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's Hera mission for planetary defense has been fully assembled following the mating of its Core Module and Propulsion Module.
On 2023-08-22, the European Space Agency received information that 12 days earlier the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron had identified several pieces of debris in the vicinity of the Vespa payload adapter.
ESA awarded ClearSpace a contract worth 86,000,000 EUR for the mission to remove the Vespa payload adapter.
ESA selected Swiss startup ClearSpace in 2020 to fly a mission that will grapple and remove the 113-kilogram Vespa payload adapter from orbit.
The European Space Agency had planned to test a navigation camera system on Luna-25 before ESA severed ties with Roscosmos in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Axiom Space signed an agreement with Poland, in cooperation with ESA, to fly an astronaut from Poland on a future mission to the International Space Station on 2023-08-09.
The European Space Agency performed a series of de-orbit maneuvers between 24 July 2023 and 28 July 2023 to lower Aeolus' orbit from 320 km to 120 km.
Aeolus was launched by the European Space Agency in 2018 and was not designed for a controlled reentry.
GomSpace and the European Space Agency signed a Contract Change Notice valued at 1,500,000 EUR (approximately SEK 18 million).
LeoLabs supported the Aeolus assisted reentry as a tracking partner and received ephemeris data from ESA Mission Control prior to and after each maneuver.
An 8-foot (2.5-meter) robotic arm, provided by ESA, will load sample tubes into the rocket.
The Mars Sample Return campaign is a joint effort by NASA and ESA to bring scientifically selected samples back from Mars for analysis on Earth.
The European Space Agency performed orbital maneuvers between 24 and 28 July 2023 to lower Aeolus' orbit from 320 km to 120 km.
Aeolus was launched by the European Space Agency in 2018 and was not designed for a controlled reentry.
LeoLabs provided tracking of the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite during its semi-controlled reentry in July 2023.
LeoLabs received ephemeris data from ESA Mission Control prior to and after each de-orbit maneuver for Aeolus.
ESA procured Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX for its Euclid space telescope, which launched on 2023-07-01.
ESA plans to acquire a Falcon 9 launch for its EarthCARE Earth science mission in 2024.
Ariel, ESA’s next-generation mission, has completed its payload Preliminary Design Review (PDR).
The PDR for Ariel was evaluated by a panel of ESA experts who assessed the feasibility, performance, and robustness of the payload design.