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
Go to topicESA's High Precision Parallax Collection Satellite (Hipparcos), was an astrometry mission that determined the precise position of over 100,000 stars. This video from 1989, prior to launch, clearly explains the scientific goals and the demonstrates with clear animations how Hipparcos measurements were carried out (principles of parallax). By the time the mission ended in 1993, Hipparcos had pinpointed the positions of more than one hundred thousand stars to high precision. Hipparcos confirmed Einstein's prediction of the effect of gravity on starlight and discovered that the Milky Way is changing shape.