Week in images: 08-12 June 2026

Discover our week through the lens

This radar image from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission captures Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, the surrounding countryside and the Rio de la Plata estuary.

Zoom in to explore this image at its full resolution.

This is a composite of three Sentinel-1 acquisitions taken in January, March and May this year, with each image assigned to a different colour channel (blue in January, green in March and red in May). As the environmental changes on the ground created a significant ‘backscatter’ reflection of the radar signal, they show up as bright shades that correspond to changes across the seasons.

On the

Step inside the Columbus Control Centre near Munich, Germany, and discover what it takes to keep ESA's Columbus laboratory running—24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Columbus Flight Director Tristan Hermel takes us behind the scenes of mission control, where teams on the ground coordinate operations, support astronauts and work with international partners across the globe.

Get a glimpse of life behind the consoles as ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot carries out her Epsilon mission on board the Space Station.

This interview was recorded in January 2026.

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Keep exploring with ESA Explores.

The second generation of Galileo, Europe’s satellite navigation constellation, is being built. These satellites will feature reconfigurable payloads, provide more robust and reliable positioning, navigation and timing, enable new services and add new capabilities to the constellation.

One of these capabilities, intersatellite links, will allow the satellites to communicate with one another in orbit. After going through extensive testing, the intersatellite link antennas are ready to be integrated into the satellites.