->note! / NB
note! in terms of planetary missions, that table may be usefully complemented with a NASA .PDF as refered at our Planetary and Moon Missions Database (1957-Now) page. The ESA site also features a list of their missions since about 1968 / NB: ce tableau, en termes de missions planétaires peut utilement être complété avec un .PDF de la NASA tels qu'on y réfère sur notre page Planetary and Moon Missions Database (1957-Now) page; le site de l'ESA donne aussi (en anglais), une liste de leurs missions depuis vers 1968
| Name | Mission | Launch Date | Remarks | ||
| 1968 | |||||
| ESRO-2 | Science | 17 May 1968 | Study of space's particles and radiation environment (a first ESRO failed in 1967) | ||
| ESRO-1A | Science | 3 October 1968 | Study of space's particles and radiation environment | ||
| HEOS-A1 | Science | 5 December 1968 | Study of the magnestosphere and the interplanetary medium | ||
| 1969 | |||||
| ESRO-1B | Science | 1 October 1969 | Study of space's particles and radiation environment | ||
| 1972 | |||||
| HEOS-A2 | Science | 31 January 1972 | Study of the magnestosphere and the interplanetary medium | ||
| TD-1A | Science | 12 March 1972 | UV, X-ray and Gamma-ray astronomy | ||
| ESRO-4 | Science | 20 November 1972 | Study of space's particles and radiation environment | ||
| 1975 | |||||
| COS-B | Science | 9 August 1975 | Europe's pioneer gamma-ray observatory | ||
| 1977 | |||||
| GEOS-1 | Science | 20 April 1977 | Probing dynamics of Earth’s magnetic field, waves and particles | ||
| ISEE-2 | Science | 22 October 1977 | Operation Control Center at the NASA's GSFC ISEE-3, launched in 1978 was a solar wind mission at Lagrangian 1. It passed through comet Giacobini-Zinner's tail in 1985, first craft ever to do so and he flew by comet Hally in 1986 | ||
| Meteosat-1 | Weather | 23 November 1977 | Weather satellites for daily forecasting. A series was launched in 1977, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2002) | ||
| 1978 | |||||
| IUE | Science | 28 January 1978 | UV astronomy. Operation Control Center at Vilspa, joint NASA | ||
| GEOS-2 | Science | 14 July 1978 | Probing dynamics of Earth’s magnetic field, waves and particles | ||
| OTS-2 | Telecom | 11 May 1978 | Demonstration of telecom technologies (a OTS-1 failed in 1977) | ||
| 1981 | |||||
| Meteosat-2 | Weather | 19 June 1981 | |||
| Marecs-A | Telecom | 20 December 1981 | Maritime telecommunications satellites. A Marecs failed in 1982 | ||
| 1983 | |||||
| Exosat | Science | 26 May 1983 | X-ray astronomy | ||
| ECS-1 | Telecom | 16 August 1983 | European telecom satellite (a series launched in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988). Operation Control Center in Redu, Belgium | ||
| 1984 | |||||
| ECS-2 | Telecom | 4 August 1984 | Operation Control Center in Redu, Belgium | ||
| Marecs-B2 | Telecom | 10 November 1984 | Maritime telecommunications satellites | ||
| 1985 | |||||
| Giotto | Science | 2 July 1985 | Mission to Comet Halley and Comet Grigg–Skjellerup | ||
| 1987 | |||||
| ECS-4 | Telecom | 10 September 1987 | Operation Control Center in Redu, Belgium | ||
| 1988 | |||||
| Meteosat-P2 | Weather | 15 June 1988 | |||
| ECS-5 | Telecom | 21 July 1988 | Operation Control Center in Redu, Belgium | ||
| 1989 | |||||
| MOP-1 | Weather | 6 March 1989 | |||
| Olympus | Telecom | 12 July 1989 | launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only | ||
| Hipparcos | Science | 8 August 1989 | Mapping more than 100,000 stars | ||
| 1990 | |||||
| Hubble Space Telescope | Science | 24 April 1990 | A joint ESA-NASA space telescope | ||
| Ulysses | Science | 6 October 1990 | Study of space above and below Sun's poles. Operation Control Center at the JPL | ||
| 1991 | |||||
| MOP-2 (Meteosat-5) | Weather | 2 March 1991 | Operation Control Center moved to the EUMETSAT | ||
| ERS-1 | Earth Obs | 17 July 1991 | |||
| 1992 | |||||
| Eureca | Microgravity | 31 July 1992 | Reusable free-flying microgravity testbed. Retrieved by a Space Shuttle mission | ||
| 1993 | |||||
| MOP-3 | Weather | 20 November 1993 | Operation Control Center moved to the EUMETSAT | ||
| 1995 | |||||
| ERS-2 | Land, ocean surveyor | 21 April 1995 | |||
| ISO | Science | 17 November 1995 | Infrared astronomy. Launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only; Operation Control Center in Vilspa | ||
| SOHO | Science | 21 April 1995 | Joint ESA-NASA continuous observation of the Sun | ||
| 1997 | |||||
| MTP (Meteosat-7) | Weather | 3 September 1997 | launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only | ||
| Cassini- Huygens |
