Image: This image, captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2, gives us a glimpse of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, sprawling for 40 km along this high-altitude valley in the Andes.

How can Earth observation data play a more central role in guiding future decisions on the environment? This was one of the questions asked at an ESA-hosted event that brought together leaders from Earth observation science with the global statistics community.

Image: Part of the rugged and deeply indented coast of northeastern Greenland is featured in this radar image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1.

The third ESA Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum (ESA CommEO) will bring together the global Earth observation ecosystem for three days of insights, innovation and high-level networking. It takes place in Seville, Spain, from 12–14 May 2026, but you can join selected sessions online to hear about the latest trends arising in the Earth observation commercial market.  

In the far northern reaches of Finnish Lapland, an ambitious new chapter in Earth observation is unfolding. The European Space Agency, together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Finnish industrial partners, is advancing plans to develop a state-of-the-art ‘supersite’ in Sodankylä. The plan is to equip this remote site with an array of new advanced…

Student teams from Queen Mary University of London and AGH University of Kraków have been selected for the July 2026 test window of the Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities programme following a call for proposals opened in January 2026. The proposal evaluation and selection were carried out by the Fly Your Satellite! team and CubeSat…

Thirteen European satellites on the same rideshare launcher have successfully reached orbit, bringing capabilities to Italian and Greek monitoring programmes as well as CubeSats that will test satellite connectivity.

A constellation of four new satellites has been launched for Greece, marking a world first for a national satellite capability dedicated to wildfire detection and tracking. The mission is the result of cooperation between the Greek government, private satellite company OroraTech and the European Space Agency (ESA), supported through the EU-funded Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Italy’s IRIDE Earth observation programme has added seven more satellites to its Hawk for Earth Observation (HEO) constellation, enhancing the strategic data it provides for Italy’s environmental, emergency and security services.

The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite, launched last November, is now fully operational after successfully completing its critical in-orbit commissioning phase. With all four Sentinel-1 satellites having now been deployed, this achievement marks a major milestone for this flagship radar mission – a journey that began more than a decade ago and that has helped pave the…