List of European Space Agency programmes and missions

View from the Operations Manager desk across the control room at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany.

The European Space Agency (ESA) operates a number of missions, both operational and scientific, including collaborations with other national space agencies such as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Their portfolio of missions also include many public-private partnership missions, a number of which with European satellite operators EUMETSAT, Eutelsat, and Inmarsat.

A staple of the ESA's Science Doctrine is the Cosmic Vision programme, a series of space science missions chosen by the ESA to launch through competitions, similar to NASA's Discovery and New Frontiers programmes. It succeeds the Horizon 2000 and Horizon 2000+ programmes which launched notable missions such as Huygens, Rosetta and Gaia. Each space science mission are divided into two categories: "Sun and Solar System", missions studying the Solar System, and "Astrophysics", missions studying interstellar astronomy. A similarly operated programme focused on Earth observation, known as the Living Planet Programme, has launched various "Earth Explorers" such as GOCE and Swarm, which serve many forms of Geoscience individually. A number of missions by the ESA have also launched and operated outside of a canonical programme, as is the case with missions such as Giotto, Ulysses, and Mars Express.

Science programmes

Horizon 2000

Artists' impression of Rosetta, a "cornerstone" mission of the Horizon 2000 program originally formulated in the 1980s. Cornerstone missions Medium-sized missions

Horizon 2000+

Concept art of the Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter component of the Europa Jupiter System Mission – Laplace mission, which would later evolve into the JUICE L-class Cosmic Vision mission.

Cosmic Vision

S-class missions M-class missions L-class missions F-class missions

Living Planet Programme

Core missions

Opportunity missions

Non-programme missions

Past

Artwork depicting COS-B, the first ESA-operated science mission, launched in August 1975. Artists' impression of Giotto, the European Space Agency's first interplanetary mission, launched in July 1985.

Current

Artist's impression of the Mars Express spacecraft, the first ESA mission to orbit another planet. Primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope undergoing evaluation.

Future

Proposed

Cancelled

See also

References

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  3. ^ "Cluster II". Science and Technology Facilities Council. Research Councils UK. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  4. ^ Arida, Michael (20 December 2016). "The XMM-Newton Guest Observer Facility". Goddard Space Flight Center. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  5. ^ "XMM-Newton - Introduction". Observational Astrophysics Group. University of Liège Institute of Astrophysics and Geophysics. May 2005. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  6. ^ a b "ESA confirms ROSETTA and FIRST in its long-term science programme". XMM-Newton Press Release: 43. 8 November 1993. Bibcode:1993xmm..pres...43. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Rosetta". National Space Science Data Center (Goddard Space Flight Center). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Launch campaign teams take time out to record a special moment". ESA Astrophysics. European Space Agency. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  9. ^ Fletcher, Karen; Bonnet, Roger-Maurice (April 2004). Titan – from discovery to encounter. ESTEC International Conference. Vol. 1278. Noordwijk, the Netherlands: ESA Publications Division. p. 201. Bibcode:2004ESASP1278..201B. ISBN 978-92-9092-997-0.
  10. ^ "INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Lab)". Image Processing Laboratory. University of Valencia. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  11. ^ Van Tran, J. (1998). Fundamental Parameters in Cosmology. Paris: Atlantica Séguier Frontières. p. 255. ISBN 978-2-86332-233-8.
  12. ^ Clark, Stuart (1 December 2015). "LISA Pathfinder set to launch, paving way for discovery of gravity's secrets". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  13. ^ Phys.org staff (3 December 2015). "LISA Pathfinder en route to gravitational wave demonstration". Phys.org. Science X network. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  14. ^ Grush, Loren (19 July 2017). "This probe paved the way for studying gravitational waves from space – and now it's been shut off". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  15. ^ "ESA and Chinese Academy of Sciences to study SMILE as joint mission". ESA. 22 June 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Ariel moves from blueprint to reality". ESA. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  17. ^ "ESA selects revolutionary Venus mission EnVision". ESA. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  18. ^ Amos, Jonathan (20 June 2017). "Europe selects grand gravity mission". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  19. ^ Goenka, Himanshu (21 June 2017). "Detecting Gravitational Waves From Space Using LISA Satellites Chosen As ESA's Third Large-Class Mission". International Business Times. IBT Media. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  20. ^ ESA to Launch Comet Interceptor Mission in 2028. Emily Lakdawalla, The Planetary Society. 21 June 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horizon 2000 programme and Horizon 2000+ programme.