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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One frame in a sequence of images capturing the rotation of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s high-gain antenna. The images show the main reflector dish, with the three struts holding the sub-reflector and the antenna feed at the centre of the main reflector dish clearly visible. The side of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter with the low-gain antenna, which protrudes from the side of the module, is also visible, together with some detail of the spacecraft’s multi-layered insulation.
The image was taken on 28 November by one of the Mercury Transfer Module’s monitoring cameras, M-CAM 3. The image combines two pictures with different exposure times to account for the different brightness levels of different parts of the spacecraft.