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 topicA compilation of 5 self-standing videos made in 1992 about ESA's European Retrieval Carrier (Eureca) mission, in space for 10 months during 1993. Part 1; "Gravity's rainbow" gives a shistory of micogravity research, with footage from the 1940s V2 launches, sounding rockets, parabolic flights, through to Spacelab (1983) and Eureca. It explains the value of microgravity and zero-gravity research, with footage of various experiments, mainly on Spacelab: toad embryos, protein crystallation, medical investigations on astronauts in zero-g, possible value for the pharmaceutical industry. It includes interviews with Claude Brillouer, then Biorack project scientist (French with English voiceover) and Berndt Feuerbacher, then Chairman of ESA's microgravity research council (German with English voiceover). Part 2: "Stargate astronomy and Eureca", looks at Eureca's experiments in astronomy (ORA) and solar physics (SOLAR), supported by animations, interview with Danish physicist Niels Lund. Part 3: Engineering Experiments, looks at Eureca's experiments in monitoring radiation and particles in space (the Time Capture Experiment), advanced solar cells, such as gallium arsenide cells, and ion thruster technology. Includes interview with Carlo Flores (Italian with English voiceover)Part 4: Zero-gravity machine, reviews Eureca's migrogravity experiments on the unmanned space platform, with footage from Spacelab. Part 5 gives an overview of Eureca's planned 10-month mission, including launch sequence and animations of its orbit and experiments.