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Copernicus Sentinel-6B is being prepared for liftoff, scheduled for 17 November 2025. The photograph shows the satellite mated to the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch adapter.
Like its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, Sentinel-6B carries the latest radar altimetry technology to further extend the sea-surface height record that began in the early 1990s. These measurements help scientists understand sea-level rise – crucial information for shaping climate policy and protecting the millions of people living in coastal areas around the world.
Credit: SpaceX
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Copernicus Sentinel-6B is being prepared for liftoff, scheduled for 17 November 2025. The photograph shows the satellite being encapsulated in the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fairing.
Like its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, Sentinel-6B carries the latest radar altimetry technology to further extend the sea-surface height record that began in the early 1990s. These measurements help scientists understand sea-level rise – crucial information for shaping climate policy and protecting the millions of people living in coastal areas around the world.
Credit: SpaceX
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This shimmering view of interstellar gas and dust was captured by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. The nebula is part of a so-called dark cloud, named LDN 1641. It sits at about 1300 light-years from Earth, within a sprawling complex of dusty gas clouds where stars are being formed, in the constellation of Orion.
In visible light this region of the sky appears mostly dark, with few stars dotting what seems to be a primarily empty background. But, by imaging the cloud with the infrared eyes of its NISP instrument, Euclid reveals a multitude of stars shining through a tapestry of dust and gas.
This is because dust grains block visible light from stars behind them very efficiently but are much less effective at dimming near-infrared light.
The nebula is teeming with very young stars. Some of the objects embedded in the dusty surroundings spew out material – a sign of stars being formed. The outflows appear as magenta-coloured spots and coils when zooming into the image.
In the upper left, obstruction by dust diminishes and the view opens toward the more distant Universe with many galaxies lurking beyond the stars of our own galaxy.
Euclid observed this region of the sky in September 2023 to fine-tune its pointing ability. For the guiding tests, the operations team required a field of view where only a few stars would be detectable in visible light; this portion of LDN 1641 proved to be the most suitable area of the sky accessible to Euclid at the time.
The tests were successful and helped ensure that Euclid could point reliably and very precisely in the desired direction. This ability is key to delivering extremely sharp astronomical images of large patches of sky, at a fast pace. The data for this image, which is about 0.64 square degrees in size – or more than three times the area of the full Moon on the sky – were collected in just under five hours of observations.
Euclid is surveying the sky to create the most extensive 3D map of the extragalactic Universe ever made. Its main objective is to enable scientists to pin down the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Yet the mission will also deliver a trove of observations of interesting regions in our galaxy, like this one, as well as countless detailed images of other galaxies, offering new avenues of investigation in many different fields of astronomy.
Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by M. Schirmer (MPIA, Heidelberg)
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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When a meteoroid shook the edge of Apollinaris Mons on Mars, it triggered streaks that carved a hundred new scratches on the surface. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured these dust avalanches on the slopes the night before Christmas in 2023.
This image from the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) onboard the European orbiter also shows the faint cluster of impact craters in the discoloured region at the base of the slopes. Additional imagery helped scientists determine that the impact and streak formation occurred between 2013 and 2017.
Scientists believe these streaks on Mars form when layers of fine dust suddenly slide off steep terrain. With no evidence of water, they concluded that these features mostly result from dry processes driven by wind and dust activity.
A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that this is a rare event; fewer than one in a thousand streaks are caused by rocks smashing into Mars. In most cases, seasonal changes stirring up dust and wind are to blame.
“Dust, wind and sand dynamics appear to be the main seasonal drivers of slope streak formation. Meteoroid impacts and quakes seem to be locally distinct, yet globally relatively insignificant drivers,” explains lead author Valentin Bickel from the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Valentin used deep learning algorithms to analyse more than two million slope streaks in images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The resulting streak census locates them in five distinct hotspots on Mars between 2006 and 2024.
“These observations could lead to a better understanding of what happens on Mars today. Obtaining long-term, continuous and global-scale observations that reveal a dynamic Mars is a key objective of present and future orbiters,” says Colin Wilson, ESA’s project scientist for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
The Trace Gas Orbiter continues to image Mars from orbit to understand its ancient past and potential habitability. The spacecraft returns spectacular images and provides the best inventory of atmospheric gases and mapping of the planet’s surface for water-rich locations.
Understanding the history of water on Mars and whether it once allowed life to flourish is at the heart of ESA’s ExoMars missions.
The image covers an area of approximately six square kilometres and was captured on 24 December 2023. Mars location: 7.1°S, 173.4°E. CaSSIS image MY37_027142_351.
“Dust, Sand and Wind Drive Slope Streaks on Mars” by Valentin Bickel was published in Nature Communications on 6 November 2025.
Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
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Medical doctors Nina Purvis (left) and Sarah Gaier (right) meet at Italy's Mario Zuchelli station on the Antarctic coast. One is ending her mission; the other is about to begin.
Nina has just completed 13 months at Concordia station as ESA’s sponsored medical doctor for the 2025 winterover, taking over from Jessica Studer in 2024. Since the French-Italian station opened in 2005, ESA medical doctors have carried out vital biomedical research in this isolated, cold and extreme environment to better understand human adaptation and support future missions to the Moon and Mars. Now, Sarah steps in to take on this challenge.
The two doctors briefly crossed paths at Mario Zuchelli, located in Terra Nova Bay (74.24°S, 164.03°E) at just 15 m above sea level. From here, the only way inland is by air. After waiting for an ideal weather window, the journey to Concordia – 1200 km into Antarctica – takes about four hours, climbing to an altitude of 3233 m to the Dome C plateau (75.05°S, 123.19°E) and landing on Concordia’s runway: a cleared strip of snow.
