The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA’s Education Office is responsible for the Agency’s corporate education programme which can be broadly subdivided into the following categories:

Hands-on projects
These include the full participation of university students in all aspects of programmes to design and develop small satellites, and experiments that are flown on various platforms, such as balloons, sounding rockets, and parabolic flights. These often include project-related workshops and training by experts.

Opportunities for students
The ESA Education Office supports student participation in conferences and workshops, including the meetings of COSPAR and the annual International Astronautical Congress.

Support to teachers
In recent years, ESA has been supporting the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) project, which envisages the establishment of contact and resource centres which are manned by education experts and integrated into national educational systems and networks. A variety of educational materials has also been developed for students of various ages.