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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Patrick Martin, ESA BepiColombo mission manager (left) and Ulrich Reininghaus, ESA BepiColombo project manager (right), after the formal review of the mission's commissioning period, held at ESA’s operation centre in Darmstadt, Germany, on 26 March 2019.
Launched on 20 October 2018, the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission is on its seven-year journey to Mercury, the innermost planet in the Solar System.
Following confirmation that the overall capabilities and performance at the end of the near-Earth commissioning phase meet the mission requirements, BepiColombo was formally handed over from the ESA project and industrial teams that built it to the scientists who will operate the science instruments once at Mercury, as well as on occasions during the cruise phase – including the two Venus flybys, for example.