About ESA
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.
Highlights
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Czechia
Romania
United Kingdom
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicAstronauts
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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ESTRACK - ESA tracking station network profile
Linking spacecraft with people at the frontiers of human knowledge: ESA’s Estrack ground station network communicates each day over hundreds of millions of kilometres with deep-space missions, or with Earth observation missions just a few hundred kilometres up. The network returns precious scientific data to scientists on Earth and transmits commands from satellite controllers, all via remote control from ESOC, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.
With nine stations in seven countries, Estrack also includes ESA’s trio of deep-space antenna (DSA) stations – massive, 35 m-diameter dish stations that provide global coverage and seamlessly interconnect with networks operated by NASA and other space agencies.
Estrack stations also gather radiometric data to help mission controllers know the location, trajectory and speed of their spacecraft. On a typical day, the stations are tasked to search for and acquire new spacecraft, provide auto-track coverage of current missions, provide frequency and timing control using atomic clocks, and gather atmospheric and weather data.
Some stations are also equipped with GPS receivers connected to our GPS Tracking and Data Analysis Facility at ESOC, enabling highly precise orbit and geophysical calculations.
