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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Testing the deployment of the Sentinel-1A radar antenna in the cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, on 21 January 2014. As the satellite is designed to operate in orbit, it is hung from a structure during tests to simulate weightlessness.
The Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, will provide an all-weather day-and-night supply of imagery for services such as the monitoring of Arctic sea-ice extent, routine sea-ice mapping, surveillance of the marine environment, monitoring land-surface for motion risks and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations.
Sentinel-1A – the first satellite built for the Copernicus environmental monitoring programme – is foreseen for launch in the spring of 2014 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.