Timelapse showing the steps to build the most powerful version of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

The video shows the central core of the rocket arriving at the launch pad on 21 January 2026, where it was raised upright and placed on the launch table on the same day.

Then launch technicians added the first booster, second booster, third booster and the final, fourth booster over ending on the 22 January. Next the upper part including the 32 Amazon Leo satellites was added to the top of the rocket on

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot began her training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where she studied spacecraft systems and crew operations — learning to think and act as an astronaut. Alongside this, she conditioned her body for spaceflight and prepared for the physical and operational demands of her mission.

Her preparation includes continuous medical training and support, neutral buoyancy training for spacewalks and immersive virtual reality sessions at ESA’s XR Lab.

This video features interviews with Bimba Hoyer, Flight Surgeon at ESA; Hervé Stevenin, Head of EVA & Parabolic Flight Training Unit and Head of the Neutral

Last year, an approximately 60 metre near-Earth object captured global attention. For a brief period, asteroid 2024 YR4 became the most dangerous asteroid discovered in the last 20 years. While an Earth impact was soon ruled out, the asteroid faded from view with a lingering 4% chance of striking the Moon on 22 December 2032.

Now, that risk has been eliminated. Astronomers have confirmed that 2024 YR4 will not impact the Moon using new observations made by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.

What happens when a solar superstorm hits Mars? Thanks to the European Space Agency’s Mars orbiters, we now know: glitching spacecraft and a supercharged upper atmosphere.

The first two satellites of ESA’s Celeste LEO-PNT demonstration mission are scheduled to lift off no earlier than 24 March, aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Māhia Launch Complex in New Zealand. 

Craters, craters, and yet more craters: this snapshot from ESA’s Mars Express is packed full of them, each as fascinating as the last.

For this month’s ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month, NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope is joined by ESA’s Euclid to create a new view of the most visually intricate remnants of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543.

Over the past year, satellite engineers at Redwire Space in Belgium have been hard at work assembling European Space Agency’s ozone-monitoring satellite, ALTIUS. The team has now passed a major milestone: testing the deployment of the satellite’s two solar panels, a critical step in preparing it for life in orbit.

The ice along Antarctica’s ‘grounding lines’ has been largely stable over the past 30 years – but ice has retreated by more than 40 km in some areas, a new study based on satellite data finds.