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 topicGiant wave produced with a hydaulically-powered wave generator in the Giant Wave Tank in Hannover in 2002. As part of the MaxWave project, a team at the Technical University of Berlin worked on simulating their production. Their work guided by computer modelling, the team found rogue waves appear to be formed when slow-moving waves are caught up by a succession of faster waves moving at more than twice their speed, then merge together.