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To land on the right foot on the Red Planet, European engineers have been dropping a skeleton of the four-legged ExoMars descent module at various speeds and heights on simulated martian surfaces.

Watch a quick sequence of some of the drops from different angles. For over a month, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus teams ran dozens of vertical drops using a full-scale model of the landing platform at the ALTEC facilities in Turin, Italy. 

This first series of tests involved dropping the model onto both hard and soft surfaces, the latter filled with powdery, Mars-like soil.  The team changed the speed and height of the falls by a few centimetres. 

During the test campaign, the four legs replicated the structure and dimensions of those that will fly to Mars. The lightweight, deployable legs are interconnected and equipped with shock absorbers to withstand the impact.

Another goal of the campaign was to verify the performance of the touchdown sensors. A system installed in all four legs detects when the spacecraft approaches the surface and triggers the shutdown of the descent engines after a soft landing.  

The landing legs are crucial gear for the safe touchdown of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission in 2030, alongside parachutes and engines that will slow the spacecraft’s descent onto Mars. 

While Thales Alenia Space is the industrial lead of the mission, Airbus provides the landing platform and ALTEC offers technical support.

Plato, the European Space Agency’s mission to discover Earth-like exoplanets, successfully passed a first round of tests designed to ensure that the spacecraft is fit for launch. As this video shows, the tests consist of vigorously shaking the spacecraft to mimic the powerful jolts and vibrations that Plato will experience during launch.

These so-called ‘vibration tests’, are arranged in three parts. In this clip, we see the phase when the spacecraft, mounted on a ‘quad’ shaker, is jolted up and down (Z axis). In the other two stages, on top a ‘lateral’ shaker, the spacecraft is jiggled back and forth sideways in two perpendicular directions (X and Y axes).

Each test run lasts one minute, during which the frequency of the oscillations is gradually increased from 5 to 100 oscillations per second (hertz). At the higher frequencies we can no longer perceive the movement, but we hear the spacecraft’s internal rumbling caused by the fast shaking. The sound comes in waves, becoming louder when the shaker hits resonance frequencies and makes the spacecraft vibrate more intensely.

The first couple of minutes of a satellite's spaceflight are the toughest, as it sustains the extreme vibration of lift-off. By subjecting the spacecraft with these dramatic stresses in advance of the real launch, engineers ensure that no piece of space hardware will be damaged during launch.

Plato is currently undertaking its tough exams to graduate for launch. After vibration tests, the spacecraft was placed inside ESA’s acoustic test chamber and blasted by deafening sound similar to what it will experience during lift-off. Also this test went as expected.

Next, engineers will move the spacecraft to the Large Space Simulator – Europe’s largest vacuum chamber – to verify that it can withstand the extreme temperatures and emptiness of space.

The mission is expected to be ready for launch by the end of the year. Lift-off on an Ariane 6 is planned in by Ariane Space for January 2027.

About Plato

ESA’s Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will use 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars.

Plato's scientific instrumentation, consisting of the cameras and electronic units, is provided through a collaboration between ESA and the Plato Mission Consortium composed of various European research centres, institutes and industries. The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the industrial Plato Core Team led by OHB together with Thales Alenia Space and Beyond Gravity.

Romanian company ATD Aerospace RS SRL is developing a 10 kN rocket engine that can be re-ignited and adjust its thrust. This builds on the 1 kN engine they developed with support from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Before working with ESA, ATD had already created several engines in the 0.5–1 kN range, which paved the way for their later developments. This project is part of ESA’s Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP), that helps develop the technology for future for space transportation systems. By conceiving, designing and investing in technology that doesn’t exist yet, this programme is reducing the risk entailed in developing untried and unproven projects for space.

The firing test seen here shows a water-cooled version as it cycles from 100% thrust to 60% and back to 100%. The test, conducted in Romania in 2025 saw the engine perform as expected. The engine uses hypergolic propellants, which are ideal for spacecraft or rockets that need to store fuel for extended periods.

Turned upside down, the engine could suspend 1000-kg on Earth, the weight of typical hippopotamus. Used as intended it could slow the descent of a rocket stage and ensure a soft touchdown.

Various sensors were used during the test firings to characterise the engine and its functions.

The development involves three designs, starting with an uncooled engine demonstration, a next version that is cooled with water, as seen in this video, and finally a self-contained engine that incorporates its own cooling.

The European Space Agency is financing the development up to the successful test of the final regenerative cooled-engine, reaching a technology readiness level of five with a smaller-scale test firing (TRL5).

Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, briefed journalists on the main milestones for 2026, such as the launch of Smile, a mission that will give humankind its first complete look at how Earth reacts to streams of particles and bursts of radiation from the Sun. Later in 2026 should also see the arrival of BepiColombo at Mercury after its eight-year trip, where it will gather data to answer many perplexing questions about the least-explored planet of the inner Solar System. Many more exciting missions are expected, with ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot launching for the International Space Station, and various Earth Observation and Navigation launches from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Download the press briefing slides

As she flew 400 km above Earth at hypersonic speed, NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps caught a gigantic spark with blue and red flashes shooting upwards.  

This video shows a blue jet propagating into space towards the upper layers of the atmosphere. The beam of light is followed by red flashes spreading like tentacles across the sky.  

You can watch the magnificent show at different speeds, but in reality, it lasted less than a second.  

Jeanette directed a high-resolution camera from the International Space Station towards a summer thunderstorm. With the camera set at the fastest frame rate for slow-motion video, she managed to record the giant jet in all its splendour.   

What the astronaut captured from orbit in July 2024 is rarely visible on Earth because it takes place above the clouds, at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometres. This powerful yet elusive electrical phenomenon is known as a Transient Luminous Event (TLE). 

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the first pulsating jet from space a decade ago, providing a new perspective on electrical activity at the top of thunderstorms. Scientists began to learn what types of clouds trigger such phenomena and how they impact the chemistry of the atmosphere. 

Her recording is part of the Thor-Davis experiment designed to investigate lightning in the upper atmosphere and how it might affect the concentration of greenhouse gases. The experiment is called Thor after the god of thunder, lightning and storms in Nordic mythology, and is led by the Danish Technical University (DTU) together with ESA. 

Lightning triggers powerful electrical bursts in our atmosphere almost every second, yet the inner workings of these forces of nature are still not fully understood. Capturing such phenomena is vital for scientists researching Earth’s weather systems.  

On 17 December 2025, two new Galileo satellites lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This was the 14th launch for Europe’s satellite navigation operational satellite programme, reinforcing Europe’s resilience and autonomy. The flight, VA266, was the first launch of Galileo satellites on Europe’s newest heavy-lift launcher Ariane 6. 

The satellites, designated SAT 33 and SAT 34, separated from the launcher after a flight of just under four hours. The launch was declared successful after acquisition of signal and the confirmation that both satellites are healthy with their solar arrays deployed. 

“With these new satellites, we strengthen Europe’s global navigation services - delivering greater precision, reliability and autonomy in space”, affirmed Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space.  

“Galileo stands as the world’s most accurate global navigation satellite system – and today we have increased its reliability and robustness,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director General.  

The European Space Agency was responsible for carrying out the Galileo launch with Arianespace on behalf of the European Commission. The Galileo satellites were manufactured by OHB, under contract with ESA. Now in orbit, the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) brings the satellites into service and oversees their operation. 

Follow the launch campaign. 

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