ESA Vigil, the newly named space weather mission, will fly to a unique, gravitationally stable position trailing 150 million kilometres behind Earth. From here, it will survey the ‘side’ of the Sun, as well as the space between the Sun and Earth, reporting home in real-time. ESA Vigil will help spot sources of dangerous solar activity before they rotate into view from Earth as well as tracking enormous explosions that could severely disrupt satellites in space and infrastructure on the ground, threatening the health of astronauts in space or, in future, on the Moon.