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 was acquired on 7 December 2006 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument and shows the smoke arising from raging fires burning across the state of Victoria in the southeastern corner of Australia. As well as detecting the smoke billowing from major conflagrations, satellites also detect the fires themselves. For a decade now, ESA satellites have been continuously surveying fires burning across the Earth’s surface.