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 topicThirty years ago the Voyager spacecraft offered the first closeup views of Saturn. Launched in 1997 Cassini-Huygens, a joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission, arrived around Saturn in July 2004 and the Huygens Probe landed on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in January 2005. The ESA probe was the first to land on a world in the outer Solar System. Since 2005 Cassini-Huygens mission has obtained infinitely more detailed and beautiful images of the ringed planet and its many moons. Data from Cassini and Huygens are offering clues about how life began on Earth.