Mission Archive

ESA · 2023

Sun–Earth L2

An ESA mission mapping the shapes and distances of billions of galaxies across a third of the sky, to study dark matter and dark energy.

ESA · 2023

Jupiter, Ganymede

An ESA mission on its way to Jupiter to study three of its icy moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. It is planned to become the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than our own.

NASA/ESA/CSA · 2021

Sun–Earth L2

Infrared space telescope located at the Sun-Earth L2 point.

ESA/JAXA · 2018

Mercury

A joint ESA and JAXA mission carrying two orbiters to Mercury, on a cruise of eight years with flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury itself.

ESA/Roscosmos · 2016

Mars

A joint ESA and Roscosmos mission to map trace gases such as methane in the Martian atmosphere. It also carried the Schiaparelli landing demonstrator, which crashed on arrival.

ESA · 2013

Sun–Earth L2

An ESA mission that measured the positions, distances and motions of nearly two billion stars to build the most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way.

ESA · 2009

Sun–Earth L2

ESA's far-infrared observatory, which carried the largest mirror flown in space at the time. It studied how stars and galaxies form from cold gas and dust.

ESA · 2009

Sun–Earth L2

An ESA mission that mapped the cosmic microwave background in greater detail than any before it, giving the most precise measurements of the age and contents of the Universe.

ESA/CNES · 2006

Low Earth orbit

A French-led mission that was the first built to find planets by the dimming of their stars, and that also studied the vibrations of stars to probe their interiors.

ESA · 2005

Venus

ESA's first mission to Venus, which studied the planet's atmosphere and clouds from orbit for eight years, far beyond its planned 500 days.

ESA · 2004

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, Šteins, Lutetia

An ESA mission that became the first to orbit a comet, following 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for two years and delivering the Philae lander to its surface.

ESA · 2003

Moon

ESA's first mission to the Moon, built to test solar-electric propulsion. It spiralled out from Earth orbit over 13 months and then mapped the lunar surface.

ESA · 2003

Mars

ESA's first mission to another planet. Its orbiter has studied Mars since 2003, finding water ice at the south pole and signs of liquid water beneath it.

ESA · 2002

High Earth orbit

ESA's gamma-ray observatory, which observed for more than 22 years. It studied black holes, neutron stars and the gamma-ray glow of the Milky Way, and helped pinpoint the 2017 neutron-star merger first detected in gravitational waves.

ESA · 1999

High Earth orbit

ESA's X-ray observatory, whose three telescopes give it an unusually large collecting area for studying faint sources, from comets to distant galaxy clusters.

NASA/ESA/ASI · 1997

Jupiter, Saturn, Titan

A joint NASA, ESA and Italian Space Agency mission that orbited Saturn for 13 years and landed the Huygens probe on Titan. It ended with a planned dive into Saturn's atmosphere.

ESA · 1995

High Earth orbit

ESA's Infrared Space Observatory, which made more than 26,000 observations and found water vapour in star-forming clouds, around old stars and in the atmospheres of the giant planets.

NASA/ESA · 1990

Low Earth orbit

Space telescope capable of observing the universe in ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light.

ESA · 1989

High Earth orbit

The first space mission devoted to measuring the positions, distances and motions of stars. It was stranded in the wrong orbit by a motor failure but still measured about 118,000 stars with high precision.

ESA · 1985

Halley's Comet, Grigg–Skjellerup

ESA's first deep-space mission, which passed within 600 km of the nucleus of Halley's Comet in 1986 and returned the first close-up images of a comet's core. It later flew past a second comet, Grigg–Skjellerup.

NASA/ESA/SERC · 1978

High Earth orbit

The International Ultraviolet Explorer, run jointly by NASA, ESA and the United Kingdom. Planned for three years, it worked for nearly nineteen and was the first space telescope astronomers could operate in real time.