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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Hera is the European contribution to an international double-spacecraft collaboration with NASA to provide a better understanding of the effectiveness of the kinetic impact technique for planetary defence.
There are 28 small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working on ESA’s Hera planetary defence mission, which involves about 100 companies in total. These SMEs are building European cutting-edge technologies for the spacecraft, its instruments and two CubeSats.
The Hera mission was supported at the ESA Ministerial Council in 2019. The project committed to heavily involve SMEs contributing to the diversity of innovation and increasing technical know-how in the European workforce. SMEs from 14 Member States are involved and represent 15% of Hera’s overall budget.