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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This image, taken by ESA’s Mars Express, shows a dust storm moving along the ice cap at the North Pole of Mars. The Visual Monitoring Camera tracked this storm on 29 May 2019, in martian springtime. It dissipated and re-appeared with different structures over a period of days.
The brightly coloured, reflective region of the ice cap can be seen in the centre of the images. The brown swirling storm, moving at a speed of approximately 70 km/h, is on the right of the image.
The polar cap consists of water ice, onto which a layer of carbon dioxide ice is deposited in the winter. The water ice persists throughout the seasons, while in springtime the top layers of carbon dioxide ice sublimate and re-enter the atmosphere as a gas.