New mission!
📢☀️🛰️
ICYMI, we’re working with @ukspaceagency.bsky.social and NASA to downlink space weather data from the IMAP solar observatory.
Learn more about our work and how the data will support crewed exploration as part of NASA's Moon-to-Mars programme:
www.goonhilly.org/Goonhilly-to...
Artist's impression of SMILE spacecraft. Credit: ESA
Read more about the UK's involvement in the mission 👉 www.gov.uk/government/c...
ESA Smile is fuelled for launch! 🛰️ ⛽
The UK-backed space weather mission will give scientists their first complete picture of how Earth responds to the solar wind - the streams of particles and bursts of radiation emitted by the Sun. ☀️
From the heart of Cornwall, @goonhilly.org is gearing up to support NASA's Artemis II mission, providing critical lunar communications tracking as astronauts venture back to the Moon. 📡🌒
It's a great example of the UK's contribution to global space exploration. 🚀
Read more 👇
How do you control a spacecraft heading to the Moon? 🌕
NASA flight director Fiona Antkowiak spoke to Space Boffins
about her plans for the Artemis II mission.
Plus, Space Forge and Bio Orbit discuss the future of factories in space. 🛰️
🎧Listen here: www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/ast...
Six UK space tech startups have joined ESA BIC UK to turn bold ideas into real solutions - from tackling orbital debris to detecting wildfires. 🛰️
We're proud to support this programme and look forward to following their progress. 🚀
Read more 👉 ukri.org/news/uk-spac...
Artist's impression of SMILE spacecraft. Credit: ESA
Read more about the UK's involvement in the mission 👉 www.gov.uk/government/c...
Smile has arrived in French Guiana where it will go through final preparations for launch between 8 April and 7 May. 🚀
UK researchers are leading a key instrument and co-leading the science on this landmark mission, which will transform our understanding of how Earth responds to the solar wind. 🌍
Our Senior Project Manager Jodie Howlett spoke to BBC Inside Science about why space could be the perfect environment for manufacturing the next generation of medicines. 💊
Listen here 👉 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Read more 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...
British Science Week 2026
Today marks the start of British Science Week! 🚀
Space technologies benefit our daily lives more than we might think - from GPS to banking to monitoring climate change. 🛰️
#BSW2026
Artist's impression of the Euclid spacecraft. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab (spacecraft); NASA, ESA, CXC, C. Ma, H. Ebeling and E. Barrett (University of Hawaii/IfA), et al. and STScI (background)
Learn more about the UK's involvement in the mission 👉 gov.uk/government/c...
Euclid and Hubble images of the Cat's Eye Nebula. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Q1-2025, J.-C. Cuillandre & E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay), Z. Tsvetanov
Hubble and ESA's Euclid have teamed up to reveal the Cat's Eye Nebula in extraordinary new detail.🌌
The Euclid mission is imaging vast swathes of the sky to help explore dark matter and energy, with an instrument onboard funded by £37 million from the UK Space Agency.
👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
Extraordinary new image of comet 3I/ATLAS, captured by ESA's JUICE from 66 million km away - showing its glowing coma, sweeping tail, jets and filaments. ☄️
We invested £9m into JUICE's science instruments, with British universities and industry playing a central role.
👉 www.gov.uk/government/c...
A shiny, golden spacecraft at the centre of the frame stretches out its two solar panels towards the top and bottom. The panels are not quite fully stretched, with two slight bends in each. In the background, we see Earth, with the horizon curving from left to right across the top third of the frame.
📣 Call for journalists: attend the Smile launch media event at Europe’s Spaceport!
Smile is a scientific collaboration between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Science. The mission will study how Earth responds to the solar wind.
Registration details 👉 www.esa.int/Newsroom/Pre... 1/2
🔭 🧪 ☀️
We are thrilled to announce that Mauve has achieved ‘first light’, beginning a new era in astronomical data delivery from small, rapidly built space telescopes. 🛰️
Mauve was pointed at its first calibration target, eta UMa, a bright star in the constellation Ursa Major. 🌟
Annelies Look
Chris White-Horne
Our Deputy CEOs Annelies Look and Chris White-Horne have decided to leave the Civil Service in the summer to pursue new opportunities, after long and successful careers spanning MOD, NATO, DHSC, DfT and now DSIT.
