Mission Science Division


The Earth and Mission Science Division is a group of European Space Agency mission scientists, research fellows, young graduates, trainees, contractors and administrative staff working within the Science, Applications and Climate 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.

Introduction

The Earth and Mission Science Division supports the preparation, development and operations of research and operational missions 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 in-orbit satellite operations, and for ensuring coherence throughout with the objectives expressed in the mission requirements documents, including the management of mission-, instrument-specific, or ad-hoc advisory structures. The Division organises and supports the activities of the Advisory Committee for Earth Observation, including management and implementation of the scientific selection procedure for ESA research missions.
In support of the preparation of new mission concepts, or development and operations of each ESA approved Earth Observation mission, the Division conceives, initiates and conducts supporting scientific studies to ensure that the mission is "fit for purpose". In addition, the Division organises, coordinates and executes Campaigns for the purpose of acquiring airborne, balloon-borne, or in-situ data. Campaigns are specifically designed in support of technology or mission concept development, mission development, data simulation, and instrument calibration or product validation purposes. Campaign data are distributed publicly.

Mission Science Division Management

The Mission Science Division management team are:
The Earth and Mission Science Division has prepared and contributed to the approval of nine ESA Earth Explorers , with three candidates selected from proposals to the 2017 Call for core Earth Explorer mission ideas; and three candidates to be selected from the 2020 Call for Earth Explorer research mission ideas, namely:

Earth Explorer ''Core'' missions

A was released in September 2017. Three candidate ideas were selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in September 2018:
A was released on 25 May 2020. The Call will close on 4 December, 2020, and up to 3 candidate ideas will be selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in mid 2021. Proposals may be submitted on the EO Proposals Submission Website | https://eopro.esa.int

Earth Explorer ''Opportunity'' missions

The Division currently supports the development of seven series of approved Copernicus Programme Sentinel Missions as part of the Space Component of the joint EC/ESA Copernicus initiative. It has supported the development of MetOp, and is currently active in supporting the preparation of MetOp Second Generation.

Copernicus Space Component missions

In preparation for the second-generation of Copernicus, to address EU Policy and gaps in user needs, and to increase the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component:
The Division also presently supports the development of several instruments out of the 10 instrument payload of the approved series of second generation MetOp satellites. The MetOp-SG series is developed in cooperation with EUMETSAT, as part of the EUMETSAT Polar System – Second Generation initiative. EPS-SG represents Europe's contribution to the future Joint Polar System.