News - General News

International collaboration: Summarising ESA’s Third Party Missions

ESA’s Third Party Missions programme consists of more than 50 missions from around the world. Learn more about the Third Party Missions in this video.

Document - Data Access Information

ESA-archive-third-party-mission-collections.pdf

Discover the ESA archive data collections offered for the Third Party Missions programme.

Tools - Catalogues

FedEO

FedEO is a data catalogue that provides a unique entry point to a number of scientific catalogues and services for, but not limited to, European and Canadian missions.

Tools - Catalogues

ESA PDGS DataCube

ESA's DataCube is a data catalogue that enables multi-temporal and pixel-based access to a subset of data available from ESA

Tools - Catalogues

EO CAT

EO CAT is a data catalogue, offering a Next Generation Earth Observation system designed to manage end-user Earth Observation services.

News - Infographics

A summary of ESA Third Party Mission collections

A new summary is available, showcasing the ESA archives for Third Party Mission collections.

Document - General Reference

Heritage Space Programme interactive brochure

Learn about ESA's Heritage Space Programme in this interactive brochure.

Document - General Reference

Heritage Missions brochure

This brochure describes ESA's Heritage Space Programme and includes infographics describing some of the missions in the programme.

News - Infographics

Timeline to over 40 years of historical satellite missions

ESA's Heritage Space Programme preserves historical data from over 40 years of Earth observation missions.

Event - Workshop

Coastal and Marine Applications of SAR Workshop 2003

The second in the Coastal and Marine Applications of SAR Workshop series covered a range of topics on applications of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in coastal and marine environments.

News - Success Stories

A stroll through Heritage Missions

At ESA's Earth Observation centre—ESRIN—in Frascati, Italy, there is a place where one can walk back in time, to better understand the history and importance of Heritage Missions and their data.

Document - User Guide

TPM-L-OADS-dissemination-service-User-Manual.pdf

This guide describes the Third Party Missions Dissemination System.

Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

SeaSat ESA archive

This collection gives access to the complete SEASAT dataset acquired by ESA and mainly covers Europe. The dataset comprises some of the first ever SAR data recorded for scientific purposes, reprocessed with the most recent processor. The Level-1 products are available as: SAR Precision Image [SEA_PRI_1P] SAR Single Look Complex Image [SEA_SLC_1P] SAR Ellipsoid Geocoded Precision Image [SEA_GEC_1P] Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service.

Data - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)

IKONOS ESA archive

ESA maintains an archive of IKONOS Geo Ortho Kit data previously requested through the TPM scheme and acquired between 2000 and 2008, over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The imagery products gathered from IKONOS are categorised according to positional accuracy, which is determined by the reliability of an object in the image to be within the specified accuracy of the actual location of the object on the ground. Within each IKONOS-derived product, location error is defined by a circular error at 90% confidence (CE90), which means that locations of objects are represented on the image within the stated accuracy 90% of the time. There are six levels of IKONOS imagery products, determined by the level of positional accuracy: Geo, Standard Ortho, Reference, Pro, Precision and PrecisionPlus. The product provided by ESA to Category-1 users is the Geo Ortho Kit, consisting of IKONOS Black-and-White images with radiometric and geometric corrections (1-metre pixels, CE90=15 metres) bundled with IKONOS multispectral images with absolute radiometry (4-metre pixels, CE90=50 metres). IKONOS collects 1m and 4m Geo Ortho Kit imagery (nominally at nadir 0.82m for panchromatic image, 3.28m for multispectral mode) at an elevation angle between 60 and 90 degrees. To increase the positional accuracy of the final orthorectified imagery, customers should select imagery with IKONOS elevation angle between 72 and 90 degrees. The Geo Ortho Kit is tailored for sophisticated users such as photogrammetrists who want to control the orthorectification process. Geo Ortho Kit images include the camera geometry obtained at the time of image collection. Applying Geo Ortho Kit imagery, customers can produce their own highly accurate orthorectified products by using commercial off the shelf software, digital elevation models (DEMs) and optional ground control. Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service.

Document - Technical Note

The SeaSat-A Synthetic Aperture Radar System

The SeaSat-A synthetic aperture radar imaging radar system (SAR) was the first imaging radar system used as a scientific instrument from Earth orbit. The system generated continuous radar imagery with a 100 km swath at a resolution of 25 m from an 800 km altitude orbit. The imagery is a pictorial representation of the radar backscatter of the Earth's surface in a map-like representation.

Document - General Reference

SeaSat views Oceans and Sea Ice with Synthetic Aperture Radar

News - General News

Satellite Radar Altimetry: past and future

Satellite radar altimetry measurements yield a wealth of information that can be used for a wide range of applications.

Mission - Heritage Missions

Seasat

On board Seasat was the first-ever space-borne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system for science applications.

Mission - Heritage Missions

IKONOS-2

At the time of its launch, IKONOS-2 brought imagery rivalling that of military satellites to the commercial market.

Event - Conference

15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposium

A Symposium on "15 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry" and the annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team, the International Doris Service Workshop and the ARGO Workshop.