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 topicA flying observatory to measure Earth down to the millimetre
Genesis will contribute to a highly improved reference frame of Earth with an accuracy of 1 mm and a long-term stability of 0.1 mm/year, providing a coordinate system for the most rigorous navigation applications on our planet. The Genesis satellite will combine the main geodetic techniques (very-long-baseline interferometry, satellite laser ranging, global navigation satellite systems and possibly DORIS), synchronising and cross-calibrating the instruments to determine biases inherent to each technic, allowing to correct them for superior precision.
An updated International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) will have immediate benefits on satellite-based systems, impacting Galileo-enabled applications in fields like aviation, traffic management, autonomous vehicles, positioning and navigation. In addition, an enhanced ITRF will benefit countless other fields, including meteorology, natural hazard prediction, monitoring climate change effects, land management and surveying, study of gravitational and non-gravitational forces, among many others.