Past, current and future missions

Current missions operated from ESOC

Name	Purpose	Description
BepiColombo	Planetary science	(1) Mercury explorer
Biomass	Earth observation	(1) Measuring forest biomass
CryoSat	Earth observation	(1) ESA's ice mission
EarthCARE	Earth observation	(1) ESA's cloud, aerosol and radiation mission
Euclid	Physics & astronomy	(1) Studying dark matter and energy
ExoMars/TGO	Planetary science	(1) Orbiting Mars - providing crucial data relay
Hera	Space safety	(1) Europe's first planetary defence mission heading to a double-asteroid system
Integral	Physics & astronomy	(1) Gamma-ray observatory
Juice	Planetary science	(1) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
Mars Express	Planetary science	(1) Europe's first Mars orbiter
Sentinel 1	Earth observation	(2) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-1A, 1C (radar)
Sentinel 2	Earth observation	(3) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-2A, 2B, 2C (optical)
Sentinel 5P	Earth observation	(1) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-5 Precursor (atmosphere)
Solar Orbiter	Physics & astronomy	(1) Expanding our knowledge of solar physics
Swarm	Earth observation	(3) Geomagnetic surveyor
XMM	Physics & astronomy	(1) X-ray observatory
That's 16 missions in total, comprising 21 spacecraft.

Notes:

1. The number in parentheses refers to the number of spacecraft in the mission.
2. Cluster No. 2 (Salsa) reentered Earth's atmosphere on 9 Sep 2024, marking the end of the mission; the remaining three satellites are being flown in 'caretaker mode' until their own reentries in 2025/26.

Future missions in preparation at ESOC

Name	Purpose	Description
ExoMars	Planetary science	ExoMars rover
Flex	Earth observation	Fluorescence Explorer to map vegetation fluorescence & quantify photosynthetic activity
Plato	Physics & astronomy	Discover extrasolar planetary systems and terrestrial planets
Vigil	Space safety	Delivering real-time data on potentially hazardous solar activity

Note:

1. Some missions of the European Commission's Copernicus Sentinel programme will be operated in the routine phase from ESOC, while some will be handed over to Eumetsat.
2. Some additional missions planned for launch later in the 2030s are not yet listed here. 

ESA missions operated elsewhere

These missions are operated with the support of ESA's Operations team at locations other than ESOC:

1. The Proba missions (Proba-1, -2, -V and Proba-3) are controlled by ESA's Operations team from ESA ESEC, Belgium
2. ESA's Operations team is responsible for SMOS payload operations from ESA ESAC, Spain; the mission is operated on behalf of ESA by the French space agency (CNES) from Toulouse

ESA cooperative missions operated elsewhere

Name	Description	Operated by
ISS - International Space Station	Orbiting science lab	NASA (USA) / Roscosmos (Russia)
SOHO	Solar observations	NASA (USA)
Hubble Space Telescope	Orbiting observatory	NASA (USA)
James Webb Space Telescope	Orbiting observatory	NASA (USA)

Past missions/activities

This section provides an overview of some of the missions that have been controlled from ESOC (or from other locations, as indicated) by ESA's Operations team. Mission names are shown together with launch year. It also includes links to former activities or retired infrastructure.

Editor's note: These articles are provided as a historical archive only. They are no longer updated and may contain broken links and outdated information or refer to activities or programmes that no longer take place. Use at your own risk, but enjoy the rich history! For a full list of all missions operated from ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany, since inauguration in September 1967, access the ESOC mission History.

Solar and planetary missions

• Venus Express 2005
• Rosetta 2004
• Cassini-Huygens 1997
  Huygens flown by ESA from ESOC; lander delivered by the international Cassini spacecraft flown by NASA
• Ulysses 1990
  Flown by ESA team from the Ulysses Mission Support Area at NASA/JPL

Orbiting observatories

• Planck 2009
• Herschel 2009

Earth missions

• GOCE 2009
• Envisat 2002
• ERS-2 1995

Technology demonstration missions

• LISA Pathfinder 2015
• SMART-1 2003

Human spaceflight missions

• ATV Johannes Kepler 2011
• ATV Jules Verne 2008

All five ATV missions were controlled by ESA's Operations team in partnership with French space agency CNES from the ATV Control Centre, Toulouse.