History UsefulNotes / ESA

Despite a history of setbacks and lower budgets than those available to the Americans and Russians, ESA has enjoyed successes with its many ambitious space probe missions (''Giotto'', ''Mars Express'', ''Venus Express'', ''Rossetta'', etc.), the ''Ariane'' and ''Vega'' series of launch vehicles, the orbital laboratories ''Spacelab'' (flown aboard NASA's Space Shuttle) and ''Columbus'' (part of the ISS), as well as the man-rated ATV resupply spacecraft. In a recent MomentOfAwesome for ESA, UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} has [[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/ESA_workhorse_to_power_NASA_s_Orion_spacecraft struck a deal]] with it about providing a licensed version of the ATV's propulsion module for the MPCV ''Orion'' manned spacecraft.

'''ESA''', the '''European Space Agency''', was formed in 1975 by the merger of two previous European spaceflight organizations, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Launcher_Development_Organisation ELDO]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESRO ESRO]]. Nowadays, it has 20 member states and consists of the national space organizations of said member countries and of a few central institutions. While long cooperating with the European Union, it is actually ''not'' a subset or branch of said organization, though it reflects the ideals of European integration and international cooperation in a very similar way (this is part of the reason why several members of ESA are not members of the EU).

* A series of short, storybook-style cartoons about Rosetta and Philae, made by Coconut Science Lab for ESA. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lptDXWyxj0&list=PLgx5PMpgonqUD1aO3g0bZ_a7VKg8VGTeS Watch them here]]. The cartoon counterparts of the probe and its lander are the very definition of {{adorkable}}. Their "grandfather" Giotto also makes an appearance in a flashback to 1986 in one of the later episodes, where it's also revealed that he himself is the NarratorAllAlong.

*** The cometary probe ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto_%28spacecraft%29 Giotto]]'', named after the Italian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto_di_Bondone Renaissance painter and architect]]. It was [[UnderdogsNeverLose the only probe out of a competing group of five]] to fly closely to Halley's Comet in 1986 and examine it from a fairly close distance. An early MomentOfAwesome for ESA.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_eXperimental_Vehicle IXV]] (**I**ntermediate E**X**perimental **V**ehicle), a testbed demonstrator for future unmanned spaceplane developments. To be launched in late 2014, atop a ''Vega'' rocket, for its first orbital test flight.

* CoolShip: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Transfer_Vehicle ATV]] automatic resupply spacecraft. Especially given its track record, technical capabilities and UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} expressing interest in its service module (for use on their currently developed MPCV Orion capsule). A blog dedicated to the ATV project can be found [[http://blogs.esa.int/atv/about/ here]].

XtremeKoolLetterz: The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_eXperimental_Vehicle IXV]] (**I**ntermediate E**X**perimental **V**ehicle), a testbed demonstrator for future unmanned spaceplane developments. To be launched in late 2014, atop a ''Vega'' rocket, for its first orbital test flight.

* LightningBruiser: The general repuation of the Ariane 5 among current heavy launch vehicles.

* CashCowFranchise: Sort of... The early days of the Ariane series of rockets were rough and uncertain, but ever since the Ariane 4 established itself as a dependable commercial launcher in the late 80s and early 90s, the Ariane series became one of the most profitable commercial launch vehicles around. The Ariane 5, while [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally developed for more grandiose purposes]] and being somewhat pricier to construct, has taken on Ariane 4's mantel with great success and launches clusters of multiple commercial and scientific satellites on a regular basis. The currently in development Ariane 6 is planned as a mid-range supplement to the heavier Ariane 5, as well as the lighter Vega. As a small tip, you can watch Ariane launches live or on archived videos at [[http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/10082-follow-ariane-launch-live.php this website]].)

* CashCowFranchise: Sort of... The early days of the Ariane series of rockets were rough and uncertain, but ever since the Ariane 4 established itself as a dependable commercial launcher in the late 80s and early 90s, the Ariane series became one of the most profitable commercial launch vehicles around. The Ariane 5, while [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally developed for more grandiose purposes]] and being somewhat pricier to construct, has taken on Ariane 4's mantel with great success and launches clusters of multiple commercial and scientific satellites on a regular basis.
* CharacterBlog: The comet-chasing space probe ''Rosetta'' has an in-character [[https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta Twitter account]].

*** The planned ESA/UsefulNotes/{{JAXA}} probe mission to Mercury, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BepiColombo BepiColombo]]''. Don't let the cute-sounding name fool you. Its namesake was Italian engineer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Colombo Giuseppe Colombo]], known among his pals and colleaugues as "[[AffectionateNickname Bepi]]". Colombo's main claim to fame was the invention of the gravity-assist maneuver, a staple of space probe missions and practical astronautics since the 1960s. He also served as a scientific consultant for NASA's ''Mariner 10'' mission and ESA's aforementioned ''Giotto'' mission.

