Organization:Mission Science Division
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | ESA |
| Type | Space agency |
| Website | www |
The Earth and Mission Science Division is a group of European Space Agency (ESA) mission scientists, research fellows, young graduates, trainees, contractors and administrative staff working within the Science, Applications and Climate Department of the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes. The Division is located at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands.
Introduction
The Earth and Mission Science Division (MSD) supports the preparation, development and operations of research and operational missions within the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. The Division is responsible for ensuring the application of scientific and other user community requirements in all phases of the development of Earth Observation missions, from precursor studies through to in-orbit satellite operations, and for ensuring coherence throughout with the objectives expressed in the mission requirements documents, including the management of mission-, instrument-specific, or ad-hoc advisory structures (as required). The Division organises and supports the activities of the Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO), including management and implementation of the scientific selection procedure for ESA research missions.
In support of the preparation of new mission concepts, or development and operations of each ESA approved Earth Observation mission, the Division conceives, initiates and conducts supporting scientific studies (in house and external) to ensure that the mission is "fit for purpose". In addition, the Division organises, coordinates and executes Campaigns for the purpose of acquiring airborne, balloon-borne, or in-situ data. Campaigns are specifically designed in support of technology or mission concept development, mission development, data simulation, and instrument calibration or product validation purposes. Campaign data are distributed publicly.
 ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands | |
| Abbreviation | ESTEC |
|---|---|
| Location |
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Parent organization | European Space Agency |
| Website | www |
Mission Science Division Management
The Mission Science Division management team are:
- Dr. Mark R. Drinkwater (Head of Earth and Mission Science Division) [1]
- Dr. Roger Haagmans (Head of Earth Surfaces and Interior Section)
- Dr. Malcolm Davidson (Head of Campaigns Section)
- Dr. Thorsten Fehr (Head of Atmospheric Section)
Research Missions
The Earth and Mission Science Division has prepared and contributed to the approval of nine ESA Earth Explorers [2], with three candidates selected from proposals to the 2017 Call for core Earth Explorer mission ideas; and three candidates to be selected from the 2020 Call for Earth Explorer research mission ideas, namely:
Earth Explorer Core missions
- GOCE (launched successfully on 17 March 2009; successfully completed its mission on 13 November 2013)[3].
- Aeolus (launched successfully on 22 August 2018) [4]
- EarthCARE [5]
- Biomass
A Call for proposals for Earth Explorer 10 (EE-10) core mission ideas was released in September 2017 . Three candidate ideas were selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in September 2018:
- Harmony (formerly STEREOID) (Stereo Thermo-Optically Enhanced Radar for Earth, Ocean, Ice, and land Dynamics)
- Daedalus (Low-Flying Spacecraft for the exploration of the lower thermosphere - ionosphere)
- Hydroterra (formerly G-CLASS: H2O) (Geosynchronous – Continental Land Atmosphere Sensing System: Water)
A Call for proposals for Earth Explorer 11 (EE-11) mission ideas was released on 25 May 2020. The Call will close on 4 December, 2020, and up to 3 candidate ideas will be selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in mid 2021. Proposals may be submitted on the EO Proposals Submission (EOPRO) Website | https://eopro.esa.int
Earth Explorer Opportunity missions
- CryoSat-2 (launched successfully on 8 April 2010)
- SMOS launched successfully on 2 November 2009)
- Swarm [6] (launched successfully on 22 November 2013)
- FLEX -Fluorescence Explorer (*selected in November 2015)
Earth Explorer Fast Track missions
Operational / Earth Watch Missions
The Division currently supports the development of seven series of approved Copernicus Programme Sentinel Missions as part of the Space Component of the joint EC/ESA Copernicus initiative. It has supported the development of MetOp, and is currently active in supporting the preparation of MetOp Second Generation.
Copernicus Space Component missions
- Sentinel 1 – (Sentinel-1A launched successfully on 3 April 2014 and Sentinel-1B on 25 April 2016) [10]
- Sentinel 2 – (Sentinel-2A launched successfully on 23 June 2015 and 7 March 2017) [11]
- Sentinel 3 – (Sentinel-3A launched successfully on 16 February 2016 and Sentinel-3B launch scheduled in April 2018) [12]
- Sentinel 4 (on Meteosat Third Generation-S)
- Sentinel-5 Precursor - (launched successfully on 13 October 2017) [13]
- Sentinel 5 (on MetOp-Second Generation- Metop-SG)
- Sentinel 6 – (also known as Jason Continuity of Service – Jason-CS)
In preparation for the second-generation of Copernicus (Copernicus2.0), six High Priority Candidate "expansion" missions are being studied by ESA to address EU Policy and gaps in user needs, and to increase the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component:
- Sentinel 7 – Anthropogenic CO2 emissions monitoring (CO2M) mission[1]
- Sentinel 8 – High Spatio-temporal Land Surface Temperature (LSTM) mission[2]
- Sentinel 9 – Copernicus PolaR Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) mission[1]
- Sentinel 10 – Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME) mission[1]
- Sentinel 11 – Polar Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission[1]
- Sentinel 12 – Radar Observing System for Europe - L-band SAR (ROSE-L) mission[1]
Meteorological Satellite Series
The Division also presently supports the development of several instruments out of the 10 instrument payload of the approved series of second generation MetOp satellites. The MetOp-SG series is developed in cooperation with EUMETSAT, as part of the EUMETSAT Polar System – Second Generation initiative. EPS-SG represents Europe's contribution to the future Joint Polar System (JPS).
- MWS (MicroWave Sounder), to provide atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles
- SCA (Scatterometer), to provide ocean surface wind vectors and land surface soil moisture
- RO (Radio Occultation sounder), to provide atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, as well as information about the ionosphere
- MWI (MicroWave Imager), to provide precipitation monitoring as well as sea ice extent information
- ICI (Ice and Cloud Imager), to measure cloud ice water path, properties and altitude
- 3MI (Multi-viewing, Multi-channel, Multi-polarisation Imager), to provide information on atmospheric aerosols
- UVNS/S5 (Ultra-Violet /Visible/Near Infrared/Short Wave Infrared spectrometer -Sentinel-5) instrument, to monitor various trace gases, air quality and support climate monitoring
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Thales Alenia Space proposals for the Copernicus project selected by European Space Agency". Thales Group (Press release). 2 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ↑ Gerhards, Max; Schlerf, Martin; Mallick, Kaniska; Udelhoven, Thomas (24 May 2019). "Challenges and Future Perspectives of Multi-/Hyperspectral Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing for Crop Water-Stress Detection: A Review". Remote Sensing 11 (10): 1240. https://docs.google.com/gview?url=https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/10/1240/pdf. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
External links
For more information, see
- of the European Space Agency (ESA)
- Webpage of the Living Planet Programme of the European Space Agency
- Webpage of the Earth Explorer Missions
- Campaigns page of the Mission Science Division
- Campaigns Blog
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