Our exploration of the cosmos begins with the star at the centre of our Solar System. 
Ulysses, ESA's pioneering heliophysics mission, offered a unique vantage point above the Sun’s poles, revealing the 3D nature of the solar wind and magnetic field. SOHO revolutionised space weather science, capturing solar eruptions and discovering thousands of Sun-grazing comets. Today, Solar Orbiter is observing the Sun in unprecedented detail, documenting solar flares, explosive events, and mysterious "campfires”. Finally, Cluster and the upcoming Smile mission reveal how solar storms interact with Earth’s magnetic shield – essential knowledge for protecting our space environment.

Ulysses, SOHO, Solar Orbiter, Cluster and Smile are bringing groundbreaking insights into the Sun’s behaviour, laying the foundation for understanding how solar activity influences our planet’s space environment.

Turning to small bodies, ESA’s comet missions have transformed our understanding of these primordial objects. Rosetta revolutionised comet science by orbiting and landing on comet 67P, revealing its complex surface, composition, and activity like never before. Building on this legacy, Comet Interceptor will be the first mission to visit a pristine comet arriving from the outer Solar System, offering a rare glimpse into the building blocks of our cosmic neighbourhood.

Rosetta and Comet Interceptor unlock the mysteries of comets, deepening our understanding of the early Solar System and the origins of life’s ingredients.

Beyond our Solar System, ESA is unlocking the mysteries of distant worlds and their stars. Cheops is the first mission to precisely measure the size of known exoplanets, shedding light on their composition and structure. Building on this, Plato will survey bright stars to discover Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars and assess their potential habitability. Ariel will take the next step by analysing the atmospheres of these distant planets, searching for clues about their formation and the ingredients that could support life.

Together, Cheops, Plato, and Ariel transform our view of planets beyond the Solar System, bringing us closer to finding other worlds like our own.

Expanding our view to the largest scales, ESA’s cosmic surveyors map the Universe itself. HIPPARCOS, ESA’s global astrometry pioneer, and Planck, which mapped the oldest light in the Universe, laid the foundation for astronomy and cosmology sciences. Gaia is revolutionising astronomy with its billion-star map of the Milky Way, offering remarkable detail on our galaxy’s structure, history, and motion. Venturing even farther, Euclid is now mapping billions of galaxies, helping us unlock the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

Together, HIPPARCOS, Planck, Gaia and Euclid retrace the story of the Universe – from its first light to the intricate motions of stars.

Let’s now look where human eyes cannot, with ESA’s observatories which capture the cosmos beyond visible light and bring knowledge on the chemical composition of the Universe. ISO, the world’s first orbiting infrared observatory, opened a window on the cold Universe, paving the way for the far-infrared observing telescope Herschel to unveil star-forming clouds and galaxy evolution. Moving on to high-energy missions, Integral observed gamma rays to uncover the secrets of black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae. In the realm of X-rays, XMM-Newton’s pioneering observations will be extended by NewAthena, a next-generation telescope set to transform our view of the hot and violent Universe, tracing how ordinary matter assembles across space and time. ARRAKIHS will add a new layer to this cosmic portrait, searching for the faintest whispers of light to reveal what lies hidden in the dark.

These missions pierce through dust, cold, and distance to study how the Universe builds complexity – from gas clouds to galaxies.