The countdown begins 🚀 Set your reminders for the 2025 Christmas Lectures, supported by CGI: 28, 29 and 30 December at 7.00pm on BBC Four and iPlayer. Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock will take us on a whistle-stop tour of the Universe searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life.

On this day in 2003, Beagle 2 separated from ESA's Mars Express to make its way to the Martian surface, landing on 25 December.🔴 10 years ago, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter located the lander, finding it intact but partially deployed. 🛰️ Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...

It's time to announce the winners of our #KeepSpaceTidy Christmas card competition! The overall winner is…. Leo Pickard! 🎉 Congratulations Leo, we will be using your card design to wish our followers a Happy Christmas this year. 🎄

Today we’re celebrating 10 years since Tim Peake's historic Principia mission. 🧑‍🚀 Tim spent 186 days in space, landing back on Earth on 18 June 2016. 🌍 Watch some of the highlights from his mission.

#OnThisDay 1️⃣0️⃣ years ago, 15 December 2015, Tim Peake🇬🇧 became first British @esa.int astronaut and second British citizen in space on his #Principia mission to the International Space Station. www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @daraobriain.bsky.social @cmdr-hadfield.bsky.social @ukspaceagency.bsky.social

On this day in 2015, Tim Peake became the UK’s second astronaut when he launched to the International Space Station. 🚀 Today we’re celebrating 10 years since Tim historic Principia mission. Hear from Rosemary Coogan, Meganne Christian and John McFall on how Tim's mission inspired them.

🌌 It’s the peak of the Geminid meteor shower this weekend and with the Moon below the horizon for most of Friday & Saturday night it should be a great show this year. To find out more see my latest piece for the @ukspaceagency.bsky.social blog over at: space.blog.gov.uk/2025/12/08/g...

#ESAhighlights 2025 is out now. 👀 Read our free ESA Highlights magazine, summarising a complete year of space activity in impactful images and in-depth articles. 📅 👇 www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA... Full PDF 🔗 esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corpora...

The Geminids meteor shower peaks this Saturday! ☄️ It's one of the most spectacular meteor showers in the calendar and the best time to look will be after midnight, where more meteors are likely to be visible.👀 Learn more about how to see them on our blog 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/12/08/g...

Last week, the UK committed £1.7 billion for @esa.int programmes at ESA's Council of Ministers meeting, held in Bremen, Germany. 💷🚀🛰🌍 This will drive economic growth, strengthen national security and support innovations in connectivity and public services.

22.1 billion euros subscribed. A record. A first. And a clear message that Europe is serious about space and that @esa.int is the agency it trusts to deliver. A historic Ministerial. A united Europe. A stronger ESA. www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...

Today marks a milestone for European space exploration. The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.1 billion, were just approved at our Ministerial Council meeting in Bremen, Germany. #CM25 More details 👇 www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...

Ministers’ negotiations at @esa.int #CM25 in Bremen, Germany, have now concluded. 🤝 So, what are some of the outcomes? 👇 The UK will invest £1.7 billion in ESA programmes, driving economic growth, strengthening national security and supporting innovations in connectivity and public services.

We’re looking forward to #CM25 this week. It’s here that ministers will agree on funding across many programme areas such as exploration, space science, Earth observation, telecoms and space safety. 🌍🛰 Follow along with everything happening at #CM25. 👇

Fancy winning some UK Space Agency goodies, including a mission patch? 🚀 Our Christmas Card competition is back! Design a card illustrating the need to #KeepSpaceTidy so Santa and satellites stay safe. 🛰️ Closes 5pm on 15 December. Enter here 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/11/20/%...

1 year to go until Bepi Colombo arrives at Mercury! The spacecraft, carrying UK-built instruments on board, began its mission to Mercury in 2018 and will increase our understanding of the planet's composition, structure, and atmosphere.🌕 Learn more 👉 gov.uk/government/c...

European space innovation, in action at sea 🌊 Through the Sunrise Partnership with @esaconnectivity.esa.int and @ukspaceagency.bsky.social, our OneWeb LEO network is keeping Kairos’s WeExplore connected while the crew carries out vital scientific work. Check out the full story, below ⤵️

The Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite has successfully launched and is now in orbit, monitoring global sea levels from space. 🛰️ It will measure sea surface height and wind speeds to improve weather forecasts and climate predictions. 🌍 Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...