* TheFederation / MultinationalTeam : Unlike UsefulNotes/{{NASA}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} RKA]], [[UsefulNotes/{{China}} CNSA]] or [[UsefulNotes/{{India}} ISRO]], ESA is not a single national space agency, but more like a space agency of space agencies - an international organization tightly incorporating the national space agencies or space research bureaus [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency#Member_states_and_budget of its European member states]]. Even non-European countries the likes of Canada, Israel and Turkey also have close cooperation agreements with ESA.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ESA is one to ELDO and ESRO. The ''Ariane'' series of rockets is this to the 1960s ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28rocket%29 Europa]]'' launch vehicle programme.

*** As a sadder, WhatCouldHaveBeen example, the original concept for the otherwise succesful cometary exploration probe ''Rosetta'' was a bit more ambitious than the finished product. The original probe's name ? Aprropriately enough, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champollion_%28spacecraft%29 Champolion]]'', after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Champollion the French linguist]] who deciphered the Rosetta Stone. Both the name of the unrealized earlier concept and that of the eventually launched mission were supposed to reflect that comets are a kind of "cosmic Rosetta Stone", capable of revealing interesting data about the evolution and composition of our Solar System.
*** The planned ESA/[[{{Japan}} JAXA]] probe mission to Mercury, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BepiColombo BepiColombo]]''. Don't let the cute-sounding name fool you. Its namesake was Italian engineer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Colombo Giuseppe Colombo]], known among his pals and colleaugues as "[[AffectionateNickname Bepi]]". Colombo's main claim to fame was the invention of the gravity-assist maneuver, a staple of space probe missions and practical astronautics since the 1960s. He also served as a scientific consultant for NASA's ''Mariner 10'' mission and ESA's aforementioned ''Giotto'' mission.

* PintsizedPowerhouse / FragileSpeedster: The new ''Vega'' class of lighter, more inexpensive rockets was developed precisely because ESA was in need of a commercial and scientific satellite launcher that wouldn't be as demanding as the Ariane 5. While the ''Ariane'' series has a high quality and succesful pedigree, it is often too overpowered or overengineered for many simpler, less demanding missions.

*** The older ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipparcos Hipparchos]]'' astrometry satellite is both [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous a reference to]] the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipparchus ancient Greek philosopher Hipparchus]] and [[OverlyLongGag an overly long]] [[FunWithAcronyms acronym for]] "'''Hi'''gh '''p'''recision '''p'''arallax '''co'''llecting '''s'''atellite". And you thought [[DoctorWho the Doctor]]'s TARDIS has a rather convoluted acronym...

Despite a history of setbacks and lower budgets than those available to the Americans and Russians, ESA has enjoyed successes with its many ambitious space probe missions (''Giotto'', ''Mars Express'', ''Venus Express'', ''Rossetta'', etc.), the ''Ariane'' and ''Vega'' series of launch vehicles, the orbital laboratories ''Spacelab'' (flown aboard NASA's Space Shuttle) and ''Columbus'' (part of the ISS), as well as the man-rated ATV resupply spacecraft. In a recent MomentOfAwesome for ESA, {{NASA}} has [[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/ESA_workhorse_to_power_NASA_s_Orion_spacecraft struck a deal]] with it about providing a licensed version of the ATV's propulsion module for the MPCV ''Orion'' manned spacecraft.

* CoolShip: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Transfer_Vehicle ATV]] automatic resupply spacecraft. Especially given its track record, technical capabilities and {{NASA}} expressing interest in its service module (for use on their currently developed MPCV Orion capsule). A blog dedicated to the ATV project can be found [[http://blogs.esa.int/atv/about/ here]].

* TheFederation / MultinationalTeam : Unlike {{NASA}}, [[{{Russia}} RKA]], [[{{China}} CNSA]] or [[{{India}} ISRO]], ESA is not a single national space agency, but more like a space agency of space agencies - an international organization tightly incorporating the national space agencies or space research bureaus [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency#Member_states_and_budget of its European member states]]. Even non-European countries the likes of Canada, Israel and Turkey also have close cooperation agreements with ESA.

*** The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_probe Huygens]]'' landing module of {{NASA}}'s Saturn-observing ''Cassini'' space probe. Named after Dutch astronomer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens Christiaan Huygens]], it was the first ever (and so far only) spacecraft to land on UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}}'s moon [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn Titan]] and briefly explore it. The naming is rather appropriate, since Huygens the astronomer discovered Titan and did a lot of early astronomic work concerning Saturn and its environs.

* One of the main participating parties in the "grand tour" mission of ''SpaceOdysseyVoyageToThePlanets'' is ESA. The other participants are {{NASA}}, [[{{Russia}} RKA]] and [[CanadaEh CSA]].

* Regrettably, in the 2007 ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie, the Beagle 2 lander [[http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Beagle_2_Rover is presented as]] ''[[WeAllLiveInAmerica an American]]'' probe, created by {{NASA}}. Worse yet, it's outward appearance is ''[[TheyJustDidntCare completely different]]'', more like that of the ''[[CriticalResearchFailure Spirit]]'' [[CriticalResearchFailure and]] ''[[CriticalResearchFailure Opportunity]]'' [[CriticalResearchFailure rovers]]. According to the film, the Decepticons were probably behind the probe's infamous malfunction, but it's kept rather vague.

