The activities to assemble the European Space Agency’s Plato mission are progressing well now that 24 of the spacecraft’s 26 cameras have been installed. Once in space, Plato will use its many eyes to survey a very large area of the sky and hunt for terrestrial planets. The spacecraft’s supporting element is also coming together in parallel.

For the first time, two spacecraft in orbit were aligned in formation with millimetre precision and maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground.

Fresh from the cleanroom in Bremen, Germany, the second of the Meteosat Third Generation satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission have arrived at Cape Canaveral harbour, in the US.

As the European Space Agency (ESA) ramps up Europe’s ambition in space exploration, it is equally committed to sparking curiosity among young minds. What better way to inspire future explorers than with a fully equipped lunar rover – a creation born from our exciting new partnership with PLAYMOBIL?

Paris, France (SPX) May 05, 2025
As ESA's new Biomass satellite begins operations after its April 29 launch, the agency has unveiled its most comprehensive satellite-derived forest carbon dataset yet. Covering the years 2007 to 2022, the release marks a major advancement in global forest biomass monitoring. This extensive dataset, part of ESA's Climate Change Initiative, compiles information from multiple Earth-observing

Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 07, 2025
On April 22, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Director Aarti Holla-Maini led a delegation to Wuhan University, where a cooperation memorandum was signed with university president Zhang Pingwen, formally establishing the China regional support office of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER). Z

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 07, 2025
Orca AI, a pioneering force in maritime technology, has secured $72.5 million in Series B funding to accelerate its efforts in autonomous shipping. The funding round was led by Brighton Park Capital, with participation from existing investors Ankona Capital and Hyperlink Ventures. This new investment will enable Orca AI to enhance its autonomous platform, expand into defense and security applica

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 07, 2025
Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) has introduced a specialized U.S. government version of its Iridium 9603 module, now equipped with Enhanced Short Burst Data (ESBD) capabilities. The ESBD system provides low-latency, secure messaging designed to meet the stringent transmission security (TRANSEC) requirements of the U.S. government and approved allies. The ESBD-enabled 9603 module

Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 07, 2025
When sunlight interacts with Earth, it creates a spectrum of phenomena ranging from the stunning beauty of rainbows to the more subtle but equally intriguing dynamics that shape our planet's atmosphere. Recent advancements in shortwave radiation research are now revealing critical insights into these processes, as highlighted in a new perspective study published in Advances in Atmospheric Scienc

Greenbelt MD (SPX) May 07, 2025
For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA's NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions. Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions. A system astronomers have nicknamed Ansky is the eighth QPE