Introduction

→ to ESA and its programs

Master on Remote Sensing
Presented by Prof E. Oriol Pibernat

UB, 29 November 2016

 Points to address

•  ESA : what it does and how ?

•  Meteorological satellites and Eumetsat
•  Earth Observation programmes
•  Conclusion

2
→ THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY
PURPOSE OF ESA

“To provide for and promote, for exclusively peaceful

purposes, cooperation among European states in
space research and technology and their space
applications.”

-  Article 2 of
ESA Convention

4
5
 ESA FACTS AND FIGURES

•  Over 40 years of experience

•  Six establishments in Europe,

about 2200 staff

•  5.2 billion Euro budget (2016)

•  Over 70 satellites designed and

tested and operated in flight

•  17 scientific satellites in operation

•  Six types of launcher developed

•  200th Ariane launch in February

2011.

6
22 MEMBER STATES

•  Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Norway , the Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United
Kingdom.

•  Canada takes part in some

projects under a Cooperation
Agreement.

•  Other seven countries have

recently signed Cooperation
Agreements with ESA.

7
ACTIVITIES

ESA is one of the few space agencies in the world to

combine responsibility in all areas of space activity.

•  Space science •  Navigation

•  Human spaceflight •  Telecommunications
•  Exploration •  Technology
•  Earth observation •  Operations
•  Launchers

8
 ESA’S LOCATIONS

ESTEC EAC Salmijaervi

(Noordwijk) (Cologne) (Kiruna)

Harwell

Brussels ESOC
ESA sites/facilities ESA HQ Redu (Darmstadt)
(Paris) Toulouse
Offices
Cebreros Oberpfaffenhofen
(Villafranca)
ESA ground stations
ESAC
(Villanueva de
ESRIN
la Cañada)
(Frascati)

Moscow

Santa Maria
Washington

Kourou Maspalomas
Houston
New Norcia
Perth
Malargüe

9
ESA PROGRAMMES
All Member States participate (on
a GNP basis) in activities related
to space science and a common
set of programmes (Mandatory
programmes).
In addition, Member States
choose their level of participation
in Optional programmes.
10
Mandatory
•  General Budget: Future studies,
technological research, education,
common investments (facilities,
laboratories, basic infrastructure)
•  Science: Solar System science,
astronomy and fundamental physics
Optional
•  Human spaceflight
•  Telecommunications
•  Earth observation
•  Launchers
•  Navigation
•  Robotic exploration
•  Space Situational Awareness
ESA 2014 BUDGET BY DOMAINS

11
ESA 2014 BUDGET BY DOMAINS

12
1. Intervención del presidente del Gobierno
Centro Europeo de Astronomía Espacial, Villanueva de la
Cañada - 06/11/2014

“El compromiso de España con la ESA, ha señalado el jefe del

Ejecutivo, quedó patente el pasado mes de julio cuando el
Consejo de Ministros aprobó la modificación de los límites para
adquirir compromisos de gasto para atender la participación
española en programas espaciales: "De los 1.024 millones de
euros aprobados en 2013, hemos pasado a 1.368,5 millones de
euros para el periodo 2015-2022".

13
STAFF BY NATIONALITY IN 2012

GR
Austria CA AT BE CZ
40
UK DK
Belgium 91 FI
Czech Republic 5 CH
Denmark 21 SE
Finland 21
France 525 ES
FR
Germany 431
Greece 18 PT
Ireland 30
NO
Italy 420
Luxembourg 2 NL
Netherlands 88
Norway 23 LU
Portugal 25
Spain 188
Sweden 44
Switzerland 28
UK 237 IT
DE
Canada 29
IE
Total international staff: 2267
14
ESA COUNCIL

The Council is the governing body of ESA.

It provides the basic policy guidelines for
ESA’s activities. Each Member State is
represented on the Council and has one
vote, regardless of its size or financial
contribution.

About every three years, Council meets at

ministerial level (‘Ministerial Council’) to
take key decisions on new and continuing
programmes. Last took place in
LUXEMBOURG, the next one is in LUZERN
on 1 December 2016.

