Pull to refresh
Logo
European Space Agency (ESA)

European Space Agency (ESA)

Intergovernmental space agency

Appears in 6 stories

Stories

Six icy moons hide liquid oceans beneath their shells

New Capabilities

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 4 days ago

Astronauts keep aging space station running with summer spacewalk series

Built World

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

Greece deploys world's first national wildfire satellite system

New Capabilities

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

Severe solar storm hits Earth at solar maximum

Force in Play

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

Blue Origin’s NS-37 didn’t just sell a seat—it put accessibility over the Kármán line

New Capabilities

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

Ariane 6 puts Galileo spares in orbit—Europe tightens its grip on its own “GPS”

New Capabilities

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.

Updated May 15