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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Javier Benedicto, ESA's Galileo Project Manager, looks on as Europe's own satellite navigation system performs its historic first position fix of longitude, latitude and altitude. The position fix took place at the Navigation Laboratory at ESA’s technical heart ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands on the morning of 12 March, with an accuracy between 10 and 15 metres – expected taking into account the limited infrastructure deployed so far. Horizontal accuracy reached as high as 6 m. The left-side screen shows the position fix while the right side screen shows the position of the four Galileo satellites and their current signal coverage.