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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It isn’t only software that gets ‘stretched on the rack’: the GSRF also tests a wide variety of hardware – modulators, demodulators, front-end processors, radio-frequency amplifiers, gigahertz cyclotrons, hydrogen masers and much, much more.
This technology is used in ESA’s tracking station network – Estrack – a global system of ground stations providing links between satellites in orbit and ESOC. The core Estrack network comprises seven stations in seven countries.
The essential task of all ESA ground tracking stations is to communicate with spacecraft, transmitting commands and receiving scientific data and spacecraft status information.
The technically advanced stations can track spacecraft almost anywhere – circling Earth, watching the Sun, orbiting at the scientifically crucial Sun–Earth Lagrange points or voyaging deep into our Solar System.
In a typical year, Estrack provides over 45 000 hours of tracking support to 20 or more missions, with an enviable service availability rate above 99%.
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