Where we work

At ESOC, daily operations from specialised control rooms continue 24 hrs/day year-round during a satellite’s life, until mission completion and safe disposal in a ‘graveyard’ or re-entry orbit.

These control rooms provide the crucial data links between ground controllers and their satellites in orbit. We work as a single team to plan, build and manage ground segments for ESA missions, and then we operate spacecraft from our control facilities using a sophisticated and standardised array of mission control hardware and software.

Our technical facilities – the places where we do what we do – include ESOC’s large, general-purpose Main Control Room (MCR), multiple Dedicated Control Rooms (DCR – smaller control rooms dedicated to specific missions or mission families) and the Network Operations Centre, which controls our tracking station network.

ESOC also provides rooms and facilities for flight dynamics, network management, software support, simulations and training and other specialised functions. The Centre also hosts facilities for conducting research or providing services in areas of expertise related to spacecraft operations.