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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Mars, a rocky planet like Earth, has long captured the imagination of humankind, drawn by the idea that it might host some form of life.
Straight-line features observed on Mars and termed ‘canali’ by astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli in the 19th century were mistakenly translated as ‘canals’, leading to a popular belief that huge irrigation networks had been built by intelligent beings: the myth of the Martians was born.
This controversy ended in the 20th century with the arrival of more accurate telescopes. With the dawn of the space age, scientists instead began to look for evidence of the presence of water on the red planet, an essential element for the emergence of life as we know it.
The present-day martian surface, dry and subject to harsh radiation, is too hostile for living organisms to survive. However, microbes may have gained a foothold when the climate was warmer and wetter, over 3.5 billion years ago, leaving traces of early life forms still to be discovered below the surface.