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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Control room personnel during the launch of ESA's ECS-1 and AMSAT's P3B from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 16 June 1983 aboard an Ariane 1.
The ECS telecommunications satellites each operated up to nine Ku-band transponders working simultaneously through five beams across Europe, with a capacity equivalent to 12 000 telephone circuits or 10 TV channels. Five ECS satellites were built; ECS-3 was lost due to a launcher failure.
After in-orbit testing, ECS-1 was handed over to Eutelsat by ESA on 12 October 1983. It was retired from service in December 1996, having been in service for almost twice its design lifetime of seven years.