Earth Explorers
ESA's Earth Explorer missions are dedicated to addressing key scientific challenges identified by the EO community. Each mission employs the latest technological developments to observe different EO fields.
What are Earth Explorers?
The Earth Explorers programme consists of a series of satellites that share the common goal of advancing Earth science by helping answer principle scientific questions through observation of Earth’s key systems.
The Earth Explorers are each dedicated to observing a different aspect of Earth’s system, such as the Cryosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Ionosphere as well as the Earth’s interior. The overarching objective of these missions is to understand the Earth as a geosphere and the complex interactions between spheres and sub-spheres.
Interact with 3D models of ESA satellites, which visualise their design and payload, and see case studies highlighting data applications.
Current missions from the programme include Aeolus, CryoSat, SMOS and Swarm. The Earth Explorer family will continue to grow in the future through the addition of new missions such as EarthCARE, Biomass and FLEX.
What are the next Earth Explorers?
Learn about the planned missions in the Earth Explorers programme - EarthCARE, Biomass, FLEX, and FORUM - which will further our understandi...
Meet ESA's Swarm Mission Manager
Anja Strømme, ESA's Swarm Mission Manager, describes in detail the wonders of the Swarm mission....
Earth Explorers brochure
This brochure describes ESA's Earth Explorers Space Programme and includes infographics describing some of the missions in the programme....
Pioneering science missions: Summarising ESA’s Earth Explorers
Designed for research purposes, ESA's Earth Explorer missions are dedicated to monitoring parts of Earth’s system. Learn more about the Eart...
Meet the Mission Managers
An overview of the EarthCARE mission
In this video, meet Björn Frommknecht, Mission Manager of ESA's upcoming EarthCARE satellite....
An overview of the Biomass mission
In this video, Klaus Scipal - Biomass and SMOS Mission Manager - talks about ESA's upcoming Biomass mission....
Introducing the Aeolus and CryoSat missions
In this video, Tommaso Parrinello - Mission Manager of Aeolus and CryoSat - describes what is involved in managing the missions and the uniq...
Meet ESA's Swarm Mission Manager
Anja Strømme, ESA's Swarm Mission Manager, describes in detail the wonders of the Swarm mission....
Featured Missions
Aeolus
The Aeolus mission which was launched into space on 22 August 2018 and was retired on 30 April 2023, provided global observations of wind pr...
Biomass
The objective of the Biomass mission is to determine the global distribution of forest biomass....
CryoSat
CryoSat determines variations in the thickness of continental ice sheets and marine ice cover. Europe's first ice mission is an advanced rad...
EarthCARE
EarthCARE will examine the role clouds and aerosols play in trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth's surface....
FLEX
The FLEX mission will provide global maps of vegetation fluorescence, which can be converted into an indicator of photosynthetic activity....
GOCE
ESA's Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission mapped Earth's geoid very accurately, opening a window into Earth's interi...
SMOS
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is dedicated to making global observations of soil moisture over land and salinity over ...
Swarm
Swarm is dedicated to creating a highly detailed survey of Earth’s geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution as well as the electric fiel...
Discover Latest Data
Latest Data Release News
CryoSat swath data boosted with new glacier regions and gridded products
Additional products have been added to CryoTEMPO-EOLIS Baseline 2, increasing global coverage and adding to the range of available gridded d...
New reanalysis dataset impacts SMOS Level 3 and 4 sea ice thickness
On 24 January 2024 the JRA55 reanalysis dataset was terminated and updated with the Japanese Reanalysis for Three Quarters of a Century....
New FLEX-related campaign datasets released
New datasets have been released for three campaigns, covering activities supporting the upcoming FLEX mission....
New Swarm Burst and Whistler products from IPGP/CNES/CEA-Leti released
We are pleased to announce that two new Swarm products making use of Absolute Scalar Magnetometer (ASM) high-rate data at 250 Hz (acquired w...