* ScienceHero: It was kind of its [[PlanetOfHats hat]] in the eyes of other space agencies, especially during its earlier history, when it was far more dependant on others in terms of launch capabilities. The stereotype went that ESA is just a lazy freeloader who can't do any flights on his own, yet is obssesed with making experiments and astronomical surveys in Earth orbit, etc. Though the stereotype has died down in the last two decades thanks to increasing advances towards a fully European launch/spaceflight capabality and ESA's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_contribution_to_the_International_Space_Station contributions to the ISS]], ESA is still often seen as a "astronomy and research first, spaceflight tech second" space agency. In fairness, the slower pace of the technology developments was and is mainly due to the international character of the agency and the smaller budgets it has for such things when compared with the Americans or the Russians.

'''ESA''', the '''European Space Agency''', was formed in 1975 by the merger of two previous European spaceflight organizations, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Launcher_Development_Organisation ELDO]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESRO ESRO]]. Nowadays, it has 20 member states and consists of a few central institutions and the national space organizations of said member countries. While long cooperating with the European Union, it is actually ''not'' a subset or branch of said organization, though it reflects the ideals of European integration and international cooperation in a very similar way (this is part of the reason why several members of ESA are not members of the EU).

*** Probably the king od this trope when it comes to ESA : The recently announced space probe [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer JUICE]] ('''Ju'''piter '''Ic'''y Moons '''E'''xplorer).

*** The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_probe Huygens]]'' landing module of {{NASA}}'s Saturn-observing ''Cassini'' space probe. Named after Dutch astronomer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens Christiaan Huygens]], it was the first ever (and so far only) spacecraft to land on UsefulNotes/{{Saturn}}'s moon [[TheMoonsOfSaturn Titan]] and briefly explore it. The naming is rather appropriate, since Huygens the astronomer discovered Titan and did a lot of early astronomic work concerning Saturn and its environs.

* CoolShip: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Transfer_Vehicle ATV]] automatic resupply spacecraft. Especially given its track record, technical capabilities and {{NASA}} expressing interest in its service module (for use on their currently developed MPCV Orion capsule).

*** The planned ESA/[[{{Japan}} JAXA]] probe mission to Mercury, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BepiColombo BepiColombo]]''. Don't let the cute-sounding name fool you. Its namesake was Italian engineer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Colombo Giuseppe Colombo]], known among his pals and colleaugues as "[[AffectionateNickname Bepi]]". Colombo's main claim to fame was the invention of the gravity-assist maneuver, that became a staple of space probe missions since the 1960s. He also served as a scientific consultant for NASA's ''Mariner 10'' mission and ESA's aforementioned ''Giotto'' mission.

*** The planned ESA/[[{{Japan}} JAXA]] probe mission to Mercury, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BepiColombo BepiColombo]]''. Don't let the cute-sounding name fool you. Its namesake was Italian astronomer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Colombo Giuseppe Colombo]], known among his pals and colleaugues as "[[AffectionateNickname Bepi]]".

*** The solar research probe [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_and_Heliospheric_Observatory SOHO]] (Reference to London or simply the '''S'''olar and '''H'''eliospheric '''O'''bservatory ? You be the judge !).

*** The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_probe Huygens]]'' landing module of {{NASA}}'s Saturn-observing ''Cassini'' space probe. Named after Dutch astronomer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens Christiaan Huygens]], it was the first ever (and so far only) spacecraft to land on {{Saturn}}'s moon [[TheMoonsOfSaturn Titan]] and briefly explore it. The naming is rather appropriate, since Huygens the astronomer discovered Titan and did a lot of early astronomic work concerning Saturn and its environs.

*** ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_2 Beagle 2]]'', the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen ultimately unsuccesful]] British-built lander of the ''Mars Express'' probe, was named in honour of the ship ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Beagle HMS Beagle]]'', which CharlesDarwin used for his exploratory voyages in the 1820s and 1830s. The ''2'' in the lander's name refers to the notion that it was the second British scientific "ship" in history to bear the name ''Beagle''.

*** The ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huygens_probe Huygens]]'' landing module of {{NASA}}'s Saturn-observing ''Cassini'' space probe. Named after Dutch astronomer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens Christiaan Huygens]], it was the first ever (and so far only) spacecraft to land on Saturn's moon Titan and briefly explore it. The naming is rather appropriate, since Huygens the astronomer discovered Titan and did a lot of early astronomic work concerning Saturn and its environs.

*** A subversion of this is the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMM-Newton XMM-Newton]]'' space observatory. While it's obvious [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton who the second half of the name refers to]], the acronym XMM stands for "'''X'''-ray '''M'''ulti-Mirror '''M'''ission". Phew.

* ThemeNaming