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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Underneath the thermal insulation cover there is a complex set of telescopes and prisms through which incoming light is initially separated into four main bandwidths. Different gases in the atmosphere absorb different wavelengths of light. The GOME-2 spectrometer is used to split the light into different wavelengths to reveal absorption lines, which correspond to certain gases present the observed sample. GOME-2 covers the 240-790 nm wavelength regions, that is wavelengths covering ultraviolet and visible light.