ESA’s forest mission Biomass will be supported by a custom-built transponder antenna installed in New Norcia, Australia.

The satellite will fly over the transponder to calibrate its instrument during its six-month commissioning period, and then regularly up to two times a year.

Mars Express mission operators at ESOC successfully sent a new software patch that would allow the spacecraft to operate in its third decade.

Image: Europe's largest solid-propellant rocket motors

Video: 00:02:54

ESA’s Biomass satellite has been at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana since early March, undergoing final preparations for launch aboard a Vega-C rocket. This timelapse video captures key stages of its journey — from its arrival in Kourou to its installation in the launch tower.

Once in orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle.

The European Space Agency (ESA) invites the industrial community to several events where ESA directorates will communicate and coordinate with industry on their proposals and intentions in relation to its Council Meeting at Ministerial Level (CM25) in November.

Video: 00:08:17

ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass satellite has launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 29 April 2025 at 11:15 CEST (06:15 local time).

In orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle. It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the radar signal can

Video: 00:05:13

ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass satellite launched aboard a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 29 April 2025 at 11:15 CEST (06:15 local time).

In orbit, this latest Earth Explorer mission will provide vital insights into the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle. It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 15, 2025
Astronomers have developed a new approach to studying planet formation by focusing on "twin" binary star systems, where two stars born at the same time and place orbit each other. This fresh perspective, detailed in a Yale study, suggests that certain binary systems could offer unique insights into how planetary systems form, much like comparing human twins in biological research. Malena R

London, UK (SPX) May 15, 2025
A landmark study published in Nature has significantly advanced the understanding of black hole and neutron star collisions, setting a new standard for precision in gravitational wave modeling. Led by Professor Jan Plefka at Humboldt University of Berlin and Dr Gustav Mogull of Queen Mary University of London, the research marks a major step forward in characterizing these extreme cosmic events.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) May 12, 2025
An international team of physicists working on the NA61/SHINE experiment has discovered a striking violation of a fundamental quark-level symmetry known as flavor symmetry during high-energy nuclear collisions. This unexpected observation, made in collisions of argon and scandium atomic nuclei, challenges long-held assumptions about the behavior of quarks under extreme conditions and may hint at