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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This image of the lunar surface was taken on 25 August 2006 at 15:48 CEST (13:48 UT) by the star tracker (attitude camera) on board ESA's SMART-1, from a distance of 744 km above the Moon surface. The spacecraft was travelling at a speed of 1.6 kilometres per second.
Remarkably, at the time the image was taken the star tracker was still producing valid attitude samples based on the few stars that are visible in the image. This image was taken as a test, meaning that the spacecraft pointing was not optimised for star tracker imaging. The Moon features on the photo still have to be identified.