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
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The Michelson Doppler Imager, from Stanford University, on board the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft, maps flows of sub-surface currents of gas, equivalent to the deep ocean currents on Earth.
It reveals how hot gas rising from the deep interior can be throttled by magnetic whirlpools to create the relatively cool dimples in the surface that we see as dark sunspots.