How many missions does Tracker-1 track for ESA?

Tracker-1 tracks 11 mission(s) related to ESA: Hera, JUICE, Euclid, James Webb, Solar Orbiter, BepiColombo, Gaia, Mars Express, Station ISS, SOHO, Hubble.

What types of spacecraft explore ESA?

The catalog includes 3 spacecraft type(s) for ESA: probe, telescope, station.

Which scientists work on ESA missions?

38 scientist(s) are associated with ESA missions in the catalog, including Adam Riess, Agustín Chicarro, Alexander Refregier, Andy Cheng, Anthony Brown.

ESA · Tracker-1

Full name

European Space Agency

Founded

1975

Headquarters

Paris (HQ) : technical centers across Europe (ESTEC in the Netherlands, ESOC in Germany, ESRIN in Italy, ESAC in Spain, ECSAT in the UK)

Reporting to

22 member states (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK) + Canada as an associate member. Slovenia is an associate member.

How it works

ESA was created in 1975 by merging ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) and ELDO (European Launcher Development Organisation). It is an intergovernmental organization bringing together 22 member states. Its missions are decided by the ESA Council, composed of representatives from member states. Each state contributes financially according to a distribution key combining its GDP and its programmatic choices (mandatory and optional programs). Industrial contracts are awarded in proportion to each state's contributions (geographic return principle).

Funding & budget

ESA is funded by contributions from its member states. The annual budget (≈ €7.7 billion in 2024) comes from mandatory programs (Science and exploration, contributed by all) and optional programs (Earth observation, telecoms, navigation, where each state chooses to participate). Canada contributes through a cooperation agreement. Funding is multi-year (ministerial council every 3-4 years).

Key facts

ESA does not operate human spaceflight on its own but participates in the ISS and the Artemis program through agreements with NASA. It develops its own launchers (Ariane, Vega) via its subsidiary Arianespace, builds service modules for Orion (ESM) and operates the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt. Its European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne trains European astronauts.