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 shows ESA’s next exoplanet mission, Plato, in the Large European Acoustic Facility (LEAF). In this room, the noise of a rocket taking off is simulated. The large room measures 11 by 9 metres and is 16.4 metres high. One wall is equipped with multiple noise horns, that have a similar design as ordinary speakers. Nitrogen is shot through the horns and can produce noise up to 156 decibels. During tests, no one is allowed into the room that is surrounded by a 0.5-m-thick layer of concrete to keep the noise in. Plato passed its test with flying colours.
[Image description: An engineer dressed in a blue lab coat and white hairnet looks upon the Plato’s structural model inside the LEAF chamber in ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre. Plato is put on top of a structure of four wheels. The LEAF room is green and has one wall with huge white holes in the wall. These holes are noise horns that can produce up to 156 decibels. The satellite is surrounded by microphones on sticks to measure the acoustic environment.]