Gaia: on the road to DR2

The second Gaia data release (DR2) is scheduled for April 2018. While Gaia DR1 had increased the number of stars with parallaxes by a factor 20 with respect to the Hipparcos catalogue, Gaia DR2 will bring another factor 500 increase, with parallaxes (and proper motions) for more than a billion stars. In addition, Gaia DR2 will deliver improved accuracy and precision for the astrometric and photometric data, $G$, $G_{\mathrm{B}\mathrm{P}}$, $G_{\mathrm{R}\mathrm{P}}$ magnitudes, radial velocities, identification and characterisation of variable stars and asteroids as well as stellar parameters for stars down to $G=17$ mag. On behalf of the teams of the Gaia-DPAC consortium, these proceedings give a foretaste of Gaia DR2, 6 months before the release.