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 topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Enhanced composite image taken at 12:00 UT on 10 August 2003, by Europe’s Meteosat Second Generation satellite (MSG-1). A year on from launch, this image illustrates the excellent performance of the innovative radiometer carried by MSG-1.
Composite image of visible information: red shows the 1.6 µm near infrared channel, green is the 8 µm visible channel, and blue the 0.6 µm visible channel. The image has been enhanced to appear ‘natural’ to the human eye.
Built by ESA and operated by Eumetsat, MSG-1 was launched by Ariane a year ago, on 28 August at 22:45 UT, from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana.