Video: 02:08:03

ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, one of the world’s leading Earth observation conferences, opened today in Vienna. The plenary session began at 10:30 CEST and included addresses from ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes Simonetta Cheli, as well as Margit Mischkulnig, from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation.

There were video addresses from President of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure Republic of Austria Peter Hanke and the EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius. Representatives of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, ECMWF,

ESA’s week-long Living Planet Symposium kicked off today in Vienna, Austria, bringing together scientists and researchers from around the globe. Throughout the week, we’ll be covering the bigger stories in depth, such as the first images from ESA’s Biomass mission published earlier today – but we’re also sharing some daily snapshots of other significant happenings.

So, today’s few ‘extras’ include Sentinel-2 marking 10 years in orbit, ESA selects Telespazio to run the ground segment for the TRUTHS mission and listen to EarthCARE data transformed into a dragon’s song for peace.

ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, one of the world’s leading Earth observation conferences, opened today in Vienna.

For any space mission to launch, thousands of hours must have been spent iterating new technologies to make the spacecraft fly. The Biomass satellite, which today shared its first science data, is no exception. The probe, which carries just a single instrument on board, will perform a five-year census of all the trees on Earth to teach us more about how climate change and pests are affecting the world’s forests than we’ve ever learnt before.

Video: 00:06:07

Space is huge and essential to humankind, fuelling knowledge, supporting our economies and driving global prosperity. None of this would be possible without reliable access to space. 

Since 1979, Europe has relied on the Ariane rockets and Vega series to launch its missions. Today, with Ariane 6 and Vega-C, ESA ensures Europe's autonomous and independent access to space. But we are also looking ahead. With the Ariane Smart Transfer and Release In-orbit Ship (ASTRIS), Phoebus, P160C boosters, the MR-10 engine and more, ESA is enhancing its rockets with new innovations that improve cost, performance, capability and sustainability.

ESA is also

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jun 23, 2025
DLR and NASA have signed a renewed agreement to strengthen their collaborative efforts in space medicine, with a particular emphasis on radiation research. The announcement came during the Paris Air Show on 16 June 2025, underscoring the growing need to understand and mitigate radiation risks for astronauts on deep space missions. A central element of this partnership is the deployment of

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 23, 2025
New research led by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) reveals that lunar dust is considerably less toxic to human lung cells than typical Earth-based air pollution. This finding offers reassurance for NASA's Artemis missions, which aim to establish a sustained human presence on the moon. The study, published in Life Sciences in Space Research, examined the effects of advanced lunar

Today, at the Living Planet Symposium, ESA revealed the first stunning images from its groundbreaking Biomass satellite mission – marking a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth’s forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle. But these inaugural glimpses go beyond forests. Remarkably, the satellite is already showing potential to unlock new insights into some of Earth’s most extreme environments.