News - Operational News

Change of access to FTP-S for ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low-rate data

As of 13 December 2023, access to a series of ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low rate data collections changed from simple FTP to FTP-S.

Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

Landsat 5 TM European and Mediterranean Countries Cloud Free Collection

This dataset contains the cloud-free products from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper collection acquired over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East; for each scene only one product is selected, with the minimal cloud coverage. The acquired Landsat TM scene covers approximately 183 x 172.8 km. A standard full scene is nominally centred on the intersection between a path and row (the actual image centre can vary by up to 100 m). The data are system corrected.

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

News - Data Release news

Full European Landsat data collection now available under the same catalogue

The Full European Landsat data collection, from Landsat-1 to Landsat-8, is now available under the same catalogue

News - Events and Proceedings

National missions in the spotlight at the Living Planet Symposium

In the framework of ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme, the agency offers access to the full data archives of almost 50 satellite missions, which are owned by organisations around the world.

News - Spotlight on EO community

Introducing Mirko Albani

In this short introduction, ESA's Heritage Missions Programme Manager describes what he likes most about ESA's long term archive of satellite mission data and his role in the programme.

Activity - Projects

Dragon 2 Cooperation Programme

The Dragon 2 Programme focussed on the exploitation of ESA, ESA's Third Party Missions and Chinese Earth observation data for science and applications development in land, ocean and atmospheric applications.

Tools - Apps

Heritage Missions app for Android

Download the Heritage Missions application to discover what the missions were about, how it worked and what the elements of the space and ground segment that make these missions unique.

News - Data Release news

New reprocessed Landsat data on a new dissemination server

The full ESA Landsat archive has been reprocessed with the latest version of the processor to provide a homogenous dataset covering MSS, TM and ETM+ data.

Data - Data Description

Landsat MSS ESA Archive

This dataset contains all the Landsat 1 to Landsat 5 Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) high-quality ortho-rectified Level 1 GEO and GTC dataset acquired by ESA over the Fucino, Kiruna (active from April to September only) and Maspalomas (on campaign basis) visibility masks. The acquired Landsat MSS scene covers approximately 183 x 172.8 km. A standard full scene is nominally centred on the intersection between a path and row (the actual image centre can vary by up to 200 m). The altitude changed from 917 km to 705 km and therefore two World Reference Systems (WRS) were used. A full image is composed of 3460 pixels x 2880 lines with a pixel size of 60 m. Two different product levels are available: Geometrically and terrain corrected GTC Products (L1T): The most accurate level of processing as they incorporate Ground Control Points (GCPs) and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to provide systematic geometric and topographic accuracy; with geodetic accuracy dependent on the number, spatial distribution and accuracy of the GCPs over the scene extent, and the resolution of the DEM used. Geometrically corrected GEO Product (L1G): Normally generated where there is a lack of GCPs, and are derived purely from data collected by the sensor and spacecraft e.g. ephemeris data. Matera density and coverage map Kiruna density and coverage map Maspalomas density and coverage map

Document - Technical Note

Landsat 7 ETM Image Assessment System Radiometric Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document

Document - Technical Note

Landsat 7 ETM Image Assessment System Geometric Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document

News - Success Stories

New life for Landsat historical data

45 years of data, more than 1.8 million images, these are the numbers of an adventure started 48 years ago with the launch of the first Landsat satellite.

Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

ERS PRARE Precise Orbit Product (ERS.ORB.POD/ERS.ORB/PRC)

The precise orbit results from a data reduction process in which all available tracking data (Single-Lens Reflex, radar altimeter crossovers, PRARE range and Doppler data) and most accurate correction, transformation and dynamical models are taken into account and in which high level numerical procedures are applied. These orbits are "optimal" achievable representations of the real orbital motion under the circumstances of tracking situation and the "state of the art" model situation. The precise orbit product for the ERS satellites are the satellite ephemeris (position and velocity vector) including time tag, given in a well-defined reference frame, together with the nominal satellite attitude information and a radial orbit correction. Several orbit solutions are currently distributed: A new set of ORB POD (Precise Orbit Determination - REAPER v2) computed with the most updated model standards for the complete ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission. A previous set of ORB POD (REAPER v1) data already available on the ESA dissemination site since 2014, covering the ERS-1 full mission and the ERS-2 mission up to July 2003. ORB PRC which is the original Precise Orbit dataset computed during the ERS mission operations for ERS-1 and ERS-2. In the new POD dataset (REAPER v2) for the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, two different orbit solutions are provided together with the combined solution to be used for processing of the radar altimeter measurements and the determination of geodetic/geophysical products: those computed by DEOS (Delft Institute of Earth Observation and Space Systems), and those generated by ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) using different software (GEODYN and NAPEOS respectively). Careful evaluation of the various solutions of REAPER v2 has shown that the DEOS solution for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 has the best performance and is recommended to be used as reference. See the ERS Orbit Validation Report. For the previous version of the POD data set (REAPER v1), with ERS-2 mission data only up to 2003, three different orbit solutions together with the combined solution are available. These precise orbits for ERS-1 and ERS-2 have been computed at DEOS, ESOC, and GFZ (Deutschen GeoForschungsZentrums) using different software and different altimeter databases. Combined solutions have been created using three individual solutions for each satellite. All orbits were derived using consistent models in the same LPOD2005 terrestrial reference frame. These new orbit solutions show notable improvement with respect to DGME04 orbits (Scharroo and Visser, 1998). Thus, RMS crossover differences of new orbits improved by 4-9 mm. Careful evaluation of the various solutions has shown that the combined solution for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 has the best performance. All POD orbit files (REAPER v1/v2) are available in SP3c format.

Mission - Heritage Missions

Landsat Series

The Landsat Series is the world's longest running system of satellites for moderate-resolution optical remote sensing for land, coastal areas and shallow waters.

Mission - Heritage Missions

Landsat-4 and Landsat-5

The Landsat-4 and Landsat-5 missions continued the Landsat programme's goal of providing moderate-resolution optical remote sensing for land, coastal areas and shallow waters.

Mission - Heritage Missions

Landsat-1 to Landsat-3

The Landsat-1 to 3 satellites were the first in the United States' Landsat programme, dedicated to monitoring the Earth's land mass.

Activity - Quality

SLAP

The SLAP (Systematic Landsat Archive Processing) project covers the MSS, TM and ETM+ products from Landsat missions 1 – 7, and is the first systematic reprocessing of the ESA Landsat archive.

Document - Technical Note

Landsat MSS State Vector Generation

Technical note describing the validation activities conducted to assess the geolocation accuracy and internal image geometry of the Landsat MSS products.

Document - Technical Note

Landsat Level 1 GTC MSS Geometric Validation

Technical Note detailing the results of the geometric validation of the ESA Landsat MSS products.