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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On 4 September at 16:39 UTC (18:39 CEST), the small asteroid 2024 RW1 entered Earth's atmosphere near the Philippines, exploding in a fireball witnessed by people in the region.
Astronomers around the world, including those from ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, began to track the asteroid, submitting new observations to the Minor Planet Center until it entered Earth's shadow just 37 minutes before impact.
This image shows ESA's final predicted impact trajectory. In the end, impact predictions were accurate to within 100 metres and 0.1 seconds.