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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A rare view from behind of the solar wings built for ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle – the side that does not point at the Sun and is not covered in solar cells, a bright white to help proof it against corrosive atomic oxygen.
Here, an engineer at Dutch Space, down the road from ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in nearby Leiden, is seen checking the hinges used to deploy ATV’s solar wings.