Read more 👉 linkedin.com/feed/update/...
We are pleased to announce that Rebecca Evernden has been appointed as Director of the new UK Space Agency.
Rebecca is passionate about maximising the UK’s space potential, having worked in space for ten years.
Read more 👉
linkedin.com/feed/update/...
UK Space Agency t-shirts are now available from the
@sciencemuseum.org.uk shop! 🚀
Grab yours today. 👇
Professor Mike Cruise.
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Mike Cruise, a leading figure in space science whose work on gravitational waves transformed our understanding of the Universe.
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
Seven women. Seven careers. Seven pieces of advice.
For #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience we’re celebrating the voices and wisdom of women shaping science and technology across Europe. #IDWGS #WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/shorts/BNk-b...
Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! 👩🏾🔬👩🏻🔧👩🏼🚀
Following in the footsteps of the UK's first astronaut, Helen Sharman, are UK ESA astronaut Rosemary Coogan, Member of ESA's Astronaut Reserve @astromeganne.bsky.social. 👩🚀👩🚀👩🚀
Hear from Meganne on who inspired her. 👇
An intern standing in front of a satellite dish at Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall, UK.
Our new Skills for Space programme is offering paid internships across the UK space sector. 🎓
Running for eight weeks this summer, the programme gives undergraduates and FE students hands-on experience working on real-world projects. 🛰️
Learn more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...
ForgeStar®. Credit: Space Forge
We've awarded contacts to 3 UK companies to explore manufacturing advanced materials in Low Earth Orbit.🛰️🌍
Microgravity conditions could enable production of life-saving medicines, and semiconductors that are difficult to make on Earth. 💊
Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...
Chuong Van Dang, Chief of Staff at Magdrive, Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, Mark Stokes, CEO and co-founder of Magdrive, Anotonia Yendell, Head of Space Ecosystem at the UK Space Agency. Credit: Stuart Harrison / Magdrive
A new laboratory helping UK companies test satellite engines has opened at Harwell Campus.🚀
The DEEP Lab, built by Magdrive with support from us, gives businesses access to specialist testing facilities for electric propulsion systems. 🛰️
Read more 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...
Excellent work Freya! 🛰️👩🔬
#CanSat
UK Space Agency CEO, Dr Paul Bate.
After 4.5 years leading the UK Space Agency, our CEO, Dr Paul Bate is stepping down in March.
Under Paul's leadership, the Agency secured record ESA investment, welcomed 3 new UK astronauts & expanded national space funding.
We wish Paul all the best.
Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...
Airbus Launchpad opening with Kata Escott, Managing Director Airbus Defence and Space UK, Kevin Bonavia, MP for Stevenage, and Craig Brown, Director of Investment at the UK Space Agency. Credit: Airbus
The Airbus Launchpad is open. 🚀
The £3.9m UK Space Agency-backed facility will give space SMEs and start-ups free access to labs and testing facilities in Stevenage. 🛰️
Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...
ColKa (Columbus Ka-band antenna). Credit: ESA–M. Cowan.
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover installing the Columbus KA-band antenna (ColKa) outside ESA’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Credit: ESA/NASA
Five years of ColKa! 🎉
On this day in 2021, the UK's first industrial contribution to the International Space Station was installed. 🛰️
Built by MDA Space UK and funded by us, ColKa transmits data faster, revolutionising how scientists in the UK and Europe access experiment results. 📡
Sign for the 18th European Space Conference 2026.
Audience at a conference viewing a large screen featuring a speaker.
We're at the 18th European Space Conference in Brussels, where space industry, academia and decision-makers from across Europe are meeting to discuss shared challenges and collaboration opportunities. 🚀
Promotional poster for Demo Day on 24th February 2026, organized by UK Space Agency and E-Spark, featuring collage of enthusiastic attendees in business and casual attire, engaging in discussions and networking. The poster is predominantly blue with an invitation to join the event.
Fusion’s Virtual Demo Day will kick off in February. 🚀
If you are an investor, book your place to meet UK’s most promising space entrepreneurs and explore the technologies shaping the sector’s future. 🛰️
📅 24 February
⏰ 10:00 am
Register here 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fusion-vir...
