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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The Mississippi River Delta empties sediment into the Gulf of Mexico in this Envisat image acquired on 6 February 2007 with its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument. Over the last several decades, however, the delta’s sediment load has been drastically reduced by natural and man-made factors, causing extensive land loss, which is mostly wetland loss. If this process continues at the current pace, Louisiana could be left with less than 5 percent of the wetlands it had in the 1930s. As wetlands erode, parts of Louisiana, such as New Orleans (the light yellow crescent just below the inland lake, Lake Pontchartrain), become completely exposed to storms coming in from the gulf.