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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Taking part in NASA's NEEMO 21 underwater training mission, Matthias Maurer, from the European Astronaut Centre, tests a new version of ESA’s wearable ‘mobile procedure viewer’ prototype, 'mobiPV', that gives astronauts access to hands-free instructions with audio and video that only they hear and see.
During their stay in a permanent underwater base off the coast of Florida, the NEEMO 21 crew are enacting a mission to Mars to test equipment for astronauts. The six ‘aquanauts’ will spend 16 days 20 m underwater in their habitat and perform ‘waterwalks’ – by adjusting their buoyancy, the aquanauts can simulate Mars gravity.
mobiPV will be used by the aquanauts to help take and analyse water samples throughout the mission to test AquaPad, an ESA-led investigation to filter water cheaply and easily using a new type of biomimetic membrane that copies nature.
Read more: Return to the underwater space station