Category: News

Week in images: 18-22 August 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Southern Europe is once again in the grip of extreme summer heat. Soaring temperatures and bone-dry land have fuelled widespread wildfires, with the Iberian Peninsula among the regions hardest hit. Flames continue to sweep across parched landscapes, as these images show.

Week in images: 11-15 August 2025

Discover our week through the lens

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00:04:21

Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission –  has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.

This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.

Ariane 6 is Europe’s heavy launcher and a key element of ESA’s efforts to ensure autonomous access to space for Europe’s citizens. Ariane 6 has three stages: two or four boosters, and a main and upper stage. For this flight, VA264, the rocket was used in its two-booster configuration.

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The development of ESA’s Earth Explorer FLEX mission has recently passed a significant milestone: the mission’s all-important instrument has been joined to its satellite platform.

Combining 25 years of space-based data with ocean sampling, scientists have uncovered a change in the microscopic organisms that underpin the Southern Ocean’s food chain and carbon storage.

The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our solar system because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible. But according to a new study using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, it does not have an Earth-like atmosphere.

Video:
00:01:36

Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission –  has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.

This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.

Video:
00:01:20

Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission –  has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach. 

This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.

Ushering in a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit, the first in a new series of satellites, MetOp Second Generation, has been lofted into orbit aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. As part of this new satellite’s sophisticated instrument package is the new Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument, which is designed to deliver critical data on air pollutants, ozone and climate-related gases.

Earth orbit is becoming increasingly crowded. With over 11 000 active satellites and many thousands more expected in the coming years as well as over 1.2 million pieces of space debris greater than 1 cm, the risk of in-orbit collisions has turned into a daily operational concern. ESA is investing in automation technologies that can help satellite operators respond more effectively to collision risks.

Video:
00:01:45

Experience the preparation of the MetOp-SG-A1 satellite, hosting Copernicus Sentinel-5, scheduled for liftoff on an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 13 August 2025 at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time). This timelapse video captures key stages from the encapsulation within the Ariane 6 fairing to the installation in the launch tower.

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.

This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.