Director General of the European Space Agency

Incumbent
Josef Aschbacher

since 2021

Term length| At the pleasure of the European Space Agency Council
Website| www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Jan_Woerner_ESA_Director_General

The director general of the European Space Agency is the highest-ranked official of the European Space Agency (ESA), a space agency formed by the collaboration of prominent European nations.

## List of officeholders

[edit]

### ELDO secretaries general

[edit]

Image  | Name  | Country  | Term start  | Term end  | Term length  | Ref(s)

|
|
|
|
|
|

| di CarrobioDr. Renzo Carrobio di Carrobio |  Italy | 19641964  | 19721972  | 8Eight years  | [1]
| AubinièreGeneral Robert Aubinière |  France | 19721972  | 19751975  | 3Three years  | [2]
| AubinièreDr. George Van Reeth |  Belgium | 19751975  | 19751975  | 5Five months  | [3]

### ESRO directors general

[edit]

Image  | Name  | Country  | Term start  | Term end  | Term length  | Ref(s)

|
|
|
|
|
|

| AugerDr. Pierre Auger |  France | 19641964  | 19671967  | 3Three years  | [4]
| BondiSir Herman Bondi |  United Kingdom | 19671967  | 19711971  | 4Four years  | [5]
| HockerDr. Alexander Hocker |  West Germany | 19711971  | 19741974  | 3Three years  | [6]
| GibsonDr. Roy Gibson |  United Kingdom | 19741974  | 19751975  | 1One year  | [7]

### ESA directors general

[edit]

Image  | Name  | Country  | Term start  | Term end  | Term length  | Ref(s)

|
|
|
|
|
|

| GibsonDr. Roy Gibson |  United Kingdom | 19751975  | 19801980  | 5Five years  | [8]
| QuistgaardErik Quistgaard |  Denmark | 1980  | 1984  | 4Four years  | [9]
| LüstProf. Reimar Lüst |  West Germany | 1984  | 1990  | 6Six years  | [10]
| LutonJean-Marie Luton |  France | 1990  | 1997  | 7Seven years  | [11]
| RodotàAntonio Rodotà |  Italy | 1997  | 2003  | 6Six years  | [12]
| DordainJean-Jacques Dordain |  France | 2003  | 1 July 2015  | 12Twelve years  | [13]
| Johann-Dietrich Wörner |  Germany | 1 July 2015  | February 2021  | 12Six years  | [14]
| Josef Aschbacher |  Austria | 1 March 2021  | Incumbent | [15]

## See also

[edit]

* Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
* Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Renzo Carrobio di Carrobio". ELDO Secretaries General. European Space Agency. 2009-06-18. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
2. ^ "Robert Aubinière". ELDO Secretaries General. European Space Agency. 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
3. ^ "George Van Reeth". ELDO Secretaries General. European Space Agency. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
4. ^ "Pierre Auger". Past Directors General of ESRO. European Space Agency. 2009-06-15. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
5. ^ "Herman Bondi". Past Directors General of ESRO. European Space Agency. 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
6. ^ "Alexander Hocker". Past Directors General of ESRO. European Space Agency. 2009-07-18. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
7. ^ "Roy Gibson". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
8. ^ "Roy Gibson". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
9. ^ "Erik Quistgaard". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
10. ^ "Reimar Lüst". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
11. ^ "Jean-Marie Luton". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
12. ^ "Antonio Rodotà". Past Directors General of ESA. European Space Agency. 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
13. ^ "Jean-Jacques Dordain". About ESA. European Space Agency. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
14. ^ "Johann-Dietrich Woerner ESA Director General". European Space Agency. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
15. ^ "Josef Aschbacher next ESA Director General". European Space Agency. 2020-12-17. Retrieved 2021-01-05.

## External links

[edit]

* "Past Director Generals of ESA". History. European Space Agency.
* "Past Director Generals of ELDO". History. European Space Agency.
* "Past Director Generals of ESRO". History. European Space Agency.

