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 topicThis video explains why Mars is called the Rusty Planet and describes how a spectrometer called SPICAM is being used to examine the interaction of water vapour and ozone on Mars; valuable research that could also benefit our environment as Mars has many points in common with Earth. Radio signals conveying data and instructions between Mars Express and the ground station are also being used to probe Mars' ionosphere, atmosphere and variations in its gravitational field.