- Mission Science Division
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European Space Agency Website www.esa.int/livingplanet The Mission Science Division is a group of scientists, research fellows and young graduates working at the European Space Agency (ESA) within the Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department of the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes. The Division is located at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands.
Contents
Introduction
The Mission Science Division (MSD) is part of the Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department, within the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. The Division is responsible for ensuring the application of scientific and other user community requirements in all phases of the development of Earth Observation missions, from precursor studies through to initial in-orbit satellite operations, and for ensuring coherence throughout with the objectives expressed in the mission requirements documents, including the management of mission-specific advisory structures (where required).
In support of the preparations for each ESA Earth Observation mission, the Division initiates and conducts supporting scientific studies (in house and external), and organises, coordinates and executes related Campaigns for the purpose of acquiring airborne, balloon borne, or in-situ data.
Mission Science Division Management
The Mission Science Division management team are:
- M. Drinkwater (Head of Mission Science Division)
- P. Ingmann (Head of Atmospheric Section)
- R. Haagmans (Head of Earth Surfaces and Interior Section)
- M. Davidson (Head of Campaigns Section)
Research Satellites
The Mission Science Division currently works on six approved ESA Earth explorers and a seventh mission to be chosen from three candidate Core Earth explorer mission concepts (future missions), namely:
Earth Explorer Core missions
- GOCE (*GOCE launched successfully on 17 March, 2009).
- ADM-Aeolus
- EarthCARE
Earth Explorer Opportunity missions
- CryoSat-2 (*CryoSat-2 launched successfully on 8 April, 2010)
- SMOS - Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite (*SMOS launched successfully on 2 November, 2009)
- Swarm
Candidate Future Earth Explorer missions
The following six candidate Core missions have undergone pre-feasibility studies (Phase 0):
- A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth)
- BIOMASS
- CoReH2O (Cold Regions Hydrology High-resolution Observatory)
- FLEX (FLuorescence EXplorer)
- PREMIER (PRocess Exploration through Measurements of Infrared and millimetre-wave Emitted Radiation)
- TRAQ (TRopospheric composition and Air Quality)
BIOMASS, CoReH2O and PREMIER are currently undergoing feasibility study (Phase A).
The following two candidate Opportunity missions have been selected for feasibility study (Phase A/B1):
The next Call for proposals for candidate Earth Explorer missions is planned after the next ESA Ministerial Council.
Operational Satellites
The Division also currently supports the development of three approved GMES Sentinel Missions as part of the Space Component of the joint EC/ESA Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative
Approved GMES missions
- Sentinel 1
- Sentinel 2
- Sentinel 3
- Sentinel 4 (on Meteosat Third Generation-S)
- Sentinel 5 precursor
- Sentinel 5 (on MetOp-Second Generation- Metop-SG)
External links
For more information, see
Categories:- European Space Agency
- Earth observation satellites
- Satellites
- Earth sciences
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