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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Pictured here testing Rosetta, the Magnetic Field Simulation Facility (MFSA) of Germany’s IABG, in Ottobrunn near Munich, was more recently employed for testing the magnetic performance of the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft. The MFSA's buildings are made entirely from wood, avoiding steel beams or floors, and it is set in a forest far from population centres or power lines to minimise electromagnetic interference. The facility is fitted with very large magnetic coils to ‘null’ Earth’s magnetic field across a large volume of several cubic metres. The test team then operated the spacecraft in the same way it will run in space, for periods of up to 15,000 seconds - several hours - to get a good map of the magnetic field prevailing near the test masses, and how it varies over time.