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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BepiColombo passing through Earth's shadow in the morning on 10 April 2020 shortly after its close flyby of Earth as captured by a telescope operated by the ESA Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre in Chile. Each frame of the animation was obtained with 2-second exposure as the 25 cm telescope tracked the spacecraft. The BepiColombo spacecraft can be seen as a small dot in the middle of the image surrounded with trailed lines moving through the field of view representing stars.
The Earth flyby, which helped BepiColombo adjust its trajectory, is the first of nine gravity-assist manoeuvres the spacecraft will perform during its seven-year journey to Mercury. There will be two flybys at Venus and further six at Mercury, all helping the spacecraft to brake against the gravitational pull of the Sun in order to enable it to enter the correct orbit around the smallest and innermost planet of the Solar System. During the Earth flyby the spacecraft got as close as 12 700 km away from the planet's surface and was observable to astronomers, including amateurs, equipped with small telescopes.