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Updated24/05/2026 20:30 
 




ESA Top News

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
ESA Top News
ESA Top News

ESA Top News

January 21st, 2026 07:54:00 EST -0500 εpsilon
εpsilon website

εpsilon

May 22nd, 2026 12:10:00 EDT -0400 ESA’s Prodex programme brings scientific research to space
Artist's view of the ICI-5 mission flying through the aurora borealis and deploying daughter payloads

The launch of the 4DSpace-Daedalus mission in Norway is the latest success supported by Prodex, a European Space Agency (ESA) programme which enables highly skilled research institutes to partake in European space science activities and missions.

May 22nd, 2026 11:36:00 EDT -0400 ESA at GLOBSEC 2026

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher participated in the 21st edition of the GLOBSEC Forum, held from 21 to 23 May in Prague, Czechia, under the theme ‘The Global Systemic Transformation.’ The high‑level gathering brought together political leaders, industry representatives and experts to discuss how Europe can respond to an increasingly complex and fragmented geopolitical environment.

May 22nd, 2026 08:35:00 EDT -0400 Week in images: 18-22 May 2026
The sandy and rocky terrain of the Sahara desert in central Algeria is featured in these images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

Week in images: 18-22 May 2026

Discover our week through the lens

May 22nd, 2026 04:00:00 EDT -0400 Earth from Space: Algerian arid landscape
The sandy and rocky terrain of the Sahara desert in central Algeria is featured in these images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Image: The sandy and rocky terrain of the Sahara desert in central Algeria is featured in these images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
May 21st, 2026 09:00:00 EDT -0400 Insights into Earth’s molten outer core from space
Earth’s stormy heart

The liquid iron in Earth’s outer core doesn’t always behave as expected. When it changed direction in an unexplained way, ESA satellites provided data on the direction of flow, helping scientists gain better insight into the dynamics at the centre of our planet.

May 21st, 2026 09:00:00 EDT -0400 Join ESA for a total solar eclipse on 12 August 2026
Solar eclipse (artist impression)

Follow the total solar eclipse with the European Space Agency (ESA), in person or online. 

May 20th, 2026 11:30:00 EDT -0400 Inflight call with ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot
Video: 00:21:10

On 20 May, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot conducted an in-flight call with selected media representatives live aboard the International Space Station. During the discussion, Sophie shared insights into life and research in orbit, including scientific experiments supporting human health, climate science and future space exploration.

May 19th, 2026 04:00:00 EDT -0400 Smile launch highlights
Video: 00:04:00

ESA’s Smile satellite launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on at 04:52 BST / 05:52 CEST (00:52 local time) on 19 May 2026.

Smile flew to space on Vega-C flight VV29. At 35 m tall, a Vega-C weighs 210 tonnes on the launch pad and the rocket used three solid-propellant-powered stages to take Smile to orbit before the fourth liquid-propellant stage took over for a precise drop-off around Earth.Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Smile will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. In doing so, Smile will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.

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