This guide sets out how to request access to Earth observation data promoted through an ESA Announcement of Opportunity (AO).

View a quick guide to the Announcement of Opportunity process in our infographic.

In special circumstances, ESA uses an AO to offer opportunities to the user community to obtain datasets from ESA Earth Explorers, Third Party Missions, or Heritage Missions.

AOs are published to satisfy a specific scientific requirement identified by ESA or in response to an agreement reached between ESA and a partner organisation to distribute data from an external mission.

Data advertised through an AO could be intended for use in research, application development, or calibration and validation activities.

ESA has published several opportunities in the past years and, currently, an AO is open that was implemented in coordination with the Argentinian space agency (CONAE) to promote the availability of data delivered by the SAOCOM mission for science and application development.

The SAOCOM opportunity is used as an example in this guide to explain the AO process.

The following steps should be completed to request data promoted through an AO:

1. Browse and select AOs

   You can browse open AOs by navigating to Earth Online’s search window, selecting the ‘Data’ tab, and choosing ‘Announcement of Opportunity (Restrained)’ from the dropdown menu.

   

   After selecting the AO of interest, you must complete a Project Proposal to request access to the data.

   

   Using the example of the SAOCOM AO, to initiate the Project Proposals process, use the ‘ESA User Services Portal’ link in the How to Access Data section of the AO page.

    

2. Log in or register to EO Sign In

   In order to submit a Project Proposal an active EO Sign In account is required.

   After selecting the ‘ESA User Services Portal’ link, you will be taken to the EO Sign In page, where existing users can log in, and new users can register for an EO Sign In account.

   

    

3. Prepare your proposal

   

   After logging in to your account, you will be taken to the Project Proposals form, which includes several fields that must be populated, including a description of the project, the composition and locations of the team members, application domain, and the intended project start and end dates.

   A more detailed guide on how to complete a Project Proposal can be found online, which gives further guidance on the information to be included in each of the fields.

    

4. Submit your proposal

   Once the proposal is complete, it should be submitted to ESA for evaluation. This process is completed to ensure that the proposal satisfies the requirements set out by ESA or its partner organisation. The evaluation may take several weeks, after which the user is notified as to the outcome of the assessment and, if approved, provided with instructions on how to order the products.

    

5. Promote your project

   When the project closes, users are encouraged to contact the Earth Online editorial team so a success story about the project can be prepared for the website. The editors can be reached at: contentmatters4earthonline@ejr-quartz.com.