Space News & Blog Articles

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ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass  mission has been designed to shed new light on the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle. It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the radar signal can slice through the forest canopy and whole forest layer to measure the ‘biomass’, meaning the woody trunks, branches and stems, which is where trees store most of their carbon.

A new wave of ocean scientists has embarked on an extraordinary six-week voyage aboard a majestic tall ship that set sail today from Norway bound for southern France. But this is no ordinary journey.

The European Space Agency has joined the world space community in congratulating the African Space Agency on its official inauguration. The African Space Agency (AfSA) is the second regional space agency after ESA and has been in development since 2015, with the African Union Commission adopting an African space policy and strategy in 2016.

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Image: This very high-resolution image captures the Egyptian city of Giza and its surrounding area, including the world-famous Giza Pyramid Complex.

Satellite observations show that sea-surface temperatures over the past four decades have been getting warmer at an accelerated pace.

Registrations are now open for the European Space Agency’s Living Planet Symposium (LPS) – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world. The event will take place on 23–27 June 2025 in Vienna, Austria.

Each year, cutting-edge technologies developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its complex missions and scientific discoveries find new life in applications used to benefit Earth and improve our daily lives.

Image: Sombrero Galaxy

With the launch of ESA’s Biomass satellite scheduled for 29 April, preparations at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, have reached a key milestone. The satellite has now been sealed inside the protective fairing of the Vega-C rocket – now hidden from view, the satellite is almost ready for its journey into space.

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On 12 March 2025, ESA’s Hera spacecraft soared just 5000 km above Mars and passed within 300 km of its distant moon, Deimos. Captured by Hera’s 1020x1020 pixel Asteroid Framing Camera, this video sequence offers a rare view of the red planet and its enigmatic moon. The original greyscale images have been colour-enhanced based on known surface features.

Image: Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 (MIRI image)

Week in images: 07-11 April 2025

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Meet Aleš Svoboda— A skilled pilot with over 1500 flight hours, Aleš holds a PhD in aircraft and rocket technology and has commanded Quick Reaction Alerts. From flying high to training underwater, he’s always ready to take on new challenges—now including astronaut reserve training with ESA.

The European Space Agency's XMM-Newton is playing a crucial role in investigating the longest and most energetic bursts of X-rays seen from a newly awakened black hole. Watching this strange behaviour unfold in real time offers a unique opportunity to learn more about these powerful events and the mysterious behaviour of massive black holes.

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows part of one of the world’s natural wonders – the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea off the east coast of Queensland, Australia.

Marking a major milestone in the preparation of ESA’s Biomass satellite for its scheduled 29 April liftoff, experts have completed the critical and hazardous process of fuelling the satellite.

Image: New ESA invention tested in a chamber of no echoes

This new snapshot from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express deftly captures the two distinct faces of Mars: ridged and rugged versus smooth and unmarked.

The first of the new generation of MetOp satellites, MetOp-SG Satellite-A, together with the instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission, are now ready to be shipped to their launch site. But before the last leg of their terrestrial journey, they were on display to the media at Airbus’s facilities in Toulouse, France.