Live coverage: Europe’s Mars mission launches

Analysing gravity data from the Curiosity Mars rover, researchers have found Gale Crater might not have been completely filled in the distant past.

European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst captured this spectacular view of the moon just above Earth’s discernible atmosphere from his perch aboard the International Space Station. ESA held a workshop this week focused on extracting lunar resources.

In this image we see the young lunar crescent as seen from the International Space Station by ESA astronaut Tim Peake on 9 February 2016. At the time of the photograph the Moon was just 1.2 days old. Features on the Earth-facing side of the Moon not directly illuminated by the Sun are glowing softly due to earthshine, light reflected onto the Moon from our planet.