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
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
If we are to travel farther for longer, it will also be important to generate our own sustainable supplies of food and oxygen in space. The German Aerospace Center DLR experiment PhotoBioreactor on the International Space Station includes algae to convert carbon dioxide to breathable oxygen and edible algae in space.
The algae selected for this experiment, chlorella vulgaris, is single-celled, spherical and can be cultivated in pumped loops to produce oxygen and edible biomass from carbon dioxide and water. It requires regular nutrients to support its growth, as well as exposure to light.