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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Polar Platform structural model in its launch configuration on ESTEC's new Hydra 6-degrees-of-freedom hydraulic shaker undergoing the sinusoidal vibration qualification test. The lower (yellow) section is the Service Module (SM); the upper (black) section is the Payload Module (PLM) on which the mechanical dummies of the Earth observation instruments are visible on the nadir face. At the lower part of the PLM, the inclined instrument is the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR). Vibration tests performed in January 1997. [Image Date: 01-01-97] [97.01.011-028]