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!
Cospas–Sarsat's extension to MEOSAR (Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue) will extend its search and rescue coverage (the area outlined in red). On the ground the Galileo programme is contributing a Toulouse-based test bench, and a networked trio of MEOSAR ground stations – known as Local User Terminals (LUTs) – to cover Europe, based in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic, Cyprus and the Canary Islands. Existing LUTs are distributed on a per country basis, but it is an advantage of MEOSAR that fewer ground stations will be needed for greater coverage. Galileo engineers have introduced another innovation: for the first time those in distress will receive a reply, letting them know their signal was picked up and help is on the way.