Science | 15 October 1997 | Joint mission with NASA as the ESA used the piggyback Huygens probe. The Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan on 15 October 1997 | ||
| Teamsat | Technology | 30 October 1997 | joint mission with the ESTEC | ||
| 1998 | |||||
| Pastel | Payload: Spot4 | 24 April 1998 | launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only | ||
| 1999 | |||||
| XMM Newton | Science | 10 December 1999 | X-ray space telescope | ||
| 2000 | |||||
| Cluster-II | Solar wind | 16 July 2000 | |||
| Cluster-II | Solar wind | 9 August 2000 | |||
| 2001 | |||||
| Artemis | Telecom | 2001 | Telecom technology demonstration | ||
| Proba-1 | Technology | 22 October 2001 | First of a series to flight-test new space technologies. Was then reassigned to Earth observation | ||
| 2002 | |||||
| Envisat | Earth environment | 1 March 2002 | communications lost by May 2012 | ||
| MSG-1 | Weather | 28 August 2002 | Second generation ESA weather satellite (a series was launched in 2005, 2012). Launch and early orbit phase only (LEOP) | ||
| Integral | Science | 17 October 2002 | Gamma-ray astronomy | ||
| 2003 | |||||
| Mars Express | Science | 2 June 2003 | ESA's first Mars explorer | ||
| SMART-1 | Science | 28 September 2003 | Experimental Moon mission | ||
| 2004 | |||||
| Rosetta | Science | 2 March 2004 | Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko rendezvous and lander | ||
| 2005 | |||||
| Cryosat | Earth Science | 2005 | Measurement of polar-ice thickness | ||
| Giove-A | GPS | 2005 | Technology demonstration for the European Galileo GPS system. A Giove-B was launched in 2008 | ||
| MSG-2 | Weather | 21 December 2005 | launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only | ||
| Venus Express | Science | 9 November 2005 | ESA's first Venus orbiter. Venus Express completed its scientific mission on 17 May 2014. In June and July 2014, mission controllers will adjust the craft’s trajectory so that it dips progressively lower into the upper reaches of the turbulent Venusian atmosphere, a process called aerobraking. Mission was terminated by Dec. 2014 | ||
| 2006 | |||||
| MetOp | Weather | 19 October 2006 | launch and early orbit phase (LEOP) only | ||
| 2009 | |||||
| GOCE | Science | 17 March 2009 | Earth gravity measurements. Terminated by November 2013 | ||
| Herschel | Science | 14 May 2009 (launched in tandem with Planck) | Space observatory in the far-infrared (on a orbit at L2). Terminated in Jun. 2013 | ||
| Planck (launched in tandem with Herschel) | Science | 14 May 2009 | Study of the cosmic microwave radiation (in orbit at L2). Terminated on Oct. 25, 2013 and pushed into a long term, hibernating orbit around the Sun | ||
| Proba-2 | Science | 2 November 2009 | Sun and space weather. Part of ESA's 'Project for Onboard Autonomy' series | ||
| SMOS | Earth Science | November 2009 | Measurement of soil moisture and ocean salinity | ||
| 2010 | |||||
| CryoSat-2 | Earth Science | 8 April 2010 | Study of Earth's ice | ||
| 2013 | |||||
| Proba-V | Earth Science | 7th May 2013 | Map land cover and vegetation growth every two days | ||
| Swarm | Science | 22nd November 2013 | Earth magnetic field | ||
| Gaia | Science | 19th December 2013 | Milky Way Galaxy observation and 3D mapping | ||
| 2015 | |||||
| LISA | Science | 3 December 2015 | Gravitational waves | ||
| To Come (by alphabetical order) | |||||
| ADM-Aeolus | Earth science | Study of Earth's winds | |||
| BepiColombo | Science | 2017 | Joint JAXA-ESA first mission at Mercury, with two orbiters | ||
| Biomass | Earth Science | 2020 | Measurement of forests biomass | ||
| Cheops | Science | Characterization of super-Earths to Neptune-sized exoplanets, atmospheres and migration during the formation of their solar system | |||
| DeOrbit | Space Technology | 2021 | Demonstrating the feasibility of active debris removal. | ||
| Earthcare | Earth Science | 2018 | Roles of clouds and aerosols in Earth's climate | ||
| Euclid | Science | 2020 | Dark energy space telescope | ||
| ExoMars | Science | 2016-2018 | Trace gas orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli in 2016; a rover and a surface science platform by 2018 | ||
| GMES/Sentinels | GPS | Sentinel-1 launched Apr.3, 2014 | Europe GPS and Copernicus environmental system | ||
| Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) | Science | 2022 | Study of the Jovian system | ||
| Metop-SG Series | Weather | 2021 | ESA Metop next gen | ||
| Plato | Science | 2024 | Study of exoplanets | ||
| Proba-3 | Science | Solar corona via a two-satellite coronograph | |||
| Solar Orbiter | Science | 2017 | ESA's closest mission to Sun, studying Sun flows | ||
| James Webb Space Telescope | Science | 2018 | NASA-ESA space telescope | ||
