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 topicAn example of the power of Grid computing: an overview of changing chlorophyll concentrations associated with marine phytoplankton populations during the Mediterranean summer from May to September 2004, created by combining monthly mosaics of ocean colour data from multiple images acquired by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on Envisat. Phytoplankton fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forming the base of the marine food chain and help regulate the carbon cycle and through it the global climate system. They are extremely sensitive to variations in local sea conditions. The changing colours indicate chlorophyll concentrations in mg/m3 between 0.01 (darkest blue) to 10.0 (bright red). The white areas mean no data due to cloud cover.