The Living Planet Programme (LPP)[1] is a programme within the European Space Agency which is managed by the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. LPP consists of two classes of Earth observation missions (listed below) including research missions known as Earth Explorers, and the Earth Watch class of missions whose objective is to develop support operational applications such as numerical weather forecasting or resource management.

List of Earth Explorers missions

Selected missions

Currently there are ten approved Earth Explorer missions, four (SMOS, CryoSat-2, SWARM, EarthCARE) of which are in orbit and operating:

Approved, but yet to launch :

Earth Explorer 11 Candidates

The competition for the Earth Explorer 11 mission began on 10 June 2021. A call for proposal ideas was released on 25 May 2020, with the deadline for submission on 4 December 2020.[25] Four candidates were chosen to compete for the opportunity:[26]

Cairt and Wivern have been selected as the final two competing entries. The winning candidate will be chosen in 2025 with a projected launch date in 2032 or 2033.[27]

Non-selected missions

Past candidate missions that were not selected include:

Earth Explorer 12 candidates

From the 17 submissions, which were all thoroughly evaluated, ESA’s Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO) recommended that four of the ideas should go forward to the assessment study phase.[34]

References

  1. ^ ESA's Living Planet Programme European Space Agency
  2. ^ GOCE site, ESA, retrieved 30 January 2016
  3. ^ "ESA's water mission SMOS". ESA. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  4. ^ Drinkwater, Mark; Kerr, Yann; Font, Jordi; Berger, Michael (February 2009). "Exploring the Water Cycle of the 'Blue Planet': The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission" (PDF). ESA Bulletin (137). European Space Agency: 6–15.
  5. ^ Amos, Jonathan (2 November 2009). "European water mission lifts off". BBC News. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Eurockot to launch two ESA Earth observation missions". ESA. 9 April 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Esa's satellite Swarm launch to map Earth's magnetism". BBC News. 22 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Aeolus – ESA Future Missions". ESA. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  9. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (22 May 2015). "Cost, Schedule Woes on 2 Lidar Missions Push ESA To Change Contract Procedures". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Aeolus: a historic end to a trailblazing mission". www.esa.int. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  11. ^ "ESA signs EUR 263m earth monitoring satellite contract". Environment Expert. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  12. ^ "EarthCARE – Earth Online – ESA". ESA. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Gearing up for EarthCARE". ESA. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  14. ^ "Biomass". ESA. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Biomass – ESA Future Missions". ESA. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  16. ^ Amos, Jonathan (8 May 2013). "Esa approves Biomass satellite to monitor Earth's forests". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  17. ^ "Bye-Bye Biomass: forest monitoring satellite departs for final testing before launch". Airbus. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  18. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (25 September 2015). "Panel Endorses Vegetation Fluorescence Mapper for ESA's Earth Explorer Program". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  19. ^ "ALTIUS - ESA's ozone mission". ESA. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Arianespace to launch with Vega C FLEX & ALTIUS, two ESA programmes at the service of environment". Arianespace (Press release). 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Contract secures design for ESA's FORUM satellite". ESA. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  22. ^ Status of the Current and Future ESA Earth Observation Missions and Programmes. CGMS-49. ESA. 14 May 2021. pp. 33–37. Retrieved 27 August 2021 – via the Internet Archive.
  23. ^ a b c "ESA moves forward with Harmony". ESA. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  24. ^ "ESA selects Harmony as tenth Earth Explorer mission". ESA. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  25. ^ "Calling for ideas for next Earth Explorer". ESA. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  26. ^ "Four mission ideas to compete for Earth Explorer 11". ESA. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  27. ^ "Cairt and Wivern Earth Explorer candidates go forward". ESA. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  28. ^ "CoReH2O – Report for Mission Selection – An Earth Explorer to observe snow and ice". ESA. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  29. ^ "PREMIER – Report for Mission Selection – An Earth Explorer to observe atmospheric composition". ESA. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  30. ^ "Reports on Earth Explorer Candidates CarbonSat and FLEX Now Available". ESA. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  31. ^ "Two new Earth Explorer concepts to understand our rapidly changing world". ESA. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  32. ^ "Save the date: Earth Explorer 9 User Consultation Meeting". ESA. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  33. ^ a b "Three Earth Explorer ideas selected". ESA. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  34. ^ "ESA selects for new Earth Explorer mission ideas". ESA. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.

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