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!
With its proposed Hera mission, ESA hopes to visit double asteroid Didymos. Hera will get close to the smaller of the two asteroids, Didymoon, an artistic rendering of which is shown in this image. Hera’s up-close observations will help prove whether asteroids can be deflected, so that if an asteroid ever poses an impact risk to planet Earth, we’ll be ready.
This artist’s impression is taken from the video Hera: ESA’s Planetary Defence Mission.