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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Visual composition to mark the 25-anniversary of XMM-Newton launch. The mission was launched on Ariane-5 from ESA’s Kourou space port, on 10 December 1999.
With a trove of more than a million detections of X-ray sources under its belt, the space telescope has contributed fundamentally to a better understanding of our cosmos. Thanks to XMM-Newton, scientists can study in detail some of the most dramatic events and phenomena in our Universe, from Jupiter’s X-ray auroras to the state of matter at the edge of black holes.