Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts Copernicus Sentinel-5 as part of its instrument package – is set for liftoff on an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 13 August 2025 at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).

Watch live on ESA Web TV One.

ESA’s Hera mission has captured images of asteroids (1126) Otero and (18805) Kellyday. Though distant and faint, the early observations serve as both a successful instrument test and a demonstration of agile spacecraft operations that could prove useful for planetary defence.

Hera is currently travelling through space on its way to a binary asteroid system. In 2022, NASA’s DART spacecraft impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, changing its orbit around the larger asteroid Didymos. Now, Hera is returning to the system to help turn asteroid deflection into a reliable technique for planetary defence.

In its latest postcard from Mars, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express returns to Acheron Fossae: a dramatic network of chasms carved into the surface of the Red Planet.

The defense contractor sees solid rocket motor capacity as key advantage