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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Radar interferometry is a remote sensing technique that combines two or more radar images over the same area to detect changes occurring between acquisitions. Using this technique with data from the ERS satellites, scientists were able to map the retreat of the Pine Island Glacier’s grounding line – where the ice stream lifts up off the land and begin to float out over the ocean. From 1992 to 2011, the grounding line retreated on average by about 20 km, reaching 40 km in the central section.