Satellites in orbit can become absentminded. Space radiation randomly flips onboard memory bits, potentially corrupting mission data and functionality. To better understand how this invisible onslaught works in practice, a team systematically analysed how radiation affected the memories of ESA’s three Swarm spacecraft during a decade of mapping Earth’s magnetic field.

Less than a week after its launch, the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite has delivered its first radar images of Earth – offering a glimpse into its capabilities for environmental monitoring. These initial images feature regions of interest, including Svalbard in Norway, the Netherlands, and Brussels, Belgium.

Today, ESA’s powerful X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, celebrates 25 years in space. From planets to black holes, the space telescope has delivered many ground-breaking observations of a variety of celestial objects. And the mission is still going strong as recent results testify. We take a look at five fascinating discoveries from the last five years.