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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Atomic clocks at ESTEC's Navigation Laboratory: the container on the far right of the image houses an active hydrogen maser atomic clock - an order of magnitude more accurate than the passive hydrogen masers aboard each Galileo satellite, themselves accurate to one second in three million years. The rack to its left houses additional caesium clocks, with a clock comparison system to its left and a clock distribution system to send data to users visible on the left hand side of the image.
Once Galileo services start, ESA’s Navigation Lab will play an important role independently validating Galileo timing performance. Its atomic clocks, offering precise timings for ESA missions and experiments, are also contributing to the global setting of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the replacement for GMT.