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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This colour moasic was generated from 32 individual orbit ‘strips’ captured between 2004 and 2010 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera onboard ESA’s Mars Express. The position of the north pole is marked.
The ice cap covers an area of around one million square kilometres, and has a volume equivalent to almost half the size of the Greenland ice sheet on Earth. It has a persistent water-ice cap about 2 km deep, with an additional thin layer of carbon dioxide ice in cold winter months. Dark trenches etched into the ice form a spiral-like pattern.
More information: Swirling spirals at the north pole of Mars