Members of ESA’s astronaut reserve have returned to the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, for the final block of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) programme. This phase marks the last step in preparing members of the European astronaut reserve with the broad technical, operational and scientific foundation required to support future human spaceflight opportunities.

Everyone knows what a hurricane is, but a lesser-known storm type – a medicane – recently made landfall in Libya. While the arrival of Medicane Jolina, a rare Mediterranean cyclone, brought extreme weather, it also provided scientists with a crucial test case.

Using different types of data from Earth-observing satellites, researchers are gaining new insights into how these storms form and evolve, and therefore, how their impacts can be predicted more accurately.

Week in images: 23-27 March 2026

Discover our week through the lens

The third satellite in the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) constellation, MTG-Imager2 (MTG-I2) has completed a series of tests that certify the satellite is ready to operate in the harsh conditions found in space – and on the way to space. These range from the strong vibrations during launch to the huge variations in temperature once in orbit, caused by moving between direct sunlight and Earth’s shadow.

Artemis II will send astronauts around the Moon and safely home. At the core of the mission is the European Service Module: providing propulsion, power and life support for their journey into deep space.