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 topicThis animation of carbon dioxide (CO2) shows how our planet ‘breathes’. Each year huge amounts of CO2 are taken up by the growing vegetation in spring and summer and are to a large extent released again during the following autumn and winter when part of the vegetation dies and decays. This is seen in the animations by the up and down of the measured CO2 once per year. By looking carefully at the animation, it is possible to see that the CO2 levels are rising by about 0.5-1 percent from year to year. Dr Michael Buchwitz and Oliver Schneising from the Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP) at the University of Bremen in Germany based produced this animation using Envisat SCIAMACHY observations from 2003 to 2005.