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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Most of the ESA's previous interplanetary missions have been to relatively cold parts of the Solar System. BepiColombo is the Agency's first to Mercury, where the solar intensity is about 10 times that at Earth. The spacecraft will experience temperatures in excess of 450C – hotter than a pizza oven. To cope with this, external coatings and mechanisms had to be developed and individually tested to prove their capability.