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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Space is an expensive business. Missions are planned years in advance, designed with a specific job in mind and operated according to tightly planned schedules, leaving little room or appetite to take risks.
The OPS-SAT Space Lab – a 30-cm CubeSat launched in 2019 – was built with the purpose of testing and validating new ways to solve problems in space. With an experimental computer ten times more powerful than any current ESA spacecraft, and equipped with a full suite of actual or representative payload devices, like a camera and GPS, OPS-SAT is designed to be rock-solid, safe and robust.
Now, the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities is supporting you to fly your experimental software or test your techniques on an in-space computer more powerful than any ESA has launched before.
Submit your ideas via ESA’s Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) by 13 June.