European Space Research Organisation

European Space Research Organisation
Conseil Européen de Recherche Spatiale
Agency overview
AbbreviationESRO
Formed1964
TypeSpace agency
HeadquartersParis, France
Primary spaceportEsrange, Guiana Space Centre
Owner
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The European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) was an international organisation founded by 10 European nations with the intention of jointly pursuing scientific research in space.[1] It was founded in 1964. As an organisation ESRO was based on a previously existing international scientific institution, CERN.[2] The ESRO convention, the organisations founding document outlines it as an entity exclusively devoted to scientific pursuits. This was the case for most of its lifetime but in the final years before the formation of ESA, the European Space Agency, ESRO began a programme in the field of telecommunications. Consequently, ESA is not a mainly pure science focused entity but concentrates on telecommunications, earth observation and other application motivated activities. ESRO was merged with ELDO in 1975 to form the European Space Agency.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

  1. ^ "EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY". www.blue-growth.org. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  2. ^ Intergovernmental Conference of Space Research. 1960.
  3. ^ UNESCO Archive: European Space Agency UNESCO
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference history-of-ESA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "SP-4217 Beyond the Ionosphere: Chapter 10 - Launching the European Telecommunications Satellite Program" NASA
  6. ^ "A History of the European Space Agency" European Space Agency
  7. ^ "ELDO/ESRO/ESA:Chronology 1960-2007" European Space Agency
  8. ^ "Article about ESRO" David Darling (astronomer) at www.daviddarling.info