Preparations are underway for the launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite, with a UK propulsion system on board. 🛰️ Scheduled for launch on Monday, it will monitor sea levels from space to improve weather and climate forecasts. 🌍 Read more 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...

NOW LIVE: The Queen’s Lecture with Prof. Adam Amara from @uniofsurrey.bsky.social and @ukspaceagency.bsky.social on “Cosmic Origins and Alien Worlds: The Next Era of Space Exploration” 🎥 follow online: www.youtube.com/live/gh6B6H2...

UK company @blueskiesspace.bsky.social is set to launch its first science satellite, Mauve, soon. 🚀🔭 Designed for a 3-year mission, Mauve aims to demonstrate that small satellites can deliver high-impact science at low cost. 🛰️🌌 Read more: space.blog.gov.uk/2025/11/06/b...

Peering through dust clouds, the @esa.int #Euclid mission has uncovered new stars being formed in Orion. 🔭⭐️ Euclid 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. 🌌

Happy Halloween! 🎃 It's not just Earth that's getting spooky today – space has some cosmically creepy sights too. 👻 The Witch Head Nebula, known as IC 2118, is a reflection nebula that glows an eerie blue colour thanks to light reflected from its star Rigel.

The UK is a world-leader in helping keep space safe and sustainable. 🌍 We're backing Slingshot Aerospace as part of an expansion of UK satellite tracking capabilities. 📡 Read more: payloadspace.com/uksa-taps-sl...

Join us for the UK Lunar Community Workshop on 28 November at the Royal Astronomical Society - opened by our CEO Paul Bate - to explore the UK's future on the Moon with leading experts from science, policy, industry and law. 🌕 Learn more and register by 30 October 👇

The Habitable Worlds Observatory will answer the profound question of are we alone in the universe. 🌌 The UK is interested in leading on a high-resolution imager, and we're proud to support @ucl.ac.uk and partners in this exciting opportunity to help NASA search for life on Earth-like worlds. 🌍

Our physicists are investigating how a UK-led team could design and build a core instrument for a NASA mission to search for life on distant planets. The Habitable Worlds Observatory is expected to launch in the 2040s 👉 www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/... @ucl.ac.uk @ukspaceagency.bsky.social

Ready to train like an astronaut? Teachers - sign up your class for Mission X, engaging with space to promote fitness and teamwork! ☄️🏃 Mission X is joint programme between us, the @esa.int and ESERO UK, connecting classrooms to space. 🌔 Learn more and sign up 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/19/t...

UK stargazers - the Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight! 🔭 The Orionids is the result of fragments of debris left by Halley’s Comet as it last passed through our inner Solar System in 1986, and will enter our atmosphere at around 66 kilometres (40 miles) per second. ☄️

Thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency, over 100 Scouts hosted a live Q&A session with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station last weekend. 📡 🛰️ 🧑‍🚀 Read more 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/20/s...

🛰️🎸#SpaceStationEarth is back! This mesmerising live show fusing music and imagery from the ISS goes on a new UK tour next year, offering audiences a unique chance to experience the awe and wonder of spaceflight. www.esa.int/Space_in_Mem... @ukspaceagency.bsky.social @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social

🚗A self-driving car... in the middle of nowhere? That's what SmartCity MK CIC are trying to achieve, thanks to a recently awarded contract from @esa.int and @ukspaceagency.bsky.social This could be crucial for emergency response in underserved areas🌍 www.smartcityconsultancy.co.uk/news/uk-spac...

Proud to share our CEO Paul Bate is in The Raconteur 50 for exceptional leadership! 🎉 Under his leadership, the UK Space Agency is helping transform our space sector's capabilities into tangible benefits for society and the economy. 🛰️ 🌍 Read more 👉 www.raconteur.net/leadership/t...

