The mission of ASTRONET is to address this task. Formed in 2005 as a consortium of the largest funding agencies for astronomy in Europe, including both the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), ASTRONET was awarded an ERA-NET grant of 2.5 M€ by the European Commission for the period 2005-2010. An impressive momentum has been built up already during this initial period.
Nato nel 2005 come un consorzio tra le più grandi agenzie per l’astronomia in Europa, comprese l’ESA – European Space Agency e l’ESO – European Southern Oservatory, ASTRONET ha beneficiato di fondi ERANET da parte della Commissione Europea per il periodo 2005/2010. Già in questo primo periodo sono state poste le basi per un importante slancio.