ESA’s OpSTAR (Optical Synchronised Time And Ranging) In-Orbit Demonstrator mission will showcase how optical technologies can reshape the architecture of satellite navigation, enable greater accuracy and strengthen resilience against threats such as jamming and spoofing.

Thirty years after the European Space Agency first demonstrated the power of flying two satellites in very close formation, the concept was recently recreated. By temporarily positioning two Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar satellites to replicate the pioneering ERS-1–ERS-2 ‘tandem mission’, ESA achieved one-day repeat radar imaging of the same Antarctic region.

The results once again demonstrate how this approach can be used to measure glacier motion and pinpoint the critical grounding line with exceptional precision.

Operating across 140 million km of space, the control team for ESA’s Hera mission have succeeded in upgrading the software running the spacecraft, leaving it ready to explore the distant Dimorphos and Didymos asteroids this autumn.

Every space mission has two crews: one in space and one on Earth. While ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot carries out experiments and daily tasks aboard the International Space Station, teams across Europe are working to support her εpsilon mission from the ground. From flight controllers and communicators to scientists, engineers and medical experts, this network of specialists helps keep operations running smoothly and science on track.

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot has begun testing the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) on the International Space Station. Installed inside ESA's Columbus laboratory, the new exercise system will spend the next two years helping researchers evaluate innovative ways to keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space missions.