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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A view of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which is buried at depths between 1.5 and 2.5 kilometers below the Antarctic ice, at the South Pole. The only visible equipment above the surface is the IceCube Lab, which hosts the computers that collect data from the over 5,000 light sensors in the ice.
In this artistic rendering, an image of the sensors based on measurements of the neutrino event IceCube-170922A, recorded on 22 September 2017, is shown underneath the laboratory. On this occasion, IceCube detected a neutrino while at the same time gamma rays were detected by other telescopes on Earth and in space; the observations revealed that both ‘cosmic messenger’ have their origin in a blazar, a type of active galaxy with one of its jets pointing toward Earth.
ESA's INTEGRAL gamma-ray observatory was part of the international collaboration that observed this source. While it did not record any prompt burst of gamma rays from this blazar nor observed it to be in a flaring state, this non-detection provided important information to help constrain the properties of the source.