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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The shoebox-sized Juventas CubeSat will perform a radar probe of the Dimorphos asteroid, one of two miniature CubeSats being carried aboard ESA's Hera mission for planetary defence. Juventas and the Milani hyperspectral CubeSat will spend Hera’s two-year cruise phase to Didymos inside a pair of ‘Deep Space Deployers’ which will keep them alive and healthy. The pair will be deployed one at a time, starting with a partial deployment to check each CubeSat’s functionality. Finally, they will be deployed at just a few centimetres per second – any faster and they would risk being lost in space within the prevailing low gravity.