Copernical Team
ESA at IAC 2025 - highlights from Day 2
	The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Australian Space Agency (ASA) will pursue new ways of working together following discussions during the 76th International Astronautical Congress in Sydney, Australia.
Gaia discovers our galaxy’s great wave
	Our Milky Way galaxy never sits still: it rotates and wobbles. And now, data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope reveal that our galaxy also has a giant wave rippling outwards from its centre.
See ESA's summer space snaps
	Our interactive publication covering captivating stories and stunning images from the most recent quarter of the year.
Far side of the moon may be colder than the near side, lunar rocks suggest
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Themis reusable rocket demonstrator stands ready in Sweden
The European Space Agency's first full-scale reusable rocket demonstrator, Themis, is now positioned on its launch pad at the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. The milestone marks the start of preparations for low-altitude flight tests designed to validate vertical take-off and landing operations using cryogenic propulsion. 
The first test model, known as T1H for Themis-1 engine-Hop,                Terran Orbital finalizes Tranche 1 satellite bus delivery for Lockheed Martin
Terran Orbital Corporation has completed delivery of all 42 satellite bus platforms for the Space Development Agency's Tranche 1 Transport Layer program. The spacecraft, built in partnership with Lockheed Martin, will support a resilient low-Earth orbit communications network providing secure, low-latency data links for U.S. and allied forces worldwide. 
"Completing delivery of all satellit                Traces of life detected in Finnish crater shed light on origins of life on Earth
An international team of scientists, including Western University's Gordon Osinski, has for the first time dated the emergence of microorganisms inside a meteorite crater, demonstrating that life developed within millions of years after the impact event. 
The discovery was made in Finland's 78-million-year-old Lappajarvi crater and provides direct evidence that meteorite impacts can generat                Razor's Edge raises $560 million to scale defense and aerospace technology firms
Razor's Edge has announced the close of its fourth investment fund, securing $560 million in commitments, surpassing its $400 million target. The new fund increases the firm's total assets under management to more than $1.25 billion, highlighting strong investor confidence in its national security-driven growth equity model. 
Founded in 2010, the firm has become a major force in advancing c                Lunar soil melted into construction bricks by Chinese research team
At the 2025 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, researchers from China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) presented a prototype machine capable of transforming lunar soil into construction bricks. The solar-powered system is the first proof-of-concept device designed to fabricate building materials directly on the Moon. 
The machine concentrates sunlight using a parabolic refle                Asteroid strike confirmed as cause of Silverpit Crater in North Sea
New research has confirmed that the Silverpit Crater, buried beneath the southern North Sea, was created by a hypervelocity impact about 43 to 46 million years ago. The findings resolve a long-running scientific debate over the crater's origins. 
A team led by Dr Uisdean Nicholson of Heriot-Watt University, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, combined seismic imaging, micros                