On 15 December 2015, Tim Peake became the UK’s second astronaut when he launched to the International Space Station. 🚀 He flew with crewmates Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko. 👨‍🚀👨‍🚀👨‍🚀 Watch the highlights of Tim’s mission 👉 esa.int/ESA_Multimed... #WSW2025

It's #WSW2025 and the theme this year is “Living in Space". 👩‍🚀👨‍🚀 In 1991, Helen Sharman became Britain’s first astronaut when she launched to the Mir space station as a research cosmonaut. 🚀🇬🇧 Her mission lasted 8 days, during which time she conducted medical and agricultural experiments. 🌍 #WSW2025

It’s Supermoon Season! 🌕 The first of 3 supermoons of 2025 - the full Harvest Moon - will appear tonight, rising at 6:20 pm BST. 🔭 It will be the largest and brightest full Moon this year. If you miss this one, don't worry - two more supermoons are coming in November and December. 🌕 #WSW2025

It's World Space Week and this year's theme: 'Living in Space'. We'll be marking #WSW2025 by looking at how astronauts live and work in space, and highlighting the UK's human spaceflight achievements - from Helen Sharman's Mir mission to Tim Peake's flight to the International Space Station. 👩‍🚀👨‍🚀

The UK Space Agency and the Australian Space Agency have renewed the Space Bridge partnership at #IAC2025. 🤝 The framework builds on the initial Space Bridge established in 2021, designed to strengthen collaboration across both nations’ space sectors. Read more 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/10/01/u...

We’re boosting 23 international projects with £6.5m! 🚀 These collaborations with global partners span cutting-edge areas from lunar agriculture to orbital threat detection - demonstrating the UK's commitment to global partnerships and innovation. 🤝🌍 Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/n...

✨Inspiring to talk to British Paralympian, surgeon, astronaut (and namesake!) John McFall. He's set to be the 1st 👨‍🚀 with a physical disability to take part in a long-duration mission to the International Space Station, a landmark for human space exploration 🚀 @ukspaceagency.bsky.social @esa.int 👇

The MicroCarb satellite has captured its first view of Earth, marking a major milestone following its July launch. 🛰️ 🌍 The satellite from a UK - @cnes.fr partnership is helping to tackle climate change from space. 🌳🌊 Read more in @nceoscience.bsky.social's blog. 👉 space.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/26/m...

Fantastic news that @esa.int has chosen WIVERN – Wind Velocity Radar Nephoscope – as its next Earth Explorer mission! Developed in the UK, it will be the first satellite to measure wind inside clouds, helping improve forecasts for storms and flooding globally. 🌧️ Read more 👉 esa.int/Applications...

UK tech has launched on NASA IMAP! 🚀 The mission will help to protect satellites and ensure safer human space exploration. @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social’s MAG instrument, funded by us, will provide crucial data to improve our understanding of space weather. ☀️ 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Tomorrow, NASA’s IMAP mission will liftoff from Kennedy Space Center at 12:32 pm BST.🚀 @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social’s MAG instrument, funded by us, will measure the interplanetary magnetic field and identify the waves that scatter particles in the solar wind.☀️ Read more 👉 gov.uk/government/c...

🚀Delighted to meet my namesake John McFall who's set to be the 1st astronaut with a physical disability to go to the International Space Station on a long-duration mission. We spoke of how microgravity experiments advance science, engineering and medicine @esa.int @ukspaceagency.bsky.social 🧵1/2

With £1.5 million of funding from us, 6 innovative projects will use satellite technology and AI to deliver real-world impact across a range of Britain's sectors. 🛰️🚅🌱 We're bringing the benefits of space down to Earth. 🌍🔭 👉 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Plato has arrived! ESA's planet-hunting spacecraft has safely arrived at ESTEC, where engineers will attach its solar panels and sunshield before running critical tests to ensure everything's ready for launch. 🚀

Big Mars news! 🔴 While more data is required, these findings could represent the most promising evidence yet of ancient life on Mars. 🧬 We supported scientists at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social on the work, putting UK science at the heart of this discovery. 🔭

UK stargazers, there will be a total lunar eclipse at moonrise this Sunday evening! ☀️ 🌍🌕 The eclipse will begin while the Moon is below the horizon, reaching its maximum 20 minutes before moonrise, meaning we'll catch totality before the Moon exits Earth's shadow. 🔴 👉 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Solar Orbiter's ground-breaking research demonstrates why science is at the heart of space weather forecasting.☀️ Using UK-built instruments to identify solar energetic electron events, we're building the knowledge needed to protect satellites, astronauts and space infrastructure. 🛰️