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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A revolutionary new type of flat antenna is on its way to space, explains Marco Sabbadini, Senior Antenna engineer in ESA’s Antenna and Sub-Millimetre Waves Section. Normally antennas have a curved reflector dish – which works rather like the rounded surrounding of a flashlight to focus its beam towards its target – as well as a radio signal feed horn. The new ‘modulated metasurface’ antenna influences electromagnetic radiation not through the reflector’s curvature but by careful tailoring of the surface itself.