europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

A view of the Vega launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, with the Vega-C rocket that will carry Smile to space.

Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket built up stage-by-stage inside a mobile building. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.

Vega-C is made up of four stages, with the fairing (a nose cone that splits into two) sitting on top of the fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will split open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.

Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit

Find out more about the Vega launch site

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.

[Image description: A photo showing a rocket launch pad at night. At the centre of the image is a tall rectangular cream-coloured building, with a thin white rocket inside. Platforms at various heights give people access to different parts of the rocket. The building is surrounded by metal pylons.]

Credits: ESA-M. Pédoussaut

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

A lorry carries the fairing of a Vega-C rocket, with the Smile spacecraft inside, to the launch pad.

Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket’s four stages already assembled inside the mobile building on the left of this image. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.

The fairing (a nose cone that splits into two parts after launch) sits on top of the rocket’s fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.

Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit

Find out more about the Vega launch site

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.

[Image description: A photo showing a lorry driving along a narrow road with a large rocket nose cone standing upright on its trailer. Ahead of the lorry (to the left in this image) is a tall rectangular cream-coloured building, which has the ESA and Vega logos on its side. The building is surrounded by metal pylons.]

Credits: ESA-M. Pédoussaut

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Inside this Vega-C rocket fairing is the Smile spacecraft, ready to meet the rest of the rocket that will take it into space.

Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad, with the rocket already built up and waiting inside the mobile building seen in the background of this image. About four hours before launch, the building will roll away to reveal the complete rocket inside.

Vega-C is made up of four stages, with the fairing (a nose cone that splits into two after launch) sitting on top of the fourth stage. The fairing will protect Smile during its ascent to space through Earth’s atmosphere. Almost five minutes after liftoff, the fairing will split open, revealing Smile inside. At that point, Smile will still be attached to the third and fourth stages of the Vega-C.

Find out more about Smile’s journey from launch to orbit

Find out more about the Vega launch site

Smile (the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Vega-C programme is led by ESA, working with Avio as prime contractor and design authority. It ensures that Europe has versatile and independent access to space.

[Image description: A photo showing the nose cone of a rocket hanging from a crane in front of an open technical building. Inside the building stands the rest of the rocket, with a platform at the top where people stand, waiting for the nose cone to arrive.]

Credits: ESA/CNES/Avio/Optique vidéo du CSG–S. Martin

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Part of the rugged and deeply indented coast of northeastern Greenland is featured in this radar image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1.

Greenland is the world's largest island and about 80% of its surface is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet, the second largest ice mass on Earth after the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

This image combines three acquisitions taken by Sentinel-1’s radar over the same area in January, February and March 2026. Radar images are not usually in colour, but here each acquisition has been assigned a different colour, and, when overlaid, the resulting colours represent variations that have occurred on the surface between the three scans.

Stable ice can be seen in white in the left of the image, while the shades of grey depict surfaces that have either not changed or changed very little. Colours are mainly concentrated in the water along the coast and show visible changes in type and cover of the constantly moving sea ice.

Three main outlet glaciers are visible in the image: the 79N (Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden) and the Zachariae Isstrøm to the north and the Storstrømmen to the south. These glaciers constitute the main front ends of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS), a long ice stream that connects the interior to the ocean, draining approximately 12–17% of the Greenland Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic through these three glaciers.

Global warming is driving the rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Current ice mass loss is already affecting coastal regions, including low-lying areas vulnerable to flooding and storm surges. The Greenland Ice Sheet contains 12% of the world’s glacier ice and if it melts completely, the global seas will rise by up to 7 m with catastrophic consequences.

Furthermore, any increase in melting from this ice sheet can cause an influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic, weakening the Gulf Stream and potentially seriously affecting the climate of northern Europe as well as other continents.

It is therefore vital to monitor its changing shape and the rate at which it is melting in a sustained manner. The Sentinel-1 constellation images the entire Earth every six days, which is important for monitoring rapid change. Each satellite carries an advanced radar instrument that captures images of Earth’s surface through cloud and rain and regardless of whether it is day or night. This is particularly useful when observing these vast, inaccessible areas which are prone to long periods of bad weather and extended darkness.

Observations of Greenland runoff from space can be used to verify how climate models simulate ice sheet melting, which will allow improved predictions of how much Greenland will contribute to the global rise of sea level in the future.

Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto evaluates what's happening with the F1 driver market so far in 2026.

Proposals for further evolutionary changes to the 2026 regulations have been agreed in principle following an online meeting, convened by F1’s governing body the FIA and attended by Team Principals, Formula One Management and power unit manufacturer representatives.

Release follows Trump directive for agencies to declassify government files related to unidentified flying objects

The Pentagon on Friday released an initial group of previously secret files documenting reports of UFOs – a move sought for decades by some.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said in a statement posted on X.

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Jon Siegel has added a photo to the pool:

Grocery shopping somewhere quiet, deep in the countryside.

LES PRAERES (ANP) - Anna van der Breggen heeft de voorlaatste rit van de Vuelta Femenina gewonnen en de rode leiderstrui overgenomen van haar Belgische ploeggenoot Lotte Kopecky. Op de loodzware slotklim naar Les Praeres (3,7 kilometer met een gemiddeld stijgingspercentage van 13,4 procent) reed de Nederlandse renster van SD Worx-Protime zittend weg bij al haar concurrenten.

De Spaanse Paula Blasi werd op 8 seconden tweede, Marion Bunel uit Frankrijk werd derde op 29 seconden.