ESO Top News

Video: 00:22:19

Step inside astronaut training with ESA astronaut Pablo Álvarez Fernández as he shares his training journey from Cologne in Germany to Houston in the US. Discover what it’s like to wear a 145 kg spacesuit underwater, train for emergencies like fires and ammonia leaks and prepare for the ultimate astronaut dream: a spacewalk. Plus, Pablo talks about life in Houston, teamwork under pressure and what’s next on his path to the stars. 

This interview was recorded in December 2024. 

You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms. 

Keep exploring with ESA Explores!

Image: Following International Mountain Day, which creates awareness of the importance of mountain environments around the world, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Pariacaca Mountain Range in Peru.

Video: 00:12:24

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is on an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter. It left Earth in April 2023 and is due to arrive at the gas giant in 2031. 

2025 has been another big year for Juice. It made its closest approach to the Sun and flew close by Venus for a gravity boost to help it on its way. This second episode of ‘The journey of Juice’ takes us on a journey of our own, discovering what Juice – and the humans behind it – have experienced this year. 

In a clean room at ESA’s technical centre, thermal engineer Romain Peyrou-Lauge shows us the technologies that protect Juice from the intense heat of the Sun during this period. 

In Uppsala, Sweden, scientists get together for a ‘science working team’ meeting to discuss the scientific aspects of the mission. Juice Project Scientist Olivier Witasse talks about how important it is to continue working as a team to prepare for Juice’s precious time spent collecting data at Jupiter. 

The video culminates with operations engineer Marc Costa taking us to the Cebreros station in Madrid for the Venus flyby. There we meet deputy station manager Jorge Fauste, Juice intern Charlotte Bergot and Juice Mission Manager Nicolas Altobelli. 

This series follows on from ‘The making of Juice’ series, which covered the planning, testing and launch of this once-in-a-generation mission.

ESA Highlights 2025

The European Space Agency’s Swarm mission detected a large but temporary spike of high-energy protons at Earth’s poles during a geomagnetic storm in November. It did this not with the scientific instruments for measuring Earth’s magnetic field, but with its ‘star tracker’ positioning instruments – a first for the Swarm mission.

Air travellers will shrink their carbon footprint while reducing flight delays worldwide, thanks to a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA), satellite operator Viasat and aerospace company Boeing. Flights to test the space-based technology with new aviation standards from and to the USA and Europe took place in late October and early November.

Video: 00:42:04

Watch the replay of the media briefing held ahead of the 14th operational launch of the Galileo programme. The briefing covers the mission details for the launch of two Galileo satellites, which are set to lift off on 17 December aboard Ariane 6 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Leading X-ray space telescopes XMM-Newton and XRISM have spotted an extraordinary blast from a supermassive black hole. In a matter of hours, the gravitational monster whipped up powerful winds, flinging material out into space at eye-watering speeds of 60 000 km per second.

Week in images: 01-05 December 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-1 image features part of the Badain Jaran Desert in northwestern China.

Image: Comet 3I/ATLAS shows activity in Juice navigation camera teaser

True to its promise, the European Space Agency’s EarthCARE satellite is now being used to calculate directly how clouds and aerosols influence Earth’s energy balance – the all-important balance that regulates our climate. In doing so, EarthCARE is poised to sharpen the accuracy of climate models, the very tools that guide global climate policy and action.

Is it an insect? A strange fossil? An otherworldly eye, or even a walnut? No, it’s an intriguing kind of martian butterfly spotted by ESA’s Mars Express.

On 2 December 1995 the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) blasted into space – on what was supposed to be a two-year mission. 

From its outpost 1.5 million km away from Earth in the direction of the Sun, SOHO enjoys uninterrupted views of our star. It has provided a nearly continuous record of our Sun’s activity for close to three 11-year-long solar cycles. 

Image: Puttalam district in North Western Sri Lanka is currently facing severe flooding, landslides and rockfalls, caused by heavy monsoon rains across the region. Copernicus Sentinel-2 captured an image over the region yesterday, 30 November 2025, as well an image one month ago, showing the extent of flooding.

ESA Discovery and Preparation has launched a new podcast series highlighting the innovative space technologies being developed through its activities.

The Italian programme IRIDE, which provides public sector services based on data from its fleet of Earth observation constellations, has added eight satellites to its second constellation, Eaglet II.

Thanks to the EU-funded Recovery and Resilience Facility, and through collaboration between the Greek government, the private satellite company ICEYE and the European Space Agency (ESA), two new high-resolution radar satellites have been launched to strengthen disaster management, environmental monitoring and national security across Greece.

The European Space Agency’s first Scout mission, HydroGNSS, was launched today, 28 November, marking a significant step in advancing global understanding of water availability and the effects of climate change on Earth’s water cycle.

The two twin HydroGNSS satellites were carried into orbit at 19:44 CET aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as part of the Transporter-15 rideshare flight from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Video: 00:02:51

ESA’s first Scout mission, HydroGNSS, was launched on 28 November 2025, marking a significant step in advancing global understanding of water availability and the effects of climate change on Earth’s water cycle.

The two twin HydroGNSS satellites were carried into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, US.

Embracing the New Space concept, HydroGNSS is one of ESA’s new Scout missions being developed within the Earth Observation FutureEO programme.