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MISSIONS
Explore the European Space Agency's Earth Observation satellite missions. Learn all about ESA's dedicated Earth Explorers or collaborations with other agencies through the Third Party Missions programme.
Mission - Earth Explorers
SMOS
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is dedicated to making global observations of soil moisture over land and salinity over oceans.
Mission - Earth Explorers
Biomass
The objective of the Biomass mission is to determine the global distribution of forest biomass.
Mission - Earth Explorers
FLEX
The FLEX mission will provide global maps of vegetation fluorescence, which can be converted into an indicator of photosynthetic activity.
Mission - Earth Watch
PROBA-V
The PROBA-V mission provides multispectral images to study the evolution of the vegetation cover on a daily and global basis.
Mission - Third Party Missions
PROBA-1
PROBA-1 is a technology demonstration satellite that later became an operational Earth observation mission.
Mission - Earth Explorers
GOCE
ESA's Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission mapped Earth's geoid very accurately, opening a window into Earth's interior structure as well as the currents circulating within the depths of its oceans.
Mission - Heritage Missions
Envisat
Envisat was ESA's successor to ERS. Envisat carried ten instruments aboard for a wide range of Earth observing fields. The mission was operational from 2002 to 2012.
Mission - Heritage Missions
ERS
The ERS programme was composed of two missions, ERS-1 and ERS-2, which together observed the Earth for 20 years, from 1991 to 2011.
Mission - Third Party Missions
FSSCat
The FSSCat mission is an innovative concept consisting of two federated 6-Unit Cubesats, called ³Cat-5/A and ³Cat-5/B, in support of the Copernicus Land and Marine Environment services.
Mission - Third Party Missions
Pléiades Neo
Pléiades Neo is a very high resolution optical constellation of two identical satellites phased at 180° from each other.
Mission - Third Party Missions
SAOCOM
The SAOCOM (SAtélite Argentino de Observación COn Microondas) satellite series represents Argentina's approved polarimetric L-band SAR constellation of two spacecraft. It's objective is to provide an effective Earth observation and disaster monitoring capability.
Mission - Third Party Missions
COSMO-SkyMed Series
COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) Series aims to provide global Earth observation that can be repeated several times a day in all-weather conditions.
Mission - Third Party Missions
COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation
COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation is at the forefront of radar technology, will ensure improvements and guarantee continuity with the First Generation CSK satellites, preserving the high quality and the highest precision features, both required for the interferometric activities.
Mission - Copernicus Sentinels
Copernicus Sentinel-3
Copernicus Sentinel-3 is an European Earth Observation satellite mission developed to support Copernicus ocean, land, atmospheric, emergency, security and cryospheric applications.
Mission - Copernicus Sentinels
Copernicus Sentinel-2
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission comprises a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites placed in the same sun-synchronous orbit, phased at 180° to each other.
Mission - Copernicus Sentinels
Copernicus Sentinel-1
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission comprises a constellation of two polar-orbiting satellites, operating day and night performing C-band synthetic aperture radar imaging, enabling them to acquire imagery regardless of the weather.
Mission - Third Party Missions
WorldView-4
WorldView-4 was an imaging and environment-monitoring satellite from Maxar of the United States, which offered very high resolution imagery.
Mission - Third Party Missions
WorldView-1
WorldView-1 helped meet the growing commercial demand for multi-spectral geospatial imagery.
Mission - Third Party Missions
PAZ
The PAZ (Spanish for “peace”) satellite, operates as a constellation alongside TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X.
Mission - Third Party Missions
IRS-1C and IRS-1D
The Indian Remote Sensing satellites IRS-1C and IRS-1D were identical Earth-imaging satellites operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation.