The European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

 (ESA) in its current form was founded in 1975 when the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) merged with the European Launcher Development Organisation

European Launcher Development Organisation

The European Launcher Development Organisation was a multinational consortium formed in the 1960s to build an indigenous European space launch vehicle, Europa....

 (ELDO). The ESA Convention was signed by the ESRO and ELDO members on 30 May 1975 and by Ireland on 31 December 1975. Canada signed the ESA Convention as an associate member on 9 December 1978. The Convention entered into force on 30 October 1980 after the ratification procedures in the 10 ESRO/ELDO members were finalised.

Organization	Belgium	France	Germany	Italy	Netherlands	United Kingdom	Spain	Switzerland	Sweden	Denmark	Australia		Ireland	Austria	Canada
ESRO	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member
ELDO European Launcher Development Organisation The European Launcher Development Organisation was a multinational consortium formed in the 1960s to build an indigenous European space launch vehicle, Europa....	member	member	member	member	member	member					associate member
ESA European Space Agency The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...  in 1980	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member	member		member	associate member	associate member

Membership

esa  Founding members	Signature	Ratification	National Program
	30 May 1975	6 April 1976	SNSB Swedish National Space Board The Swedish National Space Board is a Swedish government agency operating under the Swedish Ministry of Education and Science. SNSB distributes government grants to research and development, initiates research and development in space and remote sensing, and is the Swedish contact in international...
	30 May 1975	19 November 1976	SSO Swiss Space Office Swiss Space Office is the national space program of the Switzerland. It was roughly the 16th highest funded public space agency with a budget of about 110 million USD in the early 2000s. According to Jane's, the SSO is "the administrative unit charged with planning and implementing Swiss space...
	30 May 1975	26 July 1977	DLR German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center is the national centre for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has multiple locations throughout Germany. Its headquarters are located in Cologne. It is engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in...
	30 May 1975	15 September 1977	DNSC Danish National Space Center The Danish National Space Center is a Danish sector research Institute and a part of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. It is located in Copenhagen at Østerbro...
	30 May 1975	20 February 1978	ASI Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy...
	30 May 1975	28 March 1978	BNSC British National Space Centre The British National Space Centre was a British government body that coordinated civil space activities for the UK. It was replaced on 1 April 2010 by the UK Space Agency.-Structure:...
	30 May 1975	3 October 1978	BIRA Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy The Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy is a Belgian federal scientific research institute...
	30 May 1975	6 February 1979	SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is the Dutch expertise institute for space research. The Institute develops and uses innovative technology for groundbreaking research in space, focusing on astrophysical research, Earth science and planetary research...
	30 May 1975	7 February 1979	INTA Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial The Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial is Spain's space agency. It was founded in 1942, as the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeronáutica , and has its headquarters in Torrejón de Ardoz, near Madrid....
	30 May 1975	30 October 1980	CNES CNES The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...
	31 December 1975	10 December 1980	SI
Associate members	Signature	Entry into force	National Program
	9 December 1978	1 January 1979	CSA
ESA Convention entry into force: 30 October 1980
Acceded members	Cooperation Agreement	ESA membership	National Program
	1979 for associate membership	30 December 1986	ASA Austrian Space Agency The Austrian Space Agency is an organization whose purpose is to coordinate Austrian space exploration-related activities, both national programs and European Space Agency related programs. It was established in 1972 in Vienna...
	1981 for associate membership	30 December 1986	NSC Norwegian Space Centre The Norwegian Space Centre is a Norwegian government agency that promotes space exploration.-Norsk Romsenter :...
	1987 for associate membership	1 January 1995	TEKES National Technology Agency The National Technology Agency is an organization for research and technology development in the Republic of Finland. It was formed on 1 July 1983...
	1996	14 November 2000	CEP
	January 2001	9 March 2005	ISARS Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing The Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing is a research institute in Greece with expertise in multidisciplinary space and environmental sciences, and one of the five research Institutes of the National Observatory of Athens...
	September 2000	30 June 2005	through MoHER
	1996	8 July 2008	CSO Czech Space Office The Czech Space Office, CSO is the central contact point for the coordination of pure space sciece related activities in the Czech Republic. It fulfils tasks of the national information and advisory centre for the academia on opportunities to enter the international space scene and on space...

Associate members

The ESA Convention does not require acquisition of the associate membership status in order for a state to become full member. The association status is envisaged to allow associate member states to take part in ESA's deliberative bodies and decision-making and also in ESA's programmes and activities. Associate member state firms can bid for and receive contracts to work on programmes. The accord has a provision ensuring a fair industrial return to the associate members.

Previously, associate members were Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 (through its Ministry of Trade and Industry), all of which later joined ESA as full members. Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 and Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 skipped associate membership and moved from Cooperation Agreements to full ESA membership. The Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 also skipped associate membership, but it went through the new enlargement process via Cooperation Agreement, ECS Agreement and PECS Charter implementation.

Currently the only associate member of ESA is Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Despite that the provisions in the ESA Convention do not show restrictions that only European states can join, the ESA Council implements such rule de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

 and that is why Canada has only the status of associate member. However, it is as tightly integrated with the ESA institutions as possible for a non-member state.

The ELDO

European Launcher Development Organisation

The European Launcher Development Organisation was a multinational consortium formed in the 1960s to build an indigenous European space launch vehicle, Europa....

 associate member Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 (CSIRO

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...

