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 topicVenus Express shown during assembly and integration at Alenia Spazio, Italy, on 8 September 2004, with the PFS instrument visible.
The PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer) instrument for the Venus Express satellite was originally conceived and designed by a team of Russian scientists at IKI (Russian Space Research Institute). Such an instrument is successfully flying on Mars Express and will be launched again to study Venus. The Italian investigators from the CNR's Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario who are staging this experiment work in co-operation with the Russians.