About ESA
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.
Highlights
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Czechia
Romania
United Kingdom
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Operate
A flight engineer at ESA’s Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, during the launch of Copernicus Sentinel-6
Since 1967, more than 85 European satellites have been successfully overseen from here. Other mission operation centres are studded across our continent, notably EUSPA’s Galileo Operations Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, which oversees Europe’s single largest satellite constellation, the Galileo navigation system.
The traditional term ‘unmanned missions’ is misleading, because crews of specialists are responsible for all key events in the life of a satellite once it separates from its launcher, starting with the critical ‘launch and early operations’ phase, when a mission first comes to life. It begins with orienting the satellite to stably acquire solar power from the Sun, then its subsystems and payloads are gradually switched on, after which the newborn mission is nursed to full health.
Mission controllers monitor Europe’s spacecraft 365 days per year, planning and uploading telecommands, reviewing telemetry to check on mission health and ensuring a steady flow of precious data back to scientists and user communities. Full flight crews step in at key points in a mission’s life, such as orbital manoeuvres – occurring increasingly these days to avoid space debris. They are also ready to respond to any mission anomalies that arise, deducing their cause before working with technical experts and satellite builders to improvise solutions.