) decided not to continue as an associate member of ESA. Nevertheless, on 5 March 2003 the first of ESA's deep space ground stations in the world opened in western Australia in an inauguration ceremony.

Enlargement

After the decision of the ESA Council of 21/22 March 2001 the procedure for accession of the European states was detailed as described here.
Nations who want to become a full member of ESA do so in 3 stages. First a Cooperation Agreement is signed between the country and ESA. In this stage the country has very limited financial responsibilities. If a country wants to cooperate more fully with ESA it signs a European Cooperating State (ECS) Agreement. The ECS Agreement makes companies based in the country eligible for participation in ESA procurements. The country can also participate in all ESA programmes, except for the Basic Technology Research Programme. While the financial contribution of the country concerned increases, it is still much lower than that of a full member state. The agreement is normally followed by a Plan for European Cooperating State (or PECS Charter). This is a 5-year program of basic research and development activities aimed at improving the nations' space industry capacity. At the end of the 5-year period, the country can either begin negotiations to become a full member state or an associated state or sign a new PECS Charter. ESA is likely to expand quite rapidly in the coming years. Many countries, most of which joined the EU in both 2004 and 2007, have started to cooperate with ESA on various levels.

Completed enlargements

Applicant state	Cooperation Agreement	ECS Agreement	PECS Charter	Full Membership	National Program
	1979 for associate membership			30 December 1986	ASA Austrian Space Agency The Austrian Space Agency is an organization whose purpose is to coordinate Austrian space exploration-related activities, both national programs and European Space Agency related programs. It was established in 1972 in Vienna...
	1981 for associate membership			30 December 1986	NSC Norwegian Space Centre The Norwegian Space Centre is a Norwegian government agency that promotes space exploration.-Norsk Romsenter :...
	1987 for associate membership			1 January 1995	TEKES National Technology Agency The National Technology Agency is an organization for research and technology development in the Republic of Finland. It was formed on 1 July 1983...
	1996	NA	NA	14 November 2000	CEP
	January 2001	NA	NA	9 March 2005	ISARS Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing The Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing is a research institute in Greece with expertise in multidisciplinary space and environmental sciences, and one of the five research Institutes of the National Observatory of Athens...
	September 2000	NA	NA	30 June 2005	through MoHER
	1996	24 November 2003	24 November 2004	8 July 2008	CSO Czech Space Office The Czech Space Office, CSO is the central contact point for the coordination of pure space sciece related activities in the Czech Republic. It fulfils tasks of the national information and advisory centre for the academia on opportunities to enter the international space scene and on space...

Current progress

Applicant state	Cooperation Agreement	ECS Agreement	PECS Charter(s)	National Program
			1st: 5 November 2003 2nd: 26 September 2008	HSO Hungarian Space Office The Hungarian Space Office is the national space agency of the Republic of Hungary. It was established by the Hungarian government in 1992. , the current director is Előd Both .-External links:* - English page...

}|| || || 16 February 2007 || ROSA

Romanian Space Agency

The Romanian Space Agency is the Romanian national Coordinator for space-related technology, activities and programs since 1991....

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| || || || 28 April 2008 || CBK-PAN

Space Research Centre

The Space Research Centre is an interdisciplinary research institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. It was established in 1977. SRC PAS is the only institute in Poland whose activity is fully dedicated to the research of terrestrial space, the solar system and the Earth using space technology...

|-
| || || || || TÜBİTAK
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| || || || || through MoEC
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| || || || || SSAU
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| || || || || through MoHEST
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| || || || ||through MoES
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| || || || || through MoCW
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| || || || || through MoE
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| || || || || through MoE

Ministry of Economy (Lithuania)

The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Lithuania is a government department of the Republic of Lithuania. Its operations are authorized by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, decrees issued by the President and Prime Minister, and laws passed by the Seimas...

|-
| || || || || ISA

Israeli Space Agency

Israel Space Agency is a governmental body that coordinates all Israeli space research programs with scientific and commercial goals. It was established in 1983 and is currently headed by Aluf professor Yitzhak Ben Yisrael...

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Romania signed the ESA Convention on 20 January 2011 and will become the 19th member of ESA once it deposits its instrument of ratification with the government of France. This is due to happen later in 2011.

Possible future cooperation

The political perspective of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 (EU) is to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014, although this date may not be met.

So far the only two EU member states that have not signed an ESA Cooperation Agreement are Bulgaria and Malta. Both of them, however, have already announced their intention to participate in the activities of ESA. on 9 April 2009 announced their intention to participate in the activities of ESA through IKI-BAN. on 20 June 2009 announced their intention to participate in the activities of ESA through the Malta Council for Science and Technology.

Besides the EU countries members of ESA are also EEA

European Economic Area

The European Economic Area was established on 1 January 1994 following an agreement between the member states of the European Free Trade Association and the European Community, later the European Union . Specifically, it allows Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to participate in the EU's Internal...

 and EFTA

European Free Trade Association

The European Free Trade Association or EFTA is a free trade organisation between four European countries that operates parallel to, and is linked to, the European Union . EFTA was established on 3 May 1960 as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to,...

 members Norway and Switzerland. The remaining EEA/EFTA members and EU candidates

Future enlargement of the European Union

The future enlargement of the European Union is theoretically open to any European country which is democratic, operates a free market and is willing and able to implement all previous European Union law...

have not yet publicly expressed intention to participate in ESA.