DOCSLIB.ORG

Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Mission Overview and Status

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Mission Overview and Status Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Mission Overview and Status Craig Donlon – Sentinel-3 Mission Scientist and Ferran Gascon – Sentinel-2 QC manager and others @ESA IOCCG-21, Santa Monica, USA 1-3rd March 2016 Overview – What is Copernicus? – Sentinel-2 mission and status – Sentinel-3 mission and status Sentinel-3A OLCI first light Svalbard: 29 Feb 14:07:45-14:09:45 UTC Bands 4, 6 and 7 (of 21) at 490, 560, 620 nm Spain and Gibraltar 1 March 10:32:48-10:34:48 UTC California USA 29 Feb 17:44:54-17:46:54 UTC What is Copernicus? Space Component In-Situ Services A European Data Component response to global needs 6 What is Copernicus? – Space in Action for You! • A source of information for policymakers, industry, scientists, business and the public • A European response to global issues: • manage the environment; • understand and to mitigate the effects of climate change; • ensure civil security • A user-driven programme of services for environment and security • An integrated Earth Observation system (combining space-based and in-situ data with Earth System Models) Components & Competences Coordinators: Partners: Private Space Industries companies Component National Space Agencies Overall Programme EMCWF EMSA Mercator snd Ocean Coordination FRONTEX Service Services operators Component EUSC EEA JRC In-situ data are supporting the Space and Services Components Copernicus Funding Funding for Development Funding for Operational Phase until 2013 (c.e.c.): Phase as from 2014 (c.e.c.): ~€ 3.7 B (from ESA and € 4.3 B for the EU) whole programme (from EU) ~€ 3 B ~€ 0.7 B for space for services € 2.3 B Space Component funding by ESA (ESA’s entrusted tasks) € 3.1 B € 0.8 B by EU (FP7, GIO and Grant) Planned Sentinel Schedule Etna slopes sentinel-2 Sentinel-2 Mission Overview • Spacecraft: 2 operating in twin configuration • Orbit: Sun-synchronous at 786 km (14+3/10 revs per day), with LTDN 10:30 AM • MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI): operating in pushbroom principle, filter based optical system • Spectral bands: 13 (VIS–NIR–SWIR spectral domains) • Spatial resolution: 10m / 20m / 60m • Swath: 290 km Sentinel-2 A/B/C/D Sentinel-2 Second Generation A/B Sentinel-2 swath & coverage SPOT5 60 x 60 km2 High revisit time (5 days at equator) assured by twin 2 IRS P6 LISS III 141x141 km satellite observations Landsat ETM+ 180 x 172 km2 performed over a very large swath Sentinel-2 290 x 290 km2 !! Geographical Coverage: • All land masses 56° S bis 83° N incl. major islands All EU Islands < 20 km off the coast • All Mediterranean • Inland waters and all closed seas Satellite and Instrument MultiSpectral instrument Satellite • Filter based push broom imager (280 kg, 1 m3) • Satellite mass: 1200 kg • Three mirrors silicon carbide telescope, with • Satellite power consumption: 1250 W dichroic beam splitter • Hydrazine propulsion system (120 kg - including • Focal plane arrays: Si CMOS VNIR detectors, provision for safe mode, debris avoidance and EOL HgCdTe SWIR detectors. orbit decrease for faster re-entry) • Onboard wavelet compression (divided by 3) • Accurate AOCS based on multi-head Star Tracker and fiber optic gyro • Integrated video & compression electronics (state of the art wavelet compression) • X band mission data distribution (520 Mbits/sec) • Radiometric resolution 12bits • Mission data onboard storage: 2.4 Tbits • Daily generated telemetry: 1.4 TB Sentinel-2 Mission Highlights • 2 Satellites in twin formation, • Sun-synchronous orbit at 786 km (14+3/10 revs/day), with LTDN 10:30 AM • Revisit: 5 days at equator (with 2 satellites) under same viewing conditions; • Multispectral Instrument: pushbroom with 13 bands in the VNIR and SWIR • High spatial resolution: 10m, 20m and 60m; • Wide field of view: 290 km • Duty cycle: average 17 min/orbit, maximum 32 min/orbit • Lifetime: 7.25 years, extendable to 12 years Sentinel-2A Launch last night! June 23rd 2015 Sentinel-2 Products Name High-level Description Production Preservation Volume Strategy Level-1B Top-of-atmophere Systematic Long-term ˜27 MB radiances in sensor (each 25x23km2) geometry Level-1C Top-of-atmosphere Systematic Long-term ˜500 MB reflectances in cartographic (each 100x100km2) geometry Level-2A Bottom-of-atmosphere On user N/A ˜600 MB reflectances in cartographic side* (each 100x100km2) geometry (prototype (using product) Sentinel-2 Toolbox**) *: The possibility of a systematic global production of L2A is currently being explored. **: https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/toolboxes/sentinel-2 Level-1C / Algorithm Level-0 Level-0 Level-1A Level-1B Level-1C Consolidated TELEMETRY ANALYSIS DECOMPESSION RESAMPLING RADIOMETRIC - Geometry interpolation CORRECTIONS grid computation, - Resampling (B-splines). - Inv. on-board equalization, - Dark signal