The ESA Council at ministerial level also

meets together with the EU Council to form
the
15
European ‘Space Council’.
ESA’S INDUSTRIAL POLICY

About 90% of ESA’s budget is

spent on contracts with
European industry.

ESA’s industrial policy:

•  ensures that Member States get a
fair return on their investment;
•  improves competitiveness of
European industry;
•  maintains and develops space
technology;
•  exploits the advantages of free
competitive bidding, except where
incompatible with objectives of the
industrial policy.

16
BIRTH OF COMMERCIAL OPERATORS

ESA’s ‘catalyst’ role

ESA is responsible for R&D of space

projects. On completion of
qualification, they are handed to
outside entities for production and
exploitation. Most of these entities
emanated from ESA.

Meteorology: Eumetsat

Navigation: Galileo (with EU)

Launch services: Arianespace

Telecomms: Eutelsat and Inmarsat

17
→ ESA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
SPACE FOR EUROPE

The European Union and ESA share a

common aim: to strengthen Europe
and benefit its citizens.

Closer ties and an increased

cooperation between ESA and the EU
will bring substantial benefits to Europe
by:

•  guaranteeing Europe’s full and

unrestricted access to services provided
by space systems for its policies, and
•  encouraging the increasing use of
space to improve the lives of its
citizens.

19
→ ESA’S SPACE PROGRAMMES
→ SCIENCE & ROBOTIC EXPLORATION
 ROBOTIC EXPLORATION

ExoMars 2016 is the first of an

international endeavour with Roscosmos in
Russia. The second is due in 2020, including
a Russian lander and a highly advanced
rover on Mars.

The Trace Gas Orbiter was launched 14th

March 2016.

The Entry, Descent and Landing

Demonstratos Schiaparelli was released by
the TGO on 19th October 2016. It was lost
after entering the Martian atmosphere.

22
→ HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT
→ TELECOMMUNICATIONS &
INTEGRATED APPLICATIONS
→ NAVIGATION
 GALILEO: SATELLITE NAVIGATION

Putting Europe at the forefront of this strategically

and economically important sector, Galileo will
provide a highly accurate, guaranteed global
positioning service under civilian control. The full
Galileo system will consist of 30 satellites and the
associated ground infrastructure. Galileo is a joint
initiative between ESA and the European Union.
FOC – Full Operational Capability (30 satellites).
The 5th Galileo satellite, one of two delivered into a
wrong orbit by VS09 Soyuz-Fregat launcher,
transmitted its first navigation signal in space on
29 November 2014.
Ariane 5 has launched 4 new satelltes last 17th
November 2016. There are now 18 satellites in
orbit.

26
 MISSION OPERATIONS

27
→ LAUNCHERS
→ EARTH OBSERVATION
→ EO: WEATHER SATELLITES
The first Meteosat
was build and
launched by ESA
in 1977. It was
followed by other 6
satellites of the
same series. They
delivered weather
images of the
European and
African continents
for almost 25
years.
31
 EUMETSAT

Eumetsat was created in 1986

as an European organization
funded by European meteo
services to exploit weather
satellites. It took over
operations from ESA in 1995.

32
MSG series were launched on
29/08/2002, 21/12/2005,
17/07/2012 and 15/07/2015, from
Kourou with Ariane V.

33
34
•  Development of the Meteosat programmes:

1977 2002 2015

MOP MSG MTG

1 observation mission: 2 observation missions:

- MVIRI: 3 channels -  SEVIRI: 12 channels
- Spinning satellite -  GERB
-  Spinning satellite

•  The Meteosat Third 5 observation missions:

-  HRFI: 5 channels
Generation baseline is a two- -  FDHSI: 22 channels
platform system (6 spacecraft) -  Lightning Imager
-  Infra-Red Sounder
3-axis stabilised satellite
35
 METOP - INTRODUCTION

30 years of LEO satellite data provided by:

