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!
A cut-away schematic of Jupiter's space environment shows magnetically trapped radiation ions (in red), the neutral gas torus of the volcanic moon Io (green) and the newly discovered neutral gas torus of the moon Europa (blue). The white lines represent magnetic field lines.
Energetic neutral atoms (ENA) are emitted from the Europa torus regions because of the interaction between the trapped ions and the neutral gases. The Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft imaged those energetic neutral atoms in early 2001 during Cassini's flyby of Jupiter. Energetic neutral atoms also come from Jupiter when radiation ions impinge onto Jupiter's upper atmosphere.