Go behind the scenes at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and discover how space experiments are prepared long before they reach orbit. Meet the ECOS team, as Deputy Manager Salvi Verma shares how they work with scientists, engineers and astronauts to turn ideas into real missions aboard the International Space Station. From early planning on the ground to supporting astronauts like ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot during her Epsilon mission, this is how space science becomes reality.

This interview was recorded in March 2026.

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Keep exploring with ESA Explores.

What really happens during a solar eclipse? ESA astronaut Pablo Álvarez Fernández separates myth from fact, answering common questions and misconceptions about one of nature's most spectacular phenomena.

ESA is getting ready for three European solar eclipses. Follow this page to keep up to date with our planned activities!

Week in images: 22-26 June 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Europe is facing an intense heatwave, with record temperatures and several cities under red alert. On 23 June, France recorded its hottest June day ever.

This image was captured the same day by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite, which measures land surface temperature from space.

Unlike air temperature, land surface temperature shows how hot the ground itself becomes, often much higher as rock and asphalt absorb heat throughout the day.

Sentinel-3 uses thermal sensors to monitor Earth’s land, oceans, ice, and atmosphere, supporting everything from weather response to long-term climate monitoring.

View image: Europe feels the heat beneath our feet

Learn more

The European Space Agency’s EarthCARE satellite was developed to make a unique set of simultaneous measurements that shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s climate.

Now, in a remarkable example of a research mission delivering direct practical benefits, global observations from the satellite’s cloud profiling radar are being used operationally by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to improve daily weather forecasts – this landmark achievement marks the first time that cloud radar data from space have been assimilated into a global weather forecasting system.