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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More than 30 years ago, the first meteorological satellite Meteosat revolutionised weather forecasting. Since then, predictions have become more and more reliable.
Today, a three-day-forecast has a reliability of 90 percent, and the highest temperature of a day can be predicted two days in advance with an average error margin of only 1.3 degrees. Current European weather satellites are state of the art, and still, researchers are working on the next generation, to forecast the weather of tomorrow.