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
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
This Envisat radar image, acquired on 5 March 2011, features the Brunt Ice Shelf/Stancomb-Wills Ice Tongue system on the coast of northern Coats Land in east Antarctica. The system is a thin unbounded ice shelf attached to Caird Coast at the eastern margin of the Weddell Sea. The Brunt Ice Shelf (far left) and the Stancomb-Wills Ice Tongue (centre) are connected by a mass of icebergs bound together by up to 50m of extraordinarily thick fast ice and smaller meteoric ice blocks. The ice-covered Lyddan Island is visible to the right of the Stancomb-Wills Ice Tongue. With its 3 narrow arms, the island resembles the tail of a whale.