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 topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
The beautiful town of Banff in Canada was the setting for one of ESA's most important scientific conferences of 2017. In March scientists convened to discuss the latest results coming from two of ESA's Earth Explorer missions: Swarm and CryoSat.
Launched in 2013, the trio of Swarm satellites are measuring and untangling the different magnetic fields that stem from Earth’s core, mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere. CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure the height of the ice, both of that floating in the polar oceans and of the vast ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica. This provides essential information on how the thickness is changing and, in turn, how the volume of ice is changing.
The Banff science meeting provided the platform for around 400 scientists and experts to participate in discussions on new science and discoveries about our planet thanks to these two extraordinary satellite missions. The meeting was also important for collecting thoughts and recommendations for ESA's consideration in the evolution of these two missions. With an introduction by ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Josef Aschbacher, the video offers a glimpse into this exciting gathering.