correction, - Blind pixels removal, - Cross-talk correction, PRELIMINARY QUICK- SWIR PIXELS - Relative response correction, LOOK AND CLOUD REARRANGEMENT - Defective/no-data correction, MASK GENERATION - Deconvolution/Denoising, CONVERSION TO - Binning of 60m bands. REFLECTANCES PREVIEW IMAGE AND MASKS GENERATION GEOMETRIC VIEWING (defective pixels, cloud & MODEL REFINEMENT land/water) - Refining of the viewing model using a global set of reference images, - Registration between VNIR and SWIR focal planes (optional). algorithms developed in cooperation with S2 assumption on coastal acquisitions 20 km offshore 280 km swath – lots of data. https://sentinels.copernicus.eu/web /sentinel/missions/sentinel- 2/acquisition-plans Products Qualification On-going data quality report on-line athttps://sentinels.copernicus.eu/documents/247904/685 211/Sentinel-2+Data+Quality+Report Level-1 Products Pre-Qualification Absolute geolocation performances (without geometric refinement) measured over 17 test sites. Measurements in line with requirements. Level-1 Products Pre-Qualification Multi-spectral registration performances measured show that the mean circular error over all band couples and detectors is lower than 0.23 pixel of the coarser band. Level-1 Products Pre-Qualification Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) calculated from images of the MSI sun diffuser. Measured SNR values largely exceeding requirements. REQUIREMENTS S2-MPC RESULTS SNR@Lref Lref SNR Margin Band/Unit - W/m2/Sr/μm - % B01 129 129.0 1016,50 688 B02 154 128.0 201,90 31 B03 168 128.0 228,60 36 B04 142 108.0 214,50 51 B05 117 74.5 238,50 104 B06 89 68.0 206,10 132 B07 105 67.0 208,80 99 B08 174 103.0 208,10 20 B8A 72 52.5 153,10 113 B09 114 9.0 164,70 44 San Francisco Bay Coastal Monitoring Algae bloom, Baltic Sea Venice boats breakwater surface effects Courtesy K. Ruddick, D. V.d. Zande, RBINS Copernicus Sentinel data 2015, RBINS processing Coral Reefs Monitoring London Wind Turbine Array (E. Channel) (Quinten Vanhellemont & Kevin Ruddick, RBINS) 490nm native 10m resolution Hartog/Dorre Island, West Australia Sentinel–3 Mission Overview • Operational mission in high-inclination, low Earth orbit • Full performance achieved with 2 satellites in orbit (S-3A,-3B) Topography Mission Payload Optical Mission Payload providing providing Sea surface topography data, Sea and land color data, through a Topo P/L including a Ku-/C- through OLCI (Ocean and band Synthetic Aperture Radar Land Color Instrument) Altimeter (SRAL), a bi-frequency Sea and land surface MicroWave Radiometer (MWR), and temperature, through the a Precise Orbit Determination SLSTR (Sea and Land (POD) including Surface Temperature . GNSS Receiver Radiometer) . DORIS . Laser Retro-Reflector In addition, the payload design will allow Data continuity of the Vegetation instrument (on SPOT4/5), Enhanced fire monitoring capabilities Sentinel-3a launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome 16th February 2016 Sentinel-3a launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome 16th February 2016 (Credit: Antero Isola) Sentinel-3: Satellite Orbit details S3B has a 180° phase separation on the same orbital plane Instrument Swath Patterns Ground Track Patterns S3-A S3-B SRAL tracks at the equator: S3A = 104 km track separation S3A+B = 52 km separation 2 days SRAL (>2 km) and MWR (20 km) nadir track 1400 km SLSTR (nadir) 1 Repeat Cycle 740 km SLSTR (oblique) 1270 km OLCI (27 days) SRAL orbit drivers: • Ground track repeatability, Orbit type Repeating frozen SSO • Dense spatial sampling Repeat cycle 27 days (14 + 7/27 orbits/day) Orbit control requirement: LTDN 10:00 • Ground track dead-band ±1km Average altitude 815 km Inclination 98.65° Sentinel-3 Optical Coverage (2 satellites with 180° phase separation) OLCI mean 2.0 revisit time with 2 Days satellites 0.5 1.0 SLSTR nadir- view mean revisit time Days with 2 satellites 0.2 S3 OLCI: Technical details Basic configuration similar to MERIS: • 5 Camera Optical Sub Assemblies (COSA), • 5 Focal Plane Assemblies (FPA), • 5 Video Acquisition Modules (VAM), • 1 Scrambling Window Assembly (SWA), • 1 OLCI Electronic Unit (OEU) managing all the instrument functions, • 1 calibration assembly allowing radiometric and spectral calibration. Optical layout Ocean and Land Colour Imager λ center Width Compared to MERIS: MERIS Bands Yellow substanace/detrital 412.5 10 100% overlap with SLSTR pigments • Chl. Abs. Max 442.5 10 • More spectral bands (from 15 to Chl & other pigments 490 10 21): 400-1020 nm Susp. Sediments, red tide 510 10 Chl. Abs. Min 560 10 • Broader swath: 1270 km Suspended sediment 620 10 Chl. Abs, Chl. fluorescence 665 10 • Full res. 300m acquired Chl. fluorescence peak 681.25 7.5 systematically for land & ocean Chl. fluorescence ref., Atm. Corr. 708.75 10 Vegetation, clouds 753.75 7.5 • Improved characterization, e.g. O2 R-branch abs. 761.25 2.5 straylight, camera boundary O2 P-branch abs. 778.75 15 characterization Atm corr 865 20