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 topicESA's thermal radiation mission
Carrying a Fourier transform spectrometer, FORUM – short for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring – will measure Earth’s outgoing radiation in the far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has never been measured from space before. Data from FORUM will provide unique insight into Earth’s radiation budget and how it is controlled, thereby fill in a missing piece of the climate jigsaw.