Cookies Notice

The European Space Agency (herein the “Agency” or “ESA”) is an intergovernmental organisation established by its Convention opened for signature in Paris on 30 May 1975 having its headquarters located at 24 rue du Général Bertrand, CS 30798, 75345 Paris Cedex 07, France. ESA is subject to its Framework on Personal Data Protection: http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Law_at_ESA/Highlights_of_ESA_rules_and_regu…

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that a website may save on your device, for instance mobile device or computer, upon your visit to the website. Cookies may allow a website to recognise an individual’s device and store some information about the user.

What are the different types of cookies?

A cookie can be classified by its lifespan and the domain to which it belongs. By lifespan, a cookie is either a:

  • session cookie which is erased when the user closes the browser or;
  • persistent cookie which remains on the user's computer/device for a pre-defined period of time;

As for the domain to which it belongs, there are either:

  • first-party cookies which are set by the web server of the visited page and share the same domain;
  • third-party cookies stored by a different domain to the visited page's domain. This can happen when the webpage references a file, such as JavaScript, located outside its domain.

Which cookies do we use?

Strictly Necessary or Essential Cookies are used on this connectivity.esa.int website. These cookies are strictly necessary for the website to provide the services that you requested and/or for the solely purpose of the transmission of the services and/or the website. Without these cookies you would not be able to access the services or the website and therefore this category cannot be disabled.

Cookie Name First Party or Third Party cookie? Session or Persistent cookie? Type of personal data collected Purpose Expires
SSESS*

First party

Persistent

N/A

Essential for the proper functioning of the content management system

23 days

cookie-agreed

First party

Persistent

N/A

Used to display the cookies banner.
Determines whether cookies are accepted or not.

3 months

cookie-agreed-version

First party

Persistent

N/A

Used to log the user's choices for each cookie subject to consent.
Indicates the version of the acceptance of cookies.

3 months

_pk_id

First party

(Matomo)

Persistent

Contains a visitor id used to identify unique visitors

Used to store a few details about the user such as the unique visitor ID

6 months

_pk_ref

First party

(Matomo)

Persistent

To identify from where they came

Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website

6 months

_pk_ses, _pk_cvar, _pk_hsr

First party

(Matomo)

Persistent

None

Short lived cookies used to temporarily store data for the visit

30 minutes

_pk_testcookie

First party

(Matomo)

Session

None

Used to check whether the visitor’s browser supports cookies

Is created and should be then directly deleted

Analytics cookies

ESA Web Analytics cookies are used for the purpose of improving the service. These cookies collect anonymous data (an individual cannot be identified) about user interaction with this website and is solely accessible to ESA workforce involved in the specific activity. Analytics cookies can be rejected when you first access the website.

How do you withdraw your consent and/or delete the cookies?

  • Cookies Preferences: You can withdraw your consent for each cookie category (except strictly necessary or essential cookies) at any time by selecting your preferences in the “Cookie Preference”. By using our Cookies Preferences and revoke your consent, the cookies therein described will be deleted.
  • Using Your Browser: All the cookies used on our website can be disabled through your browser. To disable cookies through your browser, follow your browser instructions. Normally within the “Help,” “Tools” or “Edit” menus in your browser. Please note that blocking or deleting cookies may lead to reduced functionality of some features on the website. Therefore, the website may not function optimally without enabled cookies, in particular strictly necessary and essential cookies.

Changes to our Cookies Notice

All future changes we make to our Cookie Notice will be posted on this website.

Contact

In case of any question, you can contact ESA DPO, as first point of contact, by sending an email to: dpo@esa.int