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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In April, ESA sought proposals on how space assets can help understand and characterise the paralysing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint first prize in this contest has been awarded to a proposal on how Copernicus Sentinel-2 images can reveal coronavirus-related effects on air traffic activity – an idea that will be included in the recently created ESA-European Commission 'Rapid Action on Coronavirus and Earth Observation’ dashboard. The proposal, submitted by Mauricio Pamplona Segundo (University of South Florida, USA) and team, exploited the effect of moving objects in Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery to identify aviation activity – as shown here. The team explored the vicinities of 30 European airports with the highest number of passengers (in 2019), and identified flying and parked aeroplanes in images from Copernicus Sentinel-2.