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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It is easy to take our daily weather forecasts for granted, but the social and economic benefits of accurate forecasts are huge – and this is largely thanks to satellites. Europe’s fleet of weather watchers include two families, MetOp and Meteosat, which use different orbits to provide complementary information for weather forecasting. These satellites record a range of weather and atmospheric phenomena. Next-generation weather satellites, such as MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG) and Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) will significantly improve on current capabilities. The next-generation missions build on the long-standing cooperation between ESA and Eumetsat.