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 topicAfter closest approach to Earth, VIRTIS took a series of high-resolution images of our planet in visible and infrared light from a distance of 250 000 kilometres and with a resolution of 62 kilometres per pixel. The images are shown as they were acquired, without rotating them. The North Pole is on the left of the image. This animation was produced using visible light images taken in red, green and blue light to obtain a true-colour Earth.