Agence spatiale européenne
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to space exploration, with 22 member states. Founded in 1975, ESA shapes Europe's space capabilities, ensuring investments in space deliver benefits to European citizens, working across the entire space sector. ESA develops and operates Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications, and astronomy satellites and sends probes to explore the solar system, partnering with agencies like NASA, JAXA and commercial partners like Airbus. Key programs include the development of launch vehicles like Ariane and Vega, the Galileo satellite navigation system, and missions like Rosetta and BepiColombo.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
ESA plans to grow its UK workforce to 200 people by 2030.
The European Space Agency unveiled plans on 2024-07-23 to expand its presence in the United Kingdom.
Astroscale Ltd (Astroscale UK), the UK subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc., secured EUR 13.95 million from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency to support the final phase of the ELSA-M in-orbit demonstration.
Orbit Fab received a £165,000 contract with the European Space Agency via City University London.
ESA provided initial funding to Ramses now that is intended to be enough to get the mission through a preliminary design review scheduled for fall 2024.
ESA’s Hera mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024 to visit the asteroid Didymos.
ESA members will decide on funding Ramses at the ESA ministerial meeting in late 2025.
ESA’s Gaia spacecraft was launched in December 2013.
The European Space Agency completed the critical design review for the Earth Return Orbiter on 2024-07-05.
The study was funded by ESA and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the Global Litter Observatory (ref. CTM2016-77106-R/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR).
There are 1,100,000 space debris objects between greater than 0.01 m and 0.1 m in orbit, according to ESA’s Space Debris Office figures from June.
Lucía Linares is the head of space transportation strategy and institutional launches at the European Space Agency.
The European Space Agency scheduled a series of media briefings on 2024-06-25 to discuss pre-launch preparations for Ariane 6.
The Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force consists of top management from ESA, CNES, ArianeGroup, and Arianespace.
In November 2023 ESA agreed to provide 340,000,000 EUR per year of financial support for Ariane 6 and Vega C as part of a stabilized exploitation agreement.
The European Space Agency completed a wet dress rehearsal for Ariane 6 on 2024-06-20 at the launch site in French Guiana.
The European Space Agency is overseeing the ISISPACE mission that will carry the ATLAS-1 payload.
Some European countries and ESA member states argue that georeturn creates inefficiencies by awarding contracts based on member contributions rather than supplier capability.
Josef Aschbacher proposed a georeturn modification approach in which ESA would hold a competition, select the winning bidder, and only then solicit funding from member states.
The ESA Council approved a resolution to increase flexibility in implementing georeturn and to streamline the process.