ESO Top News

Watch the replay of the call between Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, and Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, ESA project astronaut. This call took place at the Paris Air Show 2025 (Le Bourget) on 18 June. Project astronaut Uznański-Wiśniewski joined from quarantine ahead of the upcoming Ignis mission mission.

Sponsored by the Polish government and supported by ESA, the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT), and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the Ignis mission features an ambitious technological and scientific programme. It includes several experiments proposed by the Polish space industry and developed in cooperation with ESA, along with additional ESA-led experiments.

The beginning of the industrial development of LISA was among the highlights for the European Space Agency on the second day of the International Paris Air Show. 

The European Space Agency has begun the 55th International Paris Air Show by unveiling the first images from the Proba-3 spacecraft. 

Watch the replay of the ESA-CNES press conference held at the Paris Air Show 2025 (Le Bourget) on 16 June 2025, with Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA, and Lionel Suchet, Executive Vice President of CNES.

Download the transcript.

Proba-3 artificially created what is normally a rare natural phenomenon: a total solar eclipse.

In a world first, ESA’s Proba-3 satellites flew in perfect formation, blocking the Sun’s bright disc to reveal its fiery corona. This enigmatic outer layer burns millions of degrees hotter than the Sun’s surface and drives the solar storms that can disrupt life on Earth.

With its first artificial eclipse, Proba-3 has captured detailed images of this mysterious region, offering scientists new insights into our star’s behaviour.

Read the full story here.

Access the related broadcast qality footage. 

Today, the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission unveils its first images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere – the solar corona. The mission’s two satellites, able to fly as a single spacecraft thanks to a suite of onboard positioning technologies, have succeeded in creating their first ‘artificial total solar eclipse’ in orbit. The resulting coronal images demonstrate the potential of formation flying technologies, while delivering invaluable scientific data that will improve our understanding of the Sun and its enigmatic atmosphere.

Week in images: 09-13 June 2025

Discover our week through the lens

ESA at Le Bourget 2025

Watch the replay of the media information session where ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun (CH) brief journalists on the key decisions made during the ESA Council meeting held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 11–12 June 2025.

Join the European Space Agency at the new Paris Space Hub during this year’s International Paris Air Show.

Thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun’s poles from outside the ecliptic plane. Solar Orbiter’s unique viewing angle will change our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle and the workings of space weather.