The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This Envisat ASAR Wide-Swath radar multicolour composite image is focused over the capital city of Cairo, Egypt, seen as a large bright area centre left of the image. The River Nile crosses the image from south to north separating the Libyan Desert or Western Desert, a part of the Sahara, (west) from the Arabian Desert (east).
From the image it is noticeable that the only fertile territories are along the valley of the River Nile and the Nile Delta (upper left portion of the image). Also visible are the Cairo International Airport, northeast of Cairo (two thick black lines) and three of Egypt's most famous pyramids, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, or Cheops, and the Khafre and Menkaure pyramids, which may be observed in the southwestern suburb of Cairo, Giza (in full size mode).
The image is made of three ASAR images acquired on different dates and assigning a colour (RGB) to each date.