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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Built for ESA by the European aerospace industry, and launched by an Ariane-4 rocket, the 1.4-ton Hipparcos satellite operated in space from 1989 to 1993. The spacecraft turned slowly on its axis and repeatedly scanned right around the sky on different slants. It measured angles between widely separated stars, and recorded their brightness, which were often variable from one visit to the next. Each star selected for study was visited about 100 times over four years.
The resulting gift to the world's astronomers was a set of catalogues published by ESA in 1997.
ESA is already studying Gaia, as the successor of Hipparcos.