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!
ESAC, the European Space Astronomy Centre, is the home of ESA’s astronomy, planetary and solar/heliospheric missions. All science missions are conducted from here and the resulting data is calibrated, processed, stored and distributed from the same site.
Almost all of ESA’s space science missions rely on the knowledge, expertise and experience of the professionals working at this site, located close to Madrid, Spain. ESA’s Rosetta, XMM-Newton, SOHO, Gaia, Planck, Herschel, Mars and Venus Express and other missions have their activities coordinated here. With many more missions to come, ESAC has been firmly established as the heart of space science in Europe.
In addition to these activities, ESAC also hosts the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) Earth observation satellite, helping to monitor the Earth’s water cycle and providing important clues to the evolution of our changing climate. Also, ESAC owes its roots as a ground station, using its 15m antenna to provide support to past, present and future space missions.
Taking into account all of this, ESAC is also an important nexus for educational activities, with its CESAR programme providing access to the stars for future scientists and engineers
For more information, have a look at our brochure:
ESAC: ESA’s window to the universe and the heart of Europe’s space science activities.