The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has captured a swirl of colour on the Red Planet, with yellows and rust-oranges meeting deep reds and browns. Lurking within this martian palette are not one but four dust devils, each snaking their way across the surface.

The second of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission are ready for liftoff at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US. Live coverage of this launch will be shown on ESA WebTV, not earlier than Tuesday, 1 July.

ESA’s week-long Living Planet Symposium in Austria is over halfway through, gathering thousands of attendees to explore the latest breakthroughs in Earth science and space technologies. In addition to in-depth coverage on specific themes from the symposium, we also bring you the following 'extras’: six New Space companies formally join Copernicus, ESA and UN-Habitat strengthen ties, and ESA and JAXA sign a Framework Agreement on climate collaboration.  

As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, the ocean plays a crucial role in helping to reduce the full impact of human-driven climate change by absorbing roughly a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity. However, this uptake is far from uniform across the global ocean. A new satellite-based product can now map the ocean carbon sink at unprecedented resolution, offering unique insights into this highly variable and complex component of Earth’s climate system. 

ESA is leading efforts to embed Earth observation data into more effective and resilient development financing. It is doing so in partnership with international financial institutions through its Global Development Assistance (GDA) programme. This topic was discussed today at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium.