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 22 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 topicThis photo shows the wide-field camera on board the COROT satellite. The camera consists of two parts, one for each of the two mission objectives (exoplanet search and asteroseismology), and operates in the visible. Both mission goals require the camera to be sensitive to changes in a star's light of just one part in one hundred thousand.
During the mission, the COROT telescope will collect the light from thousands of stars and feed it into the camera.