The Thermal Control domain provides support to ESA missions through all lifetime phases, from pre-development through to in-flight performance assessments.

Its activities have enabled the design of all European modules of the International Space Station and innovative unmanned missions such as the ultra-stable GOCE satellite and the cryogenically cooled Herschel and Planck telescopes.

Major efforts in the last years and even more in the coming years are devoted to a number of Earth observation missions supporting for e.g better understanding the Earth and helping to provide more accurate and reliable weather forecast/predictions.

In the scientific field, the current challenges are the Bepi-Colombo and Solar Orbiter missions to the Sun-scorched inner Solar System.