No matter how much planning goes into space missions, one must always expect the unexpected. But luck favours the prepared. In July 2025, an unexpected visitor entered our Solar System, interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – Juice – happened to be in the right place, with the right equipment, at the right time to see it. 

This unique vantage point offered a fleeting opportunity. What followed was a race against time. 

Genesis is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) navigation mission to measure Earth down to the millimetre. This precise measurement of Earth will have wide-ranging benefits, from satellite navigation to orbit determination to Earth science.

The European Space Agency, ESA, invites the industrial community to a series of events at which ESA directorates will present the follow-up to the Council Meeting at Ministerial Level 2025, CM25, held in November 2025 in Bremen, Germany.

These events will inform industry about planned activities, key thematic priorities, and industrial opportunities across ESA programmes, while also providing a platform for direct exchange on implementation.

A month after an anomaly onboard the Proba-3 mission caused ground control to lose contact with the Coronagraph spacecraft, the mission team shares great news: the spacecraft has phoned home, re-establishing the lost connection. 

Reliable connectivity in areas suddenly hit by outages or low coverage, such as disaster zones or crowded events, is now within reach, thanks to a new purpose-built connectivity trailer that can be set up in minutes. The European Space Agency (ESA), UK-based and European tech companies Excelerate Technology, Eutelsat, and Livewire Digital, with support from the UK Space Agency, have teamed up to deliver NOMADLINK, an innovative project providing a rapid, resilient connectivity gateway. 

The Smile mission is set to launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Thursday 9 April at 08:29 CEST/07:29 BST/03:29 local time. Follow along as we communicate on the final preparations for launch. Journalists are invited to join online media briefings in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

This video was published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:

Day 035, orbit 0541 – Three cargo vehicles departing the Station in just three weeks… and since I recorded this video, we also waved goodbye to a Progress!

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus NG23 was named S.S. William “Willie” McCool in honor of the NASA astronaut and naval aviator test pilot who perished in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident. Following a U.S. Navy tradition, Jack – who shares the same professional background – rang the Station bell to mark the spacecraft’s departure.

Follow Sophie’s