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 infographic offers a schematic view, projected into the image’s two dimensions, of the evolution in space and time of our Universe, that unfolds in four dimensions.
The Universe expanded to its current size from the so-called initial Big Bang, according to the most accepted current theory. Its history is marked by critical periods during which the state of our cosmos changed dramatically.
These eras are highlighted in the graphic starting from the recombination epoch, when charged electrons and protons combined to form neutral atoms, and light could finally travel freely. This period was followed by the dark ages and then reionisation, when the first stars and galaxies formed; their energetic light changed the state of intergalactic gas from neutral to charged again. Cosmic noon identifies the epoch when star formation peaked.