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 topicSARAS – a Spanish acronym for ‘Fast Acquisition of Satellites and Launchers’ – enables ground stations to acquire signals from new satellites faster and more accurately than ever before. A circular array of eight small radio-frequency sensors are mounted around the rim of an existing dish antenna. It was fitted to the 15 m-diameter dish at ESA’s ESAC Establishment, seen here during upgrade work, in 2013.
Since then, it has been extensively tested, receiving signals from missions including CryoSat, XMM, and Swarm. It also helps the station to acquire signals from multisatellite missions, such as the three-craft Swarm.