How do you build a spaceship? It’s not easy – because space is hard. It’s endless vacuum, hot and cold at the same time, streaked with radiation – and you have to fly at eight kilometres per second just to get there. It takes clever engineering – and costly research and development – to operate in orbit. Space is risky, but past payoffs have been vast. ESA’s track record lets us manage that risk, balancing it with chances for rich rewards.

ESA is Europe’s space agency, enabling its 22 Member States to achieve results that no individual nation can match. ESA combines space mission development with supporting labs, test and operational facilities plus in-house experts covering every aspect of space, supported through the Agency’s Basic Activities.

Space19+

For ESA’s Space19+ set for the end of this year, the Agency is asking Europe’s space ministers for a substantial investment for Basic Activities, to modernise infrastructure and speed up R&D cycles, helping to support a new generation of space missions as efficiently as possible.