ESA Science

Meanwhile, check out our launch kit available in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor… 2/2

🚨 Media invitation 🚨 The Smile mission is set to launch on 9 April at 08:29 CEST. If you're a journalist, join one of our online media briefings in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Register by 17:00 CET on 23 March. Details here 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor… 1/2

Follow along as we keep you posted on the final preparations for the Smile launch right here 🚀 A media briefing in English will be livestreamed via ESA Web TV on Thursday 26 March at 14:00 CET for anybody to watch 📺 Details 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor…

🚨 We have a launch date! The Smile mission is set to launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport on Thursday 9 April at 08:29 CEST. A collaboration between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Smile will study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. 1/2

🔴 #LiveNow: media briefing following the 345th ESA Council meeting. 📺 watch.esa.int/Two/

January–March 2026 was a busy season for us! Get up to speed on European space with our new ESA Impact visual report, out now 👉 esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/pub…

🆕 A comet has been caught crumbling! ☄️ Comet K1 had just passed close to the Sun 🌞 heading out of the Solar System when Hubble turned its eye towards it and caught something unexpected.. 1/4

#WatchLive: Join us on 19 March at 13:00 GMT/14:00 CET for a media briefing following the 345th ESA Council meeting taking place in Interlaken, Switzerland. 📺 watch.esa.int

🚀 10 years ago, our largest and most sophisticated martian explorer left Earth behind. To mark the launch anniversary, here are 5 remarkable things @esa's Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) was made for 🧵👇

Welcome to the Large Space Simulator! 🌌 Our terrestrial planet hunter, Plato, has been placed inside this ESA chamber for a series of vital tests under space‑like conditions. Discover how it is like inside Europe's largest cryovacuum chamber here 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia…

MN Colibri delivers the Smile satellite and the Vega-C upper stage in Kourou, French Guiana. Following the docking, the containers were carefully unloaded and taken by lorry to Europe's Spaceport, which lies just a few kilometres away from the town of Kourou. 📽️ 👇

Next up, Smile will go through a full health check and then be fuelled with propellant, before finally meeting the rocket that will carry it to space sometime between 8 April and 7 May. Launch technicians have already started building the Vega-C rocket. Read more 👉esa.int/Science_Explor…

🚢 🚚Following a two-week journey, Inspector Smile has arrived at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. Smile travelled with another friend onboard: the Vega-C upper stage, which will stay attached to Smile until the last moment before dropping it off in a very precise orbit around Earth.

🆕 Cast your mind back to May 2024... remember how a massive solar storm triggered northern lights across Europe? We can now reveal how this same solar storm affected Mars, thanks to clever teamwork from our two Mars orbiters. Find out more 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor…

The precision of Hubble with the expansive vision of Euclid has got me stopping in reflection this morning. Our recent combined view of the Cat’s Eye Nebula is a testament to what humanity can achieve when nations unite behind a shared scientific purpose. No single country, institution, or mission could deliver this perspective alone. It required decades of trust, shared investment, pooled expertise, and a common belief that expanding human knowledge benefits us all. International collaboration in science is fundamental because the questions we are trying to answer are bigger than any one nation. What is the Universe made of? How did it evolve? What is our place within it? In tackling such profound questions, diversity of perspective is a strength. When we combine capabilities, infrastructure, data, and talent across continents, we accelerate discovery. In a world that can sometimes feel fragmented, science remains a powerful unifier. The Universe belongs to all of us, afterall.

Craters, craters, and yet more craters! Our latest snapshot from Mars Express is packed full of them. Discover this slice of ancient, battered land in more depth, including a zoomable, labelled version of this main image as well as close-up and 3D views 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor…

Our ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month features one cosmic eye 👁️ spied by two observatories! The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the most visually intricate remnants of a dying star. In 1995, Hubble revealed structures in it that helped us understand how planetary nebulae form. Now, Hubble has joined forces with @ESA_Euclid to create a new image of the nebula! 1/3

Our first glimpse of comet 3I/ATLAS from Juice's science camera 😍☄️ The precious data from the mission's November observations of the interstellar comet arrived on Earth last week. Teams are now digging in to discover what they reveal. Stay tuned for updates! Read more 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia…

Meanwhile, check out our English launch kit, soon to be available in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Mandarin 👉 esa.int/Science_Explor…

📣 Call for journalists: attend the Smile launch media event at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana! Smile is a scientific collaboration between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Science. The mission will study how Earth responds to the solar wind. Registration details 👉 esa.int/Newsroom/Press… 1/2