European Space Astronomy Centre

Just outside Madrid, in the Guadarrama Valley, the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) is where the European Space Agency runs the science behind its astronomy and planetary missions.

About the European Space Astronomy Centre

ESAC, at Villafranca del Castillo about 30 km west of Madrid, is ESA's lead centre for space science: astronomy, Solar System exploration and fundamental physics carried out with ESA spacecraft. It hosts the science operations centres for every ESA astronomy and planetary mission, along with the scientific data archives those missions produce. ESA's Cebreros Station, a deep-space communication antenna complex, is located nearby.

History

The site was founded in 1991 as LAEFF (the Spanish Laboratory for Space Astrophysics and Fundamental Physics), a collaboration between the Spanish research institutes INTA and CSIC and ESA. It later grew into today's European Space Astronomy Centre.

Telescopes & research

Rather than operating telescopes on-site, ESAC's scientists and engineers manage mission operations and process the data streaming back from ESA's astronomy and planetary probes, then archive it for researchers worldwide to use.

Location & getting there

ESAC sits in Europe, in Spain, within easy reach of Madrid, making the Guadarrama Valley an accessible base for anyone interested in Europe's space science programme.

Visiting European Space Astronomy Centre

As a working ESA research campus, ESAC is not a general tourist attraction; check the official ESA website before planning a visit to confirm current access arrangements.

See your named star from here

ESAC's missions chart the sky with extraordinary precision, and every star named through Star Register comes with its own coordinates in that same sky. Name a star or browse the star catalogue to find where yours sits.