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
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
The sphere of influence of the Sun, or heliosphere, is carved out by the solar wind – a stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun continuously.
The heliosphere expands well beyond the outer fringes of the Solar System where it meets material (dust, gas and cosmic rays) of interstellar origin and interacts with it. The ESA/NASA Ulysses mission was the first to perform direct measurements of interstellar dust and gas, and studied galactic cosmic rays in unprecedented detail.