European Space Agency News

Spaceflight Now • Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX launches EUMETSAT’s MTG-S1 weather and Sentinel-4 air quality satellite, lands Falcon 9 at sea

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched July 1 at 5:04 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, placing EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation Sounder (MTG-S1) into geostationary transfer orbit with the Copernicus Sentinel-4 air quality payload. The first-stage booster successfully landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

2025-07-01T09:45:45.498646-07:00

European Spaceflight

Dassault, France’s Armed Forces and ESA Formalize Partnership on VORTEX Reusable Spaceplane

2025-06-23T06:54:31.797440-07:00

European Spaceflight

ESA's Biomass Satellite Debuts Enhanced Forest Monitoring

2025-04-29T07:39:17.586024-07:00

New York Times

Solar Orbiter Delivers First-Ever Views of Sun’s Poles

2025-06-11T07:11:04.871063-07:00

European Space Agency News Timeline

IEEE

Construction Begins on ESA’s LISA: First Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatory ESA has started building the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a three-satellite constellation that will measure picometer-scale distance shifts via laser interferometry to detect low-frequency gravitational waves from massive cosmic mergers.

2025-07-16T20:49:16.747590-07:00

Construction Begins on ESA’s LISA: First Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatory

ESA

ESA and Frazer-Nash Unveil INVICTUS Hypersonic Test Platform for Reusable Horizontal-Launch Vehicles The European Space Agency and UK defense contractor Frazer-Nash have launched INVICTUS, a modular research programme aimed at developing air-breathing hypersonic technologies for future reusable vehicles capable of horizontal launch and speeds up to Mach 5. The platform will serve as Europe’s first adaptable testbed for high-speed flight.

2025-07-16T08:13:33.579829-07:00

ESA and Frazer-Nash Unveil INVICTUS Hypersonic Test Platform for Reusable Horizontal-Launch Vehicles

European Spaceflight

ESA Backs North Sea Floating Launch Platform for Poland’s Perun Rocket The European Space Agency has approved support for EuroSpaceport’s North Sea floating launch site, enabling Poland’s SpaceForest to conduct the first international mission of its Perun suborbital rocket from the offshore platform in the second half of 2026.

2025-07-16T07:26:37.800083-07:00

ESA Backs North Sea Floating Launch Platform for Poland’s Perun Rocket

Via Satellite

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ESA establishes Europe’s first deep-space optical laser link with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft The European Space Agency has successfully established Europe’s first deep-space optical communication link using two purpose-built ground stations in Greece to communicate with NASA’s DSOC experiment aboard the Psyche mission 265 million kilometers away. The demonstration paves the way for high-bandwidth data return on future deep-space science missions.

2025-07-11T11:24:00.769322-07:00

ESA establishes Europe’s first deep-space optical laser link with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft

The Independent

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe Delivers Closest-Ever Solar Images at 6.1 Million km On December 24, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to date, sailing within 6.1 million kilometers of the Sun and capturing high-resolution images of the solar corona and solar wind. The data promise to advance space weather forecasting and inform spacecraft design for extreme solar environments.

2025-07-11T02:06:32.397731-07:00

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Delivers Closest-Ever Solar Images at 6.1 Million km

avio.com

ESA Designates Avio as Official Vega Launch Service Provider On July 10, 2025, ESA approved its new Launcher Exploitation Declaration (LED) at its Paris headquarters, officially designating Avio as the launch service provider for the Vega launcher family. The move crystallizes Europe’s efforts to overhaul its mid-lift orbital launch capability and streamline Vega operations.

2025-07-10T21:09:32.854653-07:00

ESA Designates Avio as Official Vega Launch Service Provider

Universe Today

UK Proposes VERVE CubeSat to Hunt for Life in Venus’ Cloud Tops The UK is developing the Venus Explorer for Reduced Vapours in the Environment (VERVE), a CubeSat designed to fly alongside ESA’s EnVision mission in 2031. It aims to sample Venus’ upper atmosphere directly for phosphine, ammonia and other potential biosignatures.

2025-07-10T04:53:22.628263-07:00

UK Proposes VERVE CubeSat to Hunt for Life in Venus’ Cloud Tops

ESA

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ESA Preselects PLD Space and Orbex Among Five Startups for European Launcher Challenge The European Space Agency has preselected five startups — including Spain’s PLD Space and the UK’s Orbex — for its European Launcher Challenge, a program funding the development of autonomous launch vehicles with up to €169 million per finalist to boost Europe’s access to space.

2025-07-07T06:03:20.593916-07:00

ESA Preselects PLD Space and Orbex Among Five Startups for European Launcher Challenge

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