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    ESA > Our Activities > Operations > Estrack

    Speaking to spacecraft

    Speaking to spacecraft

    Operations image of the week: This giant dish in Australia spends its time in in-depth conversation with a number of European deep space missions, bringing their discoveries down to Earth
    Catching rockets

    Catching rockets

    Rockets launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, are tracked by antennas across the globe, including three from ESA’s Estrack network. Find out more in our latest infographic
    Doing up the deep dish

    Doing up the deep dish

    ESA's 35-m deep space antenna in Malargüe, Argentina, has had a major refurbishment, getting it ready for the launch of Euclid in 2022 and able to transfer even greater quantities of 'space data'...
    Controlling the future

    Controlling the future

    New, innovative software developed by ESA will ensure future missions fly flawlessly. From virtual reality to autonomous robots, check out our video on the future of mission control
    11 steps to make a mission

    11 steps to make a mission

    Most European citizens assume, with good cause, that ESA missions take shape and fly to their destinations with little worry or bother, as if by magic. Click through these images to read the true story of how this ‘magic’ really occurs
    Video: Building spaceships

    Video: Building spaceships

    How do you build a spaceship? It’s not easy, because space is risky – but potential payoffs are vast. ESA’s track record allows us to manage that risk, balancing it with chances for rich rewards
    Where's my spacecraft?

    Where's my spacecraft?

    Operations image of the week: How not to lose a deep-space explorer? ESA uses a 'stellar' navigation technique relying on one of the Universe's most powerful energy sources
    Beckoning Moon

    Beckoning Moon

    Operations image of the week: The Moon seen rising over an antenna in the UK, soon to enter service as one of Europe's newest tracking stations to support missions to... the Moon
    Cool running

    Cool running

    Operations image of the week: New cryogenically cooled hardware promises to improve data return from ESA's current and future deep-space missions
    Feeding a giant

    Feeding a giant

    ESA's deep-space antenna in New Norcia, Western Australia, has now been powered by solar energy for over a year, in the first step towards creating a green network of eyes on the skies
    Archive

    Latest News

    New era for New Norcia deep space antenna04 June 2019

    New era for New Norcia deep space antenna04 June 2019 The 35-m deep space antenna in New Norcia, Western Australia, is being looked after by a new team, led for the first time by a female site manager, Suzy Jackson.

    ESA boosts startup to the Moon 03 April 2019

    ESA boosts startup to the Moon 03 April 2019 European Space Agency operations specialists are helping flight planners at new European space startup PTScientists, headquartered in Berlin, pilot their way to the Moon. PTScientists are planning to launch lunar landers and rovers as a regular servi...

    ESA and DLR in joint study to support deep space missions02 April 2019

    ESA and DLR in joint study to support deep space missions02 April 2019 An existing deep-space dish antenna at the DLR Weilheim site, near Munich, may offer an almost-readymade solution to the problem of providing sufficient ground station capacity to support ESA’s current and future deep-space exploration missions. Now a...

    ESA's deep space satellite tracking station at New Norcia, Australia, routinely communicates with spacecraft at Mars or heading toward Mercury

    Mars calling26 March 2019

    ESA's deep space satellite tracking station at New Norcia, Australia, routinely communicates with spacecraft at Mars or heading toward Mercury

    Mars calling26 March 2019 An exciting new competition is giving citizens of planet Earth the opportunity to get their voices to Mars in the next phase of the ExoMars programme. The ExoMars rover and platform will launch to the Red Planet in 2020.

    ESA lends a hand at Mars23 November 2018

    ESA lends a hand at Mars23 November 2018 The Red Planet will receive its first new resident in six years on Monday when NASA’s InSight lander touches down, aiming to investigate the Martian interior. ESA ground stations and orbiters are playing a crucial role in helping the mission get to it...

    ESA ready for weather mission liftoff05 November 2018

    ESA ready for weather mission liftoff05 November 2018 Following months of simulation training, teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre have completed the all-important ‘dress rehearsal’ before MetOp-C’s liftoff on 7 November from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

    News Archive

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    • Estrack profile video
      Estrack profile video
      Estrack profile videoLinking people with spacecraft at the frontiers of human knowledge: ESA ground stations communicate with spacecraft orbiting Earth or voyaging deep in space
    • Technology for future exploration
      Technology for future exploration
      Technology for future explorationESA operates one of the world's most sophisticated tracking networks - stations can locate spacecraft to an accuracy within 1 kilometre at 100 million kilometers
    • 11 steps to make a space mission
    • ESA Operations image of the week: A ghostly image of our Milky Way galaxy derived from spacecraft orientation data, developed by the mission control team at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
      ESA Operations image of the week: A ghostly image of our Milky Way galaxy derived from spacecraft orientation data, developed by the mission control team at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
      Operations image of the week archive
    • Follow ESA missions
    • Rocket Science blog
    • ESOC - European Space Operations Centre
    • Video & images
    • Ground station chillax
    • SARAS – a Spanish acronym for ‘Fast Acquisition of Satellites and Launchers’ – is a circular array of eight small radio-frequency sensors mounted around the rim of an existing dish antenna.
      SARAS – a Spanish acronym for ‘Fast Acquisition of Satellites and Launchers’ – is a circular array of eight small radio-frequency sensors mounted around the rim of an existing dish antenna.
      Tracking station gallery
    • ESA's webcam at the ESTRACK 35m deep-space station, Cebreros
      ESA's webcam at the ESTRACK 35m deep-space station, Cebreros
      Cebreros webcam
    • Malargüe webcam
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