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 topicOn 31 October 2003 Esther Murenghi pours the water she have just collected from a pit and that she will use to water her field, on the shores of Lake Naivasha, some 100km north of Nairobi, Kenya. The cabbage field she grows is also irrigated thanks to an engine pump that distributes water from the nearby lake: Lake Naivasha, the only freshwater lake in the Rift Valley, is a fragile eco-system endangered by the over exploitation of its alkaline free water used to feed the many flower plantations that have mushroomed around its shores.