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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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover looks out at the expanse of Jezero Crater’s river delta on April 11, 2022, the 406th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This panorama is made up of 64 individual images from the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera system and stitched together after the files were sent back from Mars.
The colour bands of the image have been processed to improve visual contrast and accentuate color differences. The sky would not actually look blue to a human explorer on the Red Planet.
The delta formed billions of years ago from sediment that an ancient river carried to the mouth of the lake that once existed in the crater. Aeolian bedforms (sand dunes) can be seen running along the base of the delta. The hills visible on the distant horizon to the far left of the image – about 6 kilometers away from the rover – are actually part of the rim of Jezero Crater.
Subsequent NASA missions in cooperation with ESA would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.