Current and future missions
The missions listed below are or will be operated from ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany.
Current missions operated from ESOC
| Name | Purpose | Description |
| BepiColombo | Planetary science | (1) Mercury explorer |
| Cluster II | Science | (4) Earth's magnetic environment |
| CryoSat | Earth observation | (1) ESA's ice mission |
| Euclid | Science | (1) Studying dark matter and energy |
| ExoMars/TGO | Planetary science | (1) Orbiting Mars - providing crucial data relay |
| Gaia | Science | (1) Galactic surveyor |
| Integral | Science | (1) Gamma-ray observatory |
| JUICE | Planetary science | (1) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer |
| Mars Express | Planetary science | (1) Europe's first Mars orbiter |
| OPS-SAT | Technology demonstration | (1) Orbiting testbed for innovative new technologies |
| Sentinel 1 (A&B) | Earth observation | (2) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-1A, 1B (radar) |
| Sentinel 2 (A&B) | Earth observation | (2) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-2A, 2B (optical) |
| Sentinel 5P | Earth observation | (1) Europe's Copernicus programme - Sentinel-5 Precursor (atmosphere) |
| Solar Orbiter | Science | (1) Expanding our knowledge of solar physics |
| Swarm | Earth observation | (3) Geomagnetic surveyor |
| XMM | Science | (1) X-ray observatory |
Notes:
- The number in parentheses refers to the number of satellites in the mission.
- The Proba missions (Proba-2 and Proba-3) are controlled by ESA's Operations team from ESA ESEC, Belgium.
Future missions in preparation at ESOC
| Name | Purpose | Description |
| Biomass | Earth observation | Measuring forest biomass |
| Hera | Planetary defence | Rendezvous with an asteroid to prove kinetic impact as a planetary defence technique |
| EarthCARE | Earth observation | ESA's cloud, aerosol and radiation mission |
| ExoMars | Planetary science | ExoMars rover |
| Flex | Earth observation | Fluorescence Explorer to map vegetation fluorescence & quantify photosynthetic activity |
| Plato | Science | Discover extrasolar planetary systems and terrestrial planets |
| Sentinel-1C | Earth observation | Europe's Copernicus programme |
| Sentinel-2C | Earth observation | Europe's Copernicus programme |
Note:
- Some Sentinel missions will be operated in the routine phase from ESOC, while some will be handed over to Eumetsat.
ESA missions operated elsewhere
These missions are operated with the support of ESA's Operations team at locations other than ESOC:
- Proba-2 - Operated from ESA ESEC, Belgium
- Proba-3 - Operated from ESA ESEC, Belgium (launch planned in 2024)
- SMOS - ESA's Operations team is responsible for SMOS payload operations from ESA's ESAC Establishment; the mission is operated on behalf of ESA by the French space agency (CNES) from Toulouse
ESA cooperative missions operated elsewhere
| Name | Description | Operated by |
| ISS - International Space Station | Orbiting science lab | NASA (USA) / Roscosmos (Russia) |
| SOHO | Solar observations | NASA (USA) |
| Hubble Space Telescope | Orbiting observatory | NASA (USA) |
| James Webb Space Telescope | Orbiting observatory | NASA (USA) |
For a full list of all missions operated from ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany, since inauguration in September 1967, access Mission History.