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!
Satellite observations of wind speed (left) and significant wave height (right) for 2010-2011 attempted and successful pirate attacks off Somalia. The GlobWave databases provided observations of significant wave height and surface wind speed for 54% of all pirate attacks. Wind speeds during pirate attacks were mainly low – but once wind speeds exceeded 9 m/s, no successful attacks occurred. Nearly all piracy was in seas with wave height less than 2.5 m, and most attacks were conducted in calm oceans with waves less than 1 m in height. No successful attacks occurred on days where wave height exceeded 2.5 m.