IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2014 - 37

The European Space Agency's
Earth Observation Program
Y.-L. Desnos, M. BorgeauD, M. DohertY, V. LIeBIg, anD M. rast
European Space Agency (ESA/ESRIN), Frascati, Italy

n 2014 the space community is celebrating the 50th anniversary of European cooperation in space, 50 years
of unique achievements. This paper provides an overview of the Earth Observation activities of the European
Space Agency.
1. IntroductIon
ESA'S EARTH OBSERVATION (EO) Program plays an
essential role in advancing science and in ensuring that
Europe keeps pace with
the challenges of a changing world. To improve
our understanding of
natural Earth processes,
they harness the relationship between science
and technology to forge
innovative missions that
address the most urgent
scientific questions of
our time. In addition
they aim to satisfy the
growing request for precise and regular observations, ensuring data continuity over time. ESA's
EO program, the Living
Special Section on
Planet Program, consists
of a science part within
the Earth Obser vation
Envelope Program and
the operational programs carried out in partnership with
the European Union and Eumetsat (the Copernicus Program and the Meteorological Programs). It covers the full
lifecycle of a satellite mission from concept development
and preparation to its end. Since 1977, 22 missions have
been launched (including Sentinel-1A-just launched on
April 3, 2014) and 25 missions are planned for the next
2 decades.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2014.2319270
Date of publication: 24 June 2014

june 2014

ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

In addition, the Development and Exploitation Component of the EO Envelope Program fosters the emergence
of new science using the measurements collected by the
satellites and promotes the transfer of Research and Development (R&D) to operational applications and precursor
services. A feedback loop mechanism consulting with
the user community has been established by ESA which
also helps to identify new requirements for the preparation of future missions. To date more than 6000 scientific
users are exploiting ESA
EO data for research and
some 500 companies and
end-users are involved in
demonstration and preoperational projects.
ESA's Earth Observation Program offers a solid
base on which Europe can
further scientific knowledge and develop superior
technologies, and thus
secure a solid heritage for
future scientific missions
as well as operational
missions [1].

Space Agencies

II. EArtH EXPLorErS
The Earth Explorer (EE)
missions constitute the
Image lIcensed by Ingram PublIshIng
core of ESA's EO Envelop e P ro g r a m . T he s e
are research missions designed to address key scientific
challenges identified by the science community while
demonstrating breakthrough technology in observing
techniques. Involving the science community right from
the beginning in the definition of new missions and a
peer-reviewed selection process ensures that a resulting
mission is developed efficiently and provides the exact
data required by the user. This approach also gives Europe
an excellent opportunity for international cooperation,
both within the wide scientific domain and also in the
technological development of new missions.
2168-6831/14©2014IEEE

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