ESO Top News

Watch the replay of the media information session where ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and outgoing ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun provide an update on the main outcomes of the 347th ESA Council meeting, held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 16–17 June 2026.

On the 17th of June Ariane 6 flight VA269 soared to orbit from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The latest generation of Europe's largest and most powerful rocket launched 36 satellites for Amazon's Leo constellation. 

The debut of the four new boosters based on the P160C solid-propellant rocket motor allowed 36 satellites to be launched, four more than the two Leo launches Ariane 6 had delivered before. 

 Ariane 6 is Europe’s heavy-lift launcher and a key element of ESA’s efforts to ensure autonomous access to space for Europe’s citizens. The new P160C boosters increase considerably performance, payload capacity and competitiveness, allowing for more satellites to be launched, further elevating the future of Europe.

Watch the full replay of the live event

The European Space Agency Council has approved the appointment of two new directors: Christine Klein as Director of Controlling, Finance and Operational Procurement, and Jean-Luc Trullemans as Director of Strategy, Legal and External Affairs.

ESA Impact: a look at ESA’s spring milestones

The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has captured part of Mars’s Mamers Valles: a fascinating valley system speckled with brief, tornado-like whirlwinds known as dust devils.

Researchers have confirmed a new class of objects within our Milky Way galaxy: survivors called 'bulge fossil fragments.' Terzan 5 is the prototype of these remnants of our galaxy's early formation. Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes researchers have shown that Terzan 5 is not a globular star cluster as it was once classified. Instead, it is something much odder and rarer.