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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In the near future, capabilities at the GSRF will evolve to meet the demands of future missions.
This includes, for example, the installation of the avionics engineering models from Gaia (already located on site) and BepiColombo (to be delivered in 2018). These sets of hardware are faithful replicas of the avionics – the essential flight-control systems – of these two spacecraft, and their addition will enable the GSRF to conduct even more comprehensive testing and validation.
“These engineering models will enable engineers to test software for the two spacecraft in a safe environment, before uploading to the actual spacecraft,” says Chris Smith, an engineer working in the facility.
Whether flying multi-year missions around Earth or deep in our Solar System, spacecraft operations is a challenging business.
The GSRF is one more way that ESA ensures missions are safe and successful and meet their increasingly challenging scientific goals.