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 approved industrial contracts totalling €2.55 billion on 2020-07-01 to forward the development of six new Copernicus satellite missions.
The European Space Agency will test its first reflectarray satellite, the GomX-5 cubesat from GomSpace, in 2022.
The European Space Agency awarded 2,500,000,000 EUR in development contracts on 2020-07-01 for six new Earth-observation missions under the Copernicus program.
The European Space Agency’s Miniaturised Asteroid Remote Geophysical Observer mission is scheduled to launch a year or two after the GomX-5 test.
The European Space Agency is preparing to test satellites that use flat reflectarray antennas instead of parabolic dishes.
Germany committed to spending 3,300,000,000 EUR on future space programs during the previous fall, making Germany ESA’s single biggest contributor.
Reflectarrays use software that the European Space Agency developed with Danish company TICRA to guide radio frequency signals that would otherwise require a concave surface for pointing.
NASA will collaborate with the European Space Agency on the two Mars Sample Return missions planned for 2026.
Jan Woerner decided in February 2020 not to seek a second term as ESA director general.
Günther Hasinger, ESA’s director of science, received a two-year extension of his term through March 2023.
The European Space Agency formally started the search for its next director general on 2020-06-25.
Jan Woerner recommended selecting a dynamic young successor to lead the European Space Agency.
ESA members approved Elodie Viau as the new director of telecommunications, with her term beginning on 2020-09-01.
The ESA schedule aims to allow member states to select a new director general by the end of 2020.
The ESA schedule allows for a transition period before Jan Woerner completes his term at the end of June 2021.
ESA is financing 89% of the Ariane 6 rocket’s 3.6-billion-euro development, with ArianeGroup and its industry partners providing the remaining 11%.
ArianeGroup and the European Space Agency have not provided a new launch date for Ariane 6.
The European Space Agency is funding the majority of Ariane 6’s development.
On 2020-05-15, ISIS – Innovative Solutions In Space signed a contract agreement with the European Space Agency to provide an In-Orbit Demonstration and In-Orbit Verification service in space as part of a Horizon 2020 funded activity to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU space industry.
The European Space Agency selected ISISpace to implement the Horizon 2020 IOD/IOV activity by accommodating the experiments onboard two 6-Unit CubeSat platforms and by providing the experiment operations after launch.