* v
* t
* e

European Space Agency

| Space Centres|

* Guiana
* Esrange

|

Launch vehicles|

* Ariane 6
* Vega C

Facilities|

* Space Operations Centre
* Space Research and Technology Centre
* ESA Centre for Earth Observation
* European Astronaut Centre
* Space Astronomy Centre
* Space Applications and Telecommunications Centre
* Concurrent Design Facility
* Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility

Communications|

* ESTRACK
* European Data Relay System

Programmes|

* Artemis
* ESM
* Aurora
* Copernicus
* Columbus
* CryoSat
* EGNOS
* Galileo
* ELIPS
* ExoMars
* FLPP
* Living Planet Programme
* Space Situational Awareness Programme
* Science Programme
* Cosmic Vision
* PRIDE

Predecessors|

* European Launcher Development Organisation
* European Space Research Organisation

Related topics|

* Arianespace
* ESA Television
* EUMETSAT
* European Astronaut Corps
* European Space Camp
* GEWEX
* Planetary Science Archive

Projects and missions

Science|

Astronomy and
cosmology

* Cos-B (1975–1982)
* IUE (1978–1996)
* EXOSAT (1983–1986)
* Hipparcos (1989–1993)
* Hubble Space Telescope (1990–present)
* Eureca (1992–1993)
* ISO (1995–1998)
* XMM-Newton (1999–present)
* INTEGRAL (2002–2025)
* CoRoT (2006–2013)
* Planck (2009–2013)
* Herschel (2009–2013)
* Gaia (2013–2025)
* CHEOPS (2019–present)
* James Webb Space Telescope (2021–present)
* Euclid (2023–present)
* PLATO (2026)
* ARIEL (2029)
* ARRAKIHS (2030s)
* Athena (2035)
* LISA (2035)

|

Earth observation|

* Meteosat First Generation (1977–1997)
* ERS-1 (1991–2000)
* ERS-2 (1995–2011)
* Meteosat Second Generation (2002–present)
* Envisat (2002–2012)
* Double Star (2003–2007)
* MetOp (2006–present)
* GOCE (2009–2013)
* SMOS (2009–present)
* CryoSat-2 (2010–present)
* Swarm (2013–present)
* Copernicus (2014–present)
* Sentinel-1 / 1A / 1B / 1C (2014–present)
* Sentinel-2 / 2A / 2B / 2C (2015–present)
* Sentinel-3 / 3A / 3B (2016–present)
* Sentinel-5 Precursor (2017–present)
* ADM-Aeolus (2018–2023)
* ɸ-Sat (1 (2020) 2 (2024–present))
* Meteosat Third Generation (2022–present)
* EarthCARE (2024–present)
* Biomass (2025–present)
* Sentinel-4 (2025–present)
* MetOp-SG-A (2025)
* MetOp-SG-B (2025)
* SMILE (2025)
* ALTIUS (2026)
* FLEX (2026)
* FORUM (2027)

Planetary science|

* Giotto (1985–1992)
* Huygens (1997–2005)
* SMART-1 (2003–2006)
* Mars Express (2003–present)
* Rosetta/Philae (2004–2016)
* Venus Express (2005–2014)
* ExoMars (2016–present)
* Trace Gas Orbiter (2016–present)
* Rosalind Franklin rover (2028)
* BepiColombo (2018–present)
* Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (2023–present)
* Hera (2024–present)
* Comet Interceptor (2029)
* EnVision (2031)

Solar physics|

* ISEE-2 (1977–1987)
* Ulysses (1990–2009)
* SOHO (1995–present)
* Cluster II (2000–2024)
* Solar Orbiter (2020–present)
* Vigil (2031)

ISS contributions|

* Columbus (2008–present)
* Automated Transfer Vehicle (2008–2015)
* Cupola (2010)
* European Robotic Arm (2021)

Telecommunications|

* GEOS 2 (1978)
* Olympus-1 (1989–1993)
* Artemis (2001–2017)
* GIOVE-A (2005–present)
* GIOVE-B (2008–present)
* HYLAS-1 (2010–present)
* Galileo IOV (2011–present)
* Galileo FOC (2014–present)
* EGNOS
* European Data Relay System (2016–present)

Technology
demonstrators

* ARD (1998)
* PROBA-1 (2001–present)
* YES2 (2007)
* PROBA-2 (2009–present)
* PROBA-V (2013–present)
* IXV (2015)
* LISA Pathfinder (2015–2017)
* OPS-SAT (2019–2024)
* PROBA-3 (2024–present)

Cancelled
and proposed|

* AIDA
* Ariane 5 ME
* Calathus Mission
* Ceres Polar Lander
* Columbus Man-Tended Free Flyer
* CSTS
* Darwin Mission
* Don Quijote
* e.Deorbit
* EChO
* Eddington
* EXPERT
* Hermes
* Hopper
* LOFT
* Lunar Lander
* Marco Polo
* MarcoPolo-R
* Mars sample return mission
* ODINUS
* Phootprint
* SOLARIS
* SPICA
* STE-QUEST
* THESEUS

Failed|

* Cluster
* CryoSat-1
* GEOS 1
* Schiaparelli EDM

Future missions in italics

* Category
* Commons
* Wikinews
* WikiProject

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