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Celebrating ESA’s first small satellite with science success
Scientists and data users gathered at a special workshop to celebrate the end of PROBA-1’s CHRIS sensor and discuss the results of this overachieving mission.
How to use space data to probe humankind’s ancient past
Data disseminated by ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme are enabling archaeological investigations that could help to unravel the mysteries of past societies and cultures.
Commercial and international data for fire monitoring
As climate change sparks a surge in the frequency and intensity of wildfires, satellite data disseminated through ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme are helping scientists to track and investigate these potentially damaging natural events.
New cross-calibration readies PROBA-1 data for climate research
While PROBA-1 has already exceeded expectations by suppling over 21 years of Earth observation hyperspectral data, recent cross-calibration activities are aiming to ensure the data will robustly serve long time-series research, even when the satellite ends operations.
New worldwide dataset captures the planet in fine detail
Scientists have developed an open source planetwide dataset of high-resolution Earth observation imagery, thanks to commercial data delivered by ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme.
Space helps monitor Earth’s changing biosphere
Earth’s biosphere is continually changing. Through its pioneering Earth observation missions, ESA is making critical contributions to monitor these changes and their impacts on Earth’s water and carbon cycles.
PROBA-1 - From technology demonstration to long-term Earth observation
Learn about ESA's PROBA-1 (Project for On-Board Autonomy) mission in our new infographic.
An overview of ESA's Third Party Missions programme
ESA’s Third Party Missions programme consists of almost 50 satellite missions, which are owned by organisations around the world. ESA has agreements with these organisations to acquire, process, and distribute data from their missions
Φ-Week Triumphs
In its fourth edition, Φ-Week presented the scientific community with amazing opportunities and projects—thus running alongside innovation at 360 degrees.
SPOT-6 to 7 full archive and tasking
The SPOT 6 and 7 satellites ensure data continuity with the no longer operational SPOT 5 satellite and provide an archive of very high resolution optical acquisition as well as the possibility to task the satellites for new acquisitions. Following the completion of the SPOT 7 mission in March 2023, new acquisition tasking is only available for the SPOT 6 satellite. The ortho-products are automatically generated by the SPOT 6 and 7 ground segment, based on SRTM database or Reference3D when available. The projection available for SPOT 6 and 7 ortho-products is UTM, datum WGS84. Bands combinations: Pansharpened: colour image at 1.5 m resolution Bundle: 1.5 m panchromatic image and 6 m multispectral image. Geometric processing levels: Primary: The Primary product is the processing level closest to the natural image acquired by the sensor. This product restores perfect collection conditions: the sensor is placed in rectilinear geometry, and the image is clear of all radiometric distortion. Standard Ortho: The Ortho product is a georeferenced image in Earth geometry, corrected from acquisition and terrain off-nadir effects. Tailored ortho: Aside from the Standard Ortho product, when different specifications are needed, a custom orthorectification, with a more precise 3D model provided by the client or acquired for the purpose, can be provided on demand. As per ESA policy, very high-resolution imagery of conflict areas cannot be provided.
AVHRR Level-1B Local Area Coverage Imagery
This collection is composed of AVHRR L1B products (1.1 km) reprocessed from the NOAA POES and Metop AVHRR sensors data acquired at the University of Dundee and University of Bern ground stations and from the ESA and University of Bern data historical archive. The product format is the NOAA AVHRR Level 1B that combines the AVHRR data from the HRPT stream with ancillary information like Earth location and calibration data which can be applied by the user. Other appended parameters are time codes, quality indicators, solar and satellite angles and telemetry. Two data collections cover Europe and the neighbouring regions in the period of 1 January 1981 to 31 December 2020 and the acquired data in the context of the 1-KM project in the ‘90s. During the early 1990’s various groups, including the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the Commission of the European Communities (CEC), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Science Team and ESA concluded that a global land 1 KM AVHRR data set would have been crucial to study and develop algorithms for several land products for the Earth Observing System. USGS, NOAA, ESA and other non-U.S. AVHRR receiving stations endorsed the initiative to collect a global land 1-km multi-temporal AVHRR data set over all land surfaces using NOAA's TIROS "afternoon" polar-orbiting satellite. On 1 April 1992, the project officially began up to the end of 1999 with the utilisation of 23 stations worldwide plus the NOAA local area coverage (LAC) on-board recorders. The global land 1-km AVHRR dataset is composed of 5 channels, raw AVHRR dataset at 1.1 km resolution from the NOAA-11 and NOAA-14 satellites covering land surfaces, inland water and coastal areas. Global Land 1 km AVHRR Data Set Project HRPT Ground Station Network (as of 1 April 1992) and Acquisition Areas for LAC Recorded Data Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service: AVHRR L1B 1.1 KM AVHRR L1B LAC Out-of-Europe.
Forty years of heritage data highlight warming European lakes
In the last decade, climate change has taken centre stage in both the public and scientific arenas, as increasingly extreme weather and human impact on the environment have become more apparent.
Mission continuity
Long-term availability of Earth observation data from a given instrument is crucial to many data users and their research—but just how does it work?
SPOT 6 and 7 ESA archive
The SPOT 6 and 7 ESA archive is a dataset of SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 products that ESA collected over the years. The dataset regularly grows as ESA collects new SPOT 6 and 7 products. SPOT 6 and 7 Primary and Ortho products can be available in the following modes: Panchromatic image at 1.5m resolution Pansharpened colour image at 1.5m resolution Multispectral image in 4 spectral bands at 6m resolution Bundle (1.5m panchromatic image + 6m multispectral image) Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service. As per ESA policy, very high-resolution imagery of conflict areas cannot be provided.
PROBA-1 HRC
The HRC Level 1A product is an image with a pixel resolution of 8m. The data are grey scale images, an image contains 1026 x 1026 pixels and covers an area of 25 km2. HRC data is supplied in BMP format. All PROBA-1 passes are systematically acquired according to the current acquisition plan, HRC data are processed every day to Level 1A and made available to ESA users. Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service.
PROBA-1 CHRIS Level 1A
CHRIS acquired a set of up to five images of each target during each acquisition sequence, these images were acquired when PROBA-1 was pointing at distinct angles with respect to the target. CHRIS Level 1A products (supplied in HDF data files, version 4.1r3) include five formal CHRIS imaging modes, classified as modes 1 to 5: Mode Name Swath Spectral Bands/Ground Resolution Mode 1 Aerosols 13 km 62 at 34 m (773 nm / 1036 nm) Mode 2 Water bands 13 km 18 at 18 m Mode 3 Land channels 13 km 18 at 18 m Mode 4 Chlorophyll band set 13 km 18 at 18 m Mode 5 Land channels 6.5 km 37 at 18 m Spatial coverage: Check the spatial coverage of the collection on a map available on the Third Party Missions Dissemination Service.
EDAP
The ESA Earthnet Data Assessment Pilot (EDAP) project will perform assessments for various missions to ensure the delivered data is fit for purpose.
VH-RODA and CEOS SAR workshop
The workshop provided an open forum for the presentation and discussion of current status and future developments related to the calibration and validation of space borne very high-resolution SAR and optical sensors and data products.
Space and the Arctic 2009 Workshop
Temperatures in the Arctic are rising at an unprecedented rate. This workshop looked at the needs and challenges of working and living in the rapidly changing Arctic and explore how space-based services might help to meet those needs.
Topographic mapping from small satellites- a case study of CHRIS-PROBA data
This paper presents a study on the use of various empirical models for satellite orientation and terrain modelling using multidirectional CHRIS data, and evaluates the potential of small satellites with multidirectional viewing capabilities for topographic mapping.