NOAA by the POES with two operational polar-
orbiting satellites – Tiros in morning and afternoon
orbits
Europe determined to contribute to an International
Polar System
In 1998 ESA approved the MetOp satellite development
In 1999 EUMETSAT approved the EUMETSAT Polar
System (EPS) Programme

36
 EPS / METOP

MetOp
The EPS is Europe’s first polar
orbiting operational
meteorological satellite
system.
Flying at a much lower altitude
(~800 km) than the
geostationary Meteosat, the
MetOp satellites, developed by
ESA on behalf of EUMETSAT,
provide more precise details
about atmospheric
temperature and moisture
profiles

37
 INSTRUMENTS OVERVIEW

Temp/Humidity Global
sounding: IASI, Imagery: Space Environment
HIRS/4, MHS, AVHRR/3 Monitoring: SEM-2
AMSU-A1/A2,
GRAS
Ozone monitoring:
GOME-2

Data collection: A-DCS

Humanitarian services:
SARP-3, SARR
Sea surface winds:
ASCAT

38
 MetOp A launch

•  After a few attempts in July…

MetOp A was launched on 19th October 2006, from

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan..

39
• MetOp B was launched 17 Sept
2012 from Baikonur.
• First ASCAT data (sigma0)
obtained 25-26 Sept.

• MetOp C planned for launch end 2018. 40

40
 FUTURE MetOp MISSIONS

MetOp-SG encompasses the objective of obtaining consistent, long-term

collection of remotely sensed data of uniform quality for operational
services for meteorology and climate monitoring state analysis, forecasting
and operational service provision, in the context of the EUMETSAT’s EPS-
SG system.
Comprising six MetOp Second Generation satellites in total, the mission is
based on a pair of satellites that carry different packages to deliver
complementary meteorological information. The A series of satellites will be
equipped with atmospheric sounders as well as optical and infrared
imagers, while the B series focuses on microwave sensors. In addition, the
A series will carry the Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument on behalf of the
European Commission.
Each satellite will be launched separately. It is envisaged that the first A
satellite will be launched in 2021, followed by the first B satellite in 2022.
41
→ EO: REMOTE SENSING
 The ERS (European Remote Sensing) satellites
view of the Earth: ERS, used mainly radar instruments to survey the
ENVISAT Earth's surface day & night and in all weather
conditions.
•  ERS-1, launched in 1991 ended its mission in
March 2000.
• A second ERS satellite (ERS-2) was launched in
1995, with an additional instrument for ozone
monitoring.
A constant flow of data from ERS-2 provided
information on status and changes of:
- Ocean currents, sea surface and ocean winds
- Polar ice caps & ice movement
- Atmospheric ozone.
43
focusing on the environment. ENVISAT was the largest and most ambitious Earth
observation satellite ever built.
8 ton spacecraft launched in 2002 by an Ariane-5 into polar
orbit at an altitude of 800 km. Payload consisting of 10
instruments to monitor the earth system and providing:
• a smooth transition from the measurements taken by
ERS-1 and ERS-2 (radar in particular)
• new data on marine biology and
atmospheric chemistry.
Along with ERS-2, it provided a continuous supply of data to
scientists and operational users over 20 years in the field of:
• Crop inventories and forest management
• Tropical deforestation
• Biodiversity
• Natural disasters / damage assessment (flooding,
forest fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.)
• Generation of digital terrain models
• Ozone layer / monitoring of ozone layer depletion
44
and green house effect.
The changing air quality

n  Air quality measurements from

space highlight the direct, often
dramatic influence of human SCIAMACHY NO2
activities on the environment concentration, 2008 mean
45
 Envisat stopped functioning 12
April 2012

→
→EO: SCIENCE
The Earth Explorer Missions

FLEX 2022
GOCE
17 March
2009
BIOMASS
2020
SMOS
2/11/ 09 EARTH
CARE 2018
ADM
Cryosat AEOLUS
8/4/ 2010 SWARM 2016
19/11/2013
48
GOCE gravity field

meters

49
The first SMOS Global Soil Moisture
Map (20-23 June 2010)

P. Richaume, CESBIO
50
 CRYOSAT Determination of sea-ice
thickness

Ice floes51 Water Leads © ESA/UCL

 FLEX – Fluorescence Explorer

ESA plans to track the health of the world’s vegetation by

detecting and measuring the faint glow that plants give off as they
convert sunlight and the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide into energy.
Yielding information about the health and stress of the planet’s
vegetation is important as the growing global population places
increasing demands on the production of food and animal feed.

