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!
In this image, acquired on 23 June 2011, Envisat captures part of Greenland's ice sheet and east coast as the winter sea ice recedes. Covering roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland, this ice sheet is the second largest body of ice in the world, after that of Antarctica. Positioned in the Arctic, the 100 000 year-old Greenland ice sheet is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
Last year's temperatures, along with those of 2005 and 1998, were the highest since modern global temperature record-keeping began in 1880, heightening concerns about the rates of ice melt. Ice melt from the sheet is likely to cause substantial sea-level rise in the coming decades.