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 topicUsing a series of 'real' and 'fake' flybys, ESA's Mars Express has clarified a long-standing martian mystery: if and how Mars' largest moon, Phobos, reflects the solar wind.
This infographic shows three Mars Express flybys that occurred in July 2008, January 2016 and May 2017 – the former two being 'real' flybys completed in the vicinity of Phobos, and latter being a 'fake' flyby performed to clarify whether a particular signal detected by the spacecraft was a true detection of a process taking place on Phobos, or if it was due to reflection of particles from Mars Express itself.