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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Leopold Summerer, head of ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team, explains how their work exploring the future of space activities can sometimes have surprisingly rapid payoffs. Apparently theoretical research into applying Einsteinian relativity theory to satellite positioning systems like GPS and Europe’s own Galileo system ended up having practical value. When Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites were launched into incorrect, elongated orbits in 2014, the team worked with ESA’s Navigation Directorate to design a method of using these satellites to test one of Einstein’s predictions more rigorously than ever before.