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 Canary Islands are located west of Africa and offer some of the world's best locations for astronomical observations. Several large telescopes are located at the facilities on the volcanic mountains of La Palma (left) and Tenerife (right). This infrastructure on the neighbouring islands enables long-distance laser links over 143 km, an ideal testing distance for laser links between the ground and a satellite, where a similar amount of atmosphere needs to be crossed. This image was acquired on 9 November 2011 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS).