Ophelia’s temperature as the storm moved towards the British Isles

An unprecedented catalogue of more than 21 000 images taken by a webcam on ESA’s Mars Express is proving its worth as a science instrument, providing a global survey of unusual high-altitude cloud features on the Red Planet.

Europe’s first all-electric telecom satellite has reached its final working orbit above the Pacific Ocean. Eutelsat-172B, built for Eutelsat by Airbus, carries new technologies developed through ESA-led projects, including fully articulate…

New insights from the Saturn spacecraft’s exploration are being presented this week at the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Science meeting.

For the first time, NASA scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event.

ESA’s Integral satellite recently played a crucial role in discovering the flash of gamma rays linked to the gravitational waves released by the collision of two neutron stars.

When disaster strikes, a group of international space agencies pools its resources and expertise to support relief efforts on the ground. For the next six months, ESA will be leading the International Charter Space and Major Disasters as i…

Launched last week, Europe’s Sentinel-5P satellite – the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring the air we breathe – is in excellent health.

New LIGO discovery is an astronomer’s dream come true.

For hundreds of millions of years, two city-sized stars in a galaxy not-so-far away circled each other in a fatal dance. Their dimensions were diminutive, but each outweighed our sun.
They were neutron stars — the collapsed cores left behind afte…

Space Science Image of the Week: A cloudy day over volcanic Mars, captured by the ExoMars orbiter

NASA is seeking information from U.S. parties interested in operating the Spitzer Space Telescope with non-NASA funding after March 2019, when NASA financial support ends.

Our week through the lens: 9-13 October 2017

From ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands, watch the replay of the event to celebrate the launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere

The first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere, Sentinel‑5P, has been launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Gravitational waves let us see the invisible universe in new ways.

There’s no shortage of ideas. Here are a few of the scenarios explored.

Watch the replay of the Sentinel-5P launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia

The first full-scale model of the rocket motor that will propel Ariane 6 and Vega-C into orbit has been cast and filled with inert propellant for testing at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Earth observation image of the week: Northeastern Russia and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, from where the Sentinel-5P satellite is set for launch today

OCO-2 data are revealing subtle ways that carbon links everything on Earth, as demonstrated by a diverse special collection of research papers in the journal Science.

A new NASA study provides space-based evidence Earth’s tropical regions were the cause of the largest annual increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide in at least 2,000 years.

The Sentinel-3 satellite captured Hurricane Ophelia as it gains strength over the Atlantic Ocean

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano has been on Earth since his mission to the International Space Station in 2013, but “Lucaparmitano” is now back in space thanks to an Italian astronomer.

Astronomers have nearly doubled the previous record for a distance measurement within our galaxy, paving the way for a full galactic map.

The Kuiper Belt object Haumea has been hiding something from us.

Operations image of the week: ESA’s antenna in Sweden will be the first to catch signals from Sentinel-5P in space tomorrow

Tackling future challenges. Watch the Global Space Economic Workshop in Paris 13 October, streaming live from 09:00 CEST

Shorter tease: Analysis of science data from the spacecraft’s final plunge is ongoing, but Cassini engineers already have a clear understanding of how the spacecraft behaved during its dive.

A study finds that giant exoplanets that orbit far from their stars are more likely to be found around young stars that have a disk of dust and debris than those without disks.

Sentinel-3 captured smoke from a recent outbreak of wildfires in the US state of California as they spread to the Pacific coast

These new stars aren’t new at all —but they still have a story to tell.

Technology image of the week: A young visitor explores ESA’s satellite test centre during Open Day

Follow the Sentinel-5P launch live from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on 13 October. Streaming begins at 09:00 GMT (11:00 CEST), with liftoff scheduled at 09:27 GMT (11:27 CEST)

Live from ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands, follow the event leading up to the launch of Sentinel-5P. Streaming begins at 08:30 GMT (10:30 CEST)

We are all aware that Antarctica’s ice shelves are thinning, but recently scientists have also discovered huge canyons cutting through the underbelly of these shelves, potentially making them even more fragile. Thanks to the CryoSat and Se…

A small space rock is being used by asteroid trackers around the world to test an international warning network.

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) Thursday, Oct. 12, to discuss new research to be published this week on changing global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The Concordia research station in Antarctica is a place of extremes: for nine months no supplies can be delivered, the nearest living beings are 600 km away at the Russian Vostok station, and the Sun does not rise above the horizon for fou…

The  Rêves de Gosse association, together with ESA and Novespace, helped to provide children with disabilities the opportunity to experience weightlessness and lunar gravity on aircraft flights.

Mission controllers completed a critical final rehearsal today, confirming that everything and everyone on ground are ready to take over control of Sentinel-5P in the harsh environment of space.

Small explosions called “nanoflares” may explain why parts of the Sun’s corona can reach tens of millions of degrees.

Human Spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Spacewalking astronauts

With four days to liftoff, the next Sentinel satellite is now on the launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Why do galaxies stop making stars?

Space Science Image of the Week: This colourful patchwork maps geological features on Mercury, destination for our upcoming BepiColombo mission

The discovery of evidence for ancient sea-floor hydrothermal deposits on Mars identifies an area on the planet that may offer clues about the origin of life on Earth.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Celebrating 60 years of the Space Age

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

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

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

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