On February 27th, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot will perform the final scientific crew activity on the Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL) on board of the International Space Station (ISS) before its decommissioning in the summer of 2026. Sophie will exchange sample cells in the Soft Matter Dynamics (SMD) experiment container.

Our society is becoming more and more complex, with increasing challenges in all fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The solutions need to be adapted to everyone who inhabits this world, meaning that these solutions need to be shaped by people representative of everyone.

The Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) co-led a study published in Communications: Earth & Environment that demonstrates for the first time the impact of these anomalous episodes on the transformation of Mars into the arid planet we know today.

BIRA-IASB scientist Mahesh Kumar Sha gave an interview on Traceable Measurements for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring at the BIPM’s (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) Scientific Conference during the 150th Anniversary of the Metre Convention.

3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet originating from another stellar system. New research led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) shows that 3I/ATLAS does not directly expose the material from which it formed. Instead, the pristine ice of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lies beneath an outer layer of primordial material progressively altered by cosmic rays over billions of years.

EURAMET-BIOSPHERE ran from 2022 until September 2025 and has successfully developed tools, methodologies and measurement infrastructures needed to evaluate the mutual impact of cosmic rays and biologically active ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Such results support EU policy makers with scientific assessments and information that have the potential to substantially improve policies on climate, health and anthropogenic emission activities.