The Meteosat Third Generation Imager2 satellite (MTG-I2) has been encapsulated inside the Ariane 6 fairing and is in place on its launch pad. It is scheduled to lift off on Thursday evening, 27 August, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (August 26, 2026) — Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies, part of RTX’s (NYSE: RTX) Raytheon business, has unveiled its latest spacecraft subsystem, the […]

The Meteosat Third Generation-Imager2 (MTG-I2) satellite, is ready for launch on board an Ariane 6 launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Lift off is scheduled for 27 August 2026 at 22:10 CEST (17:10 local time).

MTG-I2 is part of the MTG constellation for Eumetsat – two are already in orbit. It will produce images for weather forecasting in Europe in unprecedented detail. This mission provides completely new data products and capabilities for European weather services, especially suited to short-term forecasting of severe weather events.

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Anil Menon successfully completed US EVA-98 at 20:57 CEST on Tuesday 25 August. It was Sophie’s second spacewalk, and the 32nd conducted by a European astronaut.   

The NASA-led Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch on 30 August 2026 at 07:26 EDT / 12:26 BST / 13:26 CEST from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

With its wide field of view and advanced optical design, the Roman telescope will conduct detailed scans of the sky in visible to near-infrared light. In doing so, Roman will help reveal the nature of dark energy and dark matter and find new exoplanets.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are an invisible backbone for everyday life. They are essential for transportation, emergency response and public safety. They are also vulnerable to interference, both natural and human made.

As our dependence on GNSS grows, the European Space Agency (ESA) is working hard to ensure satellite navigation systems are resilient and is supporting companies and Member States in finding new ways to detect interference.

In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Icarus Robotics CEO and co-founder Ethan Barajas at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.