The satellite will improve our understanding of the way carbon

moves between plants and the atmosphere and how
photosynthesis affects the carbon and water cycles.

52
→EO: TOWARDS OPERATIONS
OBSERVING OUR PLANET
FOR A SAFER WORLD

A joint ESA/European
Commission initiative, Global
Monitoring for the
Environment and Security
(GMES), now re-batised
Copernicus, is the response to
Europe's need for geo-spatial
information services. It will
provide autonomous and
independent access to
information for policy-makers,
particularly for environment and
security issues.
54
ESA’s role in COPERNICUS

§  Coordinator of the overall Space

Component

§  Development and procurement

Agency for dedicated space
infrastructure

§  Ad-interim operator of Sentinel 1,

-2 and Sentinel-3 (land) missions

55
COPERNICUS: set up

§  The Sentinel-Satellites (1A/B, 2A/B, 3A/B, 4

and 5“Precursor“) plus Sentinel-5.
§  Satellite launches
1A: 3/4/14 with Soyuz from Kourou
1B: 25/4/16 with Soyuz from Kourou
2A: 23/6/15 with Vega from Kourou
3A: 16/2/16 with Rockot from Plesets
§  The ground segment (data reception,
processing and distribution)
§  ESA coordinates the space segment
§  Coordination with European partners
§  Sustainability of operations is the biggest
56
political challenge ahead
Sentinel–1: C-band SAR mission

§  25 min/orbit in any imaging mode +

remainder in Wave mode (Orbital
period: 98.6 minutes)
§  Daily coverage of high priority areas,
e.g. Europe, Canada, shipping routes.
§  Global coverage in 6 days with S1A +
S1B.

Modes Resolution Swath Width Polarisation

HH+HV or VV
Stripmap (SM) 5 x 5 m² > 80 km
+VH

HH+HV or VV
Intf. Wideswath (IW) 5 x 20 m² > 250 km
+VH

Extra Wideswath HH+HV or VV

20 x 40 m² > 400 km
(EW) +VH

20 x 20 km² at 100 km
Wave (W) 5 x 5 m² HH or VV
spacing
57
Sentinel–2

§  High resolution
multispectral instrument :
§  Four ViS and NIR bands at
10 m resolution
§  Six red-edge /SW IR at 60 m
resolution
§  Three atmospheric correction
bands at 60 m.
§  Swath 290 Km

Merida image taken 20/11/2015

58
Sentinel–3: Ocean & global land mission

ü  Applications:
• Sea/land colour data and
surface temperature

• sea surface and land ice

topography

ü Sun synchronous orbit at 814.5 km mean altitude

over geoid
ü 27 days repeat cycle for the topography package, < 3
days for OLCI and < 2 days for SLSTR
ü 7 years design life time, consumables for 12 years

59
60
Sentinel–4 and 6

Sentinel-4 is a payload devoted to atmospheric

monitoring that will be embarked upon a Meteosat
Third Generation-Sounder (MTG-S) satellite in
geostationary orbit.

Sentinel-6 carries a radar altimeter to measure global

sea-surface height, primarily for operational
oceanography and for climate studies.

61
Sentinel–5 precursor:

The Sentinel-5 Precursor mission is intended to provide

data continuity for the SCIAMACHY instrument aboard
the Envisat satellite and NASA's OMI instrument
aboard the Aura satellite in the interim of the launch of
Sentinel-5: a five-year gap until the launch of
Sentinel-5.
The mission will perform atmospheric monitoring at high
temporal and spectral resolution, and increased cloud-
free observation for:
Air Quality
Ozone and Surface UV
Climate

62
 Would you like to know more?
www.esa.int

63