Life at Concordia is extreme: temperatures plunge to -80°C, the air is very thin and dry, the crew is isolated and for four months the Sun never rises. Every year, a group of around 13 brave these conditions to conduct research that could not be done anywhere else on Earth.
Sarah, now safely arrived at Concordia station, joins this group. Stay tuned to follow her journey on our blog, Chronicles from Concordia.
Credit: ESA/IPEV/PNRA/N. Purvis
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This February, the first-ever metal part 3D-printed in space landed on Earth. Produced in the European Space Agency’s Metal 3D Printer Technology Demonstrator on the International Space Station (ISS), it is now in the hands of ESA’s engineers at ESTEC, the agency’s technical centre in the Netherlands, who poke and prod it to understand how microgravity affected its printing process.
“We are comparing this metal part with an identically shaped one created here on Earth, using the same printer before it was shipped to the ISS,” explains Caterina Iantaffi, ESA’s materials engineer. “What we are looking for are differences attributable to different gravity levels.”
Caterina’s inspection of the first metal made in space began at a microscope – this first look through a magnifying lens allowed her to see any ridges and imperfections on the surface of the metal more clearly.
Credit: ESA-SJM Photography
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This very high-resolution image captures the beautiful medieval core of the Czech capital, Prague.
Lying at the heart of Europe, Prague’s historic centre became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. From its original small riverside settlements, Prague has spread over its surrounding hills and valleys, reaching a metropolitan area of around 496 sq km.
Prague sits astride the Vltava River, the longest in Czechia. Thanks to the very high resolution of this image, a lot of Prague’s world-famous landmarks can be easily identified. Along the river’s winding course, we can see a succession of bridges and islands of different sizes.
Near the centre of the image, on the river’s left bank, we see Kampa Island, which gets its name from the Latin word ‘campu’, meaning ‘field’, due to its former use as farmland before it was raised above flood level. The island is separated from the mainland only by a small stream – the ‘Čertovka’. In this image it is even possible to spot the steps leading from Kampa Island up to Charles Bridge.
This famous arch bridge stretches for 500 m across the Vltava, with baroque statues lining its parapets. It was Prague's only bridge over the Vltava until 1841. Two towers lie on either end and offer good views along the bridge and up and down the river over the many spires for which Prague is famous.
The renowned twin spires that dominate the city skyline are those of the St. Vitus’s Cathedral within the grounds of Prague Castle. The latter is the city’s most popular attraction and official seat of the head of state. Its massive walls can be seen on a hill on Vltava’s left bank approximately where the river turns east. Covering an area bigger than seven football fields, the castle is the world’s largest ancient castle complex and includes several historic buildings, museums and galleries.
On the right bank of the river, Prague’s principal public square, the Old Town Square, can be spotted northeast of Charles Bridge. Zooming in, the statue known as Jan Hus Memorial is visible at the square’s northern end, with the Marian Column facing it.
Moving south, the elongated, rectangular shape of Wenceslas Square can be seen stretching from northwest to southeast, ending with the neoclassical building of the National Museum next to Prague’s main train station.
Prague also hosts many parks, gardens and recreational facilities, including the vast Strahov sports complex visible to the west of Kampa Island.
This image was acquired by the Pléiades Neo mission, an optical constellation that pictures Earth with a resolution of up to 30 cm. It is part of ESA’s Third Party Missions programme, which means ESA uses its multi-mission ground systems and expertise to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from a wide range of satellite missions developed and operated by other agencies.
To illustrate the unique contribution that Earth observing satellites offer, a new ‘Earth from Space’ exhibit opened this week at the Prague Planetarium, which coincided with the 17th anniversary of Czechia joining ESA. The exhibition, organised by ESA, features four interactive installations with state-of-the-art immersive data visualisations aimed to inspire and fuel the curiosity of future generations.
Credit: Airbus DS (2022), processed by ESA
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Ahead of the 30th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP30) taking place in Belém, Brazil, from 10-21 November, this image shows the Branco River and its surrounding forests in the Brazilian state of Roraima. It was captured by IRIDE’s Hawk for Earth Observation (HEO) constellation, launched earlier this year.
The Branco River, or Rio Branco, forms north of the area pictured here, near the city of Boa Vista and flows south-west for 775 km before joining Rio Negro, a major tributary of the Amazon River.
Despite its name which means white river, this false-colour image from 30 September 2025 shows the Rio Branco in black. The HEO constellation’s near-infrared channel, used to process this image, makes water appear in dark blue or black and highlights vegetation in bright red.
This band combination has been used to help us better distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated areas. Numerous patches in various shades of brown can be clearly seen particularly on the left of the image and indicate where vegetation has been cleared.
Forests and ecosystems worldwide are being destroyed or damaged at an alarming rate. This is of great concern because they play a critical role in global climate and are home to a huge variety of biodiversity. More than a third of all species in the world live in the Amazon rainforest.
Inspiring faster and more ambitious action on climate change from the international community is a central topic of COP30. As in previous years, ESA will participate to highlight the value of space-based observations and to discuss how space data can support commitments made at COP.
With their unique view from space, Earth observation satellites are instrumental in monitoring and protecting ecosystems. Not only does satellite information highlight areas of vulnerability by documenting the scale of loss and damage, but it also supports actionable scientific data to influence and inspire global climate policies.
The HEO constellation, which acquired this image, comprises seven satellites, carrying multispectral optical instruments to provide images at 2.7 m resolution. HEO is the first constellation for the Italian IRIDE Earth observation mission, which is designed to deliver satellite data for a wide range of environmental, emergency and security services.
Coordinated by ESA with support from the Italian Space Agency, the IRIDE programme involves the deployment of six satellite constellations. The second constellation planned is Eaglet II, which is scheduled to be launched in a few days.
Credit: IRIDE
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