ESA Earth Observation Future Missions
- Paper number
IAC-06-B1.2.01
- Author
Mr. Amnon Ginati, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Year
2006
- Abstract
The European Space Agency is pursuing the development of innovative Earth Observation missions to foster better scientific understanding of the system Earth and to respond to the requirements of the operational users. Six Earth Explorer missions CRYOSAT 2, GOCE, SMOS, AEOLUS, SWARM, EarthCARE are under development for launch between 2005 and 2012. They will provide new critical information in a wide range of Earth science disciplines: ocean circulation, Earth’s gravity and magnetic fields, the cryosphere, ocean salinity and soil moisture, magnetic field, aerosol-radiation-cloud interactions and the demonstration of the measurement of tropospheric wind fields. Application-oriented missions of the Earth Watch class are continuing with the METEOSAT series of geostationary meteorological satellites, the preliminary studies of the next-generation METEOSAT spacecraft and the forthcoming launch of the first spacecraft of the EPS/METOP series. Preparatory activities are underway for the series of operational missions, to provide data and services for Earth monitoring, in the frame of the GMES programme.
- Abstract document