The ESA Earth Observation Programmes: status overview Dr. Stephen Briggs Head of Programme Planning and Coordination Services Directorate of ESA Earth.

The ESA Earth Observation Programmes: status overview

Dr. Stephen Briggs

Head of Programme Planning and Coordination Services

Directorate of ESA Earth Observation Programmes

November 2011

In Orbit: ESA Earth Observation satellites

– Five EO missions in operation– 5 more currently operated by

Eumetsat

– Several thousand data user projects worldwide– increasing further

– More than 100 Terabytes/yr of data

– 30 partner missions for which data disseminated to European users

ERS-2 mission complete after 20 years

ERS-2 operations came to an end with satellite passivation on 5 September 2011

De-orbitation consisted of lowering the satellite to a circular orbit @ 570km; from here, it will re-enter the atmosphere in about 15-20 years.

ESA took its responsibility of helping space debris avoidance.

ERS data will be kept and used in the future, as many projects, e.g. the GEO Supersites Initiative, depend on them.

Final ERS-2 image, showing Rome / Italy

accurate determination of the ocean seafloor, digital land elevation models and motion and speed of large ice sheets

first European measurement of global ozone

pioneering use of the interferometric technique

ERS tandem mission allowed generating global DEM up to very high latitude with unmatched accuracy

discovery of Rossby waves -> revision of the classical planetary wave theory

valuable data sets for hazard mitigation and disaster response

ERS paved the way for imaging radar and ‘interferometry’ technologies that are being used in several current satellites and will be carried on future missions

Scientific & technical highlights of ERS-1/2

Overview of actual missions in space

Envisat: 10th year in operation

Envisat orbital change successfully performed (October 2010)

Collision warnings increasing

GOCE has completed its nominal 2-year mission in March 2011

Cryosat first sea ice thickness map presented in June 2011

SMOS RFI situation improving

Next Explorer launch: Swarm in July 2012

Proba-1: 10 year anniversary

GOCE: nominal mission completed

Completion of nominal mission (6 uninterrupted global measurement cycles) in March 2011 Excellent state of S/C after 2.5yrs in orbit Data give new high accuracy insight in the spatial structure of Earth’s gravity field Also for ocean currency GOCE delivers on its promise. The next generation of GOCE based gravity products will be issued in the October / November timeframe

First global map of soil

moisture and

ocean salinity, August

2010

© CESBIO, IFREMER,

CATDS

1. SMOS continues to provide the first global measurements of two key variables in the Earth’s water cycle – soil moisture and ocean salinity

2. Amount of radio-frequency interference that is contaminating SMOS data has reduced significantly over the last year. ESA's Earth Observation Frequency Management and SMOS teams work with international and national committees and organisations to detect and shut down unwanted signals.

SMOS status approaching 2 years in orbit

CryoSat ice thickness map of the Arctic

1st map of sea-ice thickness from ESA’s CryoSat mission was revealed in June.

This new info is set to change our understanding of the complex relationship between ice and climate.

This map was generated based on data from January and February 2011, as the ice approaches its annual maximum.

Data quality exceeds mission requirements

Variations in sea-ice thickness will be seen as of next year

Arctic sea ice decline 2011

Arctic sea ice extent for May 2011 (12.79 million km2) was the third lowest in the satellite data record since 1979(NSIDC)

Sea ice extent in September all time low as measured by satellites

Image: Envisat MERIS, East Greenland coast and Greenland sea, 3 June 2011

BIOMASS: single satellite carrying a P-band SAR to provide

continuous global interferometric and polarimetric radar

observations of forested areas.

CoReH2O / Snow mission: single satellite with dual

frequency (X, Ku), dual-polarisation SAR to observe snow /

ice at high spatial resolution

PREMIER: 3D fields of atmospheric composition in upper

troposphere and lower stratosphere with an infrared limb-

imaging spectrometer and a mm-wave limb-sounder.

Earth Explorer 7 status

Status: Industrial Phase A system studies for the 3 missions are progressing well and have passed the stage of the Prel. Concept Review

FLEX: to provide global maps of vegetation

fluorescence, which can be converted into an

indicator of photosynthetic activity -> to

improve our understanding of how much

carbon is stored in plants and their role in the

carbon and water cycles

Earth Explorer 8 status

CarbonSat: to quantify and monitor the

distribution of carbon dioxide and methane ->

for a better understanding of the sources and

sinks of these two gases and how they are

linked to climate change.

Status: The procurement process for the Phase A/B1 activities for both mission candidates has started.

All CCI teams have now established robust and detailed user requirements

Most teams have also completed the first version of the Product Specifications

Scientific interactions with CMUG and different CCI project teams continue to develop fruitfully

International coordination is progressing constructively, both within Europe, and internationally via the recently established CEOS WG-Climate

Climate Change Initiative status

Image: Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement and Ecole Nationale de la Météorologie, Météo-France

Source: guardian.co.uk

„Europe 2071“

Meteosat Third Generation

MTG is the successor programme to the successful Meteosat Second Generation

The mission development is currently in Phase B2

Recent achievements & status: Consolidation of the system baseline / satellite(s) architecture System Requirements Review passed in spring finalisation of ITTs for the critical Best Practice items the formal inclusion of Astrium into the Leading consortium

GMES: Sentinel & GS status

The Sentinel-Satellites (1A/B, 2A/B, 3A/B, 4 und 5“Precursor“) are under development, Sentinel-5 in definition

Sentinel-1: phase D activities Sentinel-2/3: phase C/D activities Sentinel-4: instrument configuration

swap on MTG-S Satellite launches as of mid 2013 The ground segment (data reception,

processing and distribution) is being implemented

GMES: data policy

Sustainability of operational GMES is the biggest political challenge

ESA Member States have adopted a FREE and OPEN data policy for the Sentinel missions

Upcoming ESA EO launches

The next two launches of Earth Observation satellites will be:

The MetOp-B mission in spring 2012

The Swarm Earth Explorer mission in July 2012

Earth Observation programmes for C-MIN 2012

© National Geographic

EOEP-4 MetOp Second Generation GMES Next Programmatic Period

Jason-CS

Sentinel-5

Studies: next generation security

LoR Elements

Earthnet

Long Term Data Preservation