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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Compact lithium batteries, like those in your smartphone, are integral to making future space missions more efficient.
While we know the commonplace stories of batteries catching fire on planes, we still don’t know the full extent of how batteries will behave after several years in orbit, due to radiation and uncontrolled temperature ranges or unregulated power control leading to potential overcharge and even in-orbit explosions.
Disposing of space debris is one of the greatest challenges facing ESA and the space industry at the moment. Airbus Defence and Space (France), in partnership with CEA (France) and the two main European battery manufacturers for space Saft (France) and ABSL (England) have just closed an activity with the Technology Development Element programme (TDE). The activity was part of the Clean Space campaign to assess the best way to make safe or completely deplete a spacecraft’s battery at the end of a mission so it can be disposed of correctly.