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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This image shows construction of ESA's 15-m antenna at Carnarvon, Australia, ca. 1985
A 15 m-diameter tracking station was installed first at the then-existing Carnarvon, Western Australia, facility in July 1985 to help support Giotto, ESA’s first deep-space mission, which encountered Comet Halley in 1986.
Upon completion of initial Giotto support in 1987, and with the pending closure of Carnarvon, the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC(2); which later became Telstra), the Australian telecommunications company owning the Carnarvon Station and also providing the local operations and maintenance (O&M) services for ESA, disassembled, relocated and re-commissioned the entire facility, including the antenna, at the Perth International Telecommunications Centre (PITC), near the city of Perth, Western, Australia.
Perth antenna was retired on 31 December 2015.