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!
This simulation shows how charged particles (plasma) from the Sun, blasted out on 20 May 2024, spread through the Solar System. The Sun lies at the centre of the circle, and the positions of several planets and spacecraft are shown. The colour scale indicates the density of plasma, with black indicating the highest particle density. Further from the Sun, the particle density is scaled so that it is easier to follow the movement of the plasma.
The solar outburst was directed away from Earth, out of view from most Sun observatories. As can be seen in this video, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission was positioned perfectly to witness the entire event; planetary missions BepiColombo and Mars Express also witnessed solar energetic particles hitting their spacecraft.
EUHFORIA (Pomoell & Poedts, J. Space Weather Space Clim. 2018, 8, A35) was created as a joint effort between KU Leuven and the University of Helsinki.