Intergovernmental space agency
Appears in 8 stories
Partner — collaborates with CNES and DLR on the rover and sample science
Japan's Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft is healthy two days after launch, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said on October 21, with the critical first sequence of operations complete. The probe lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 a.m. local time on October 20 aboard an H3 rocket.
Updated Yesterday
Operating the Juice mission
ESA's Juice spacecraft skimmed 8,640 kilometers above the Indian Ocean on September 28, using Earth's gravity to bend its path toward Jupiter. The flyby added 3.5 km/s to its speed and deflected its trajectory by 20 degrees, with only one small course correction needed in the weeks before.
Updated Oct 5
Operating JUICE, en route to Jupiter
Six moons in the outer solar system hide oceans of liquid water beneath frozen shells, with at least six more candidates. The evidence comes together in Maciej Cegłowski's essay 'Icy Moons Are Ocean Worlds,' which circulated on Hacker News on September 6.
Updated Sep 7
Partner agency; provided one of the two spacewalkers
The space station's main high-speed link to Houston was wearing out. On August 18, 2026, two astronauts floated outside and swapped the aging antenna for a spare, restoring a backup for the data and voice that keep the crew safe.
Updated Aug 18
Managed the program alongside Greece and OroraTech
A fire in Greece used to be spotted by a person, a plane, or a foreign satellite that only saw blazes the size of a cruise ship. Now four suitcase-sized satellites watch Greek soil for heat and can flag a fire as small as a parking space, sending the alert to firefighters within minutes.
Updated Aug 8
Actively monitoring event via SOHO satellite
On January 18, 2026, the Sun fired the most intense radiation storm in over 20 years directly at Earth. An X1.9-class flare launched a coronal mass ejection traveling at 1,700 kilometers per second—plasma moving fast enough to cross the Sun-Earth distance in just 25 hours.
Updated May 27
Advancing the Fly! initiative while ESA engineers increasingly appear in commercial flights
On December 20, 2025, Blue Origin flew New Shepard NS-37—and a line quietly snapped. Michaela "Michi" Benthaus became the first wheelchair user to cross the Kármán line, float free in microgravity, and come home safely.
Updated May 15
Confirms VA266 success and begins early orbit operations/in-orbit testing for SAT 33/34; projects 29 active satellites after commissioning.
VA266 launched successfully. After acquiring signal, ESA declared the mission successful: Galileo SAT 33 and SAT 34 are healthy, with solar arrays deployed. That shifts the story from launch drama to operations: early-orbit checks and in-orbit testing, then a slow drift toward Galileo's 23,222 km operational regime.
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