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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
Aeolus
The Aeolus mission which was launched into space on 22 August 2018 and was retired on 30 April 2023, provided global observations of wind profiles from space to improve the quality of weather forecasts, and to advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and climate processes.
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 - 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 - Heritage Missions
KOMPSAT-1
KOMPSAT-1 (Korean Multi-Purpose Satellite), also known as Arirang-1, was a South Korean Earth observation satellite which was launched on 21 December 1999. KOMPSAT-1 operated for eight years until satellite operations ceased on 30 December 2007 due to a loss of contact.
Mission - Third Party Missions
Vision-1
Launched on 16 September 2018, Vision-1 offers orthorectified products with resolution up to 87 cm in panchromatic mode and 3.48 in multispectral mode as standard.
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 - 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 - 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 - Heritage 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.
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 - Third Party Missions
WorldView Series
The WorldView constellation are environment-monitoring satellites that have been supplying imagery since 2007.
Mission - Heritage Missions
DMC First Generation
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is a constellation of microsatellites formerly coordinated by DMCii to provide frequent observations of the Earth for monitoring natural disasters.
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.
Mission - Heritage Missions
GEOSAT
The GEOSAT series consists of GEOSAT-1 and GEOSAT-2 missions. They are Earth imaging satellites. GEOSAT-2, a high resolution satellite, became the first European fully-private satellite capable of providing sub-metric multi-spectral imagery.
Mission - Heritage Missions
SPOT
The SPOT (from French "Satellite pour l'Observation de la Terre") series of missions has been supplying high-resolution, wide-area optical imagery since 1986.
Mission - Third Party Missions
Spire
Spire Global's constellation of Lemur nanosatellites offer satellite-based maritime, aviation and weather tracking.