Kourou (AFP) Mar 6, 2025
Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket successfully carried out its first commercial mission on Thursday, placing a French military satellite into orbit to give the continent a new independent access to space. After delays including a last-minute postponement on Monday, the heavy-lift rocket blasted off into rainy skies from the Kourou space base in French Guiana. Around an hour after the launch

Washington (AFP) Mar 6, 2025
Second time unlucky: A US company's lunar lander appears to have touched down at a wonky angle on Thursday, an embarrassing repeat of its previous mission's less-than-perfect landing last year. Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history in February 2024 as the first private firm to place a spaceship on Earth's nearest neighbor, though the moment was marred by Odysseus toppling over upon t

At MWC25 Barcelona, the European Space Agency (ESA) unveiled a funding initiative, promoted in partnership with GSMA Foundry, to support projects aimed at integrating satellite and terrestrial networks for seamless connectivity.

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Albania’s capital Tirana and its surroundings.

ESA’s second group of Astronaut Reserve members has successfully completed the first block of their intensive Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) programme. Starting in January 2025, four members of the European Astronaut Reserve—Meganne Christian from the UK, Anthea Comellini from Italy, John McFall from the UK and Carmen Possnig from Austria— tarted their two months training programme at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, honing essential skills required for future space exploration and scientific research.

Europe’s newest rocket, Ariane 6, took flight for the second time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 13:24 local time on 6 March (16:24 GMT, 17:24 CET). This was the first commercial flight for Ariane 6, flight VA263, delivering the CSO-3 satellite to orbit. Arianespace was the operator and launch service provider for the French Procurement agency (DGA) and France’s space agency CNES on behalf of the French Air and Space Force’s Space Command (CDE).

Image: Ariane 6 VA263 liftoff

At the European Space Agency’s technical heart in the Netherlands, engineers have spent the last five months unboxing and testing elements of Europe’s next space science mission. With the two main parts now joined together, Smile is well on its way to being ready to launch by the end of 2025.

Barcelona (AFP) Mar 5, 2025
Satellite communication is taking smartphones to new orbits at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with companies showcasing gadgets connected to space in a bid to tap into the lucrative new service. Infrastructure costs and technical and regulatory hurdles mean it will be some time yet before handsets worldwide are beaming calls and data directly to Earth orbit - even as firms

Washington (AFP) Mar 6, 2025
Elon Musk's SpaceX is now aiming for Thursday to conduct the next test flight of its massive Starship rocket, following a last-minute cancellation on Monday. The world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle is set to lift off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, during a launch window that opens at 5:30 pm local time (2330 GMT). An earlier attempt set for Wednesday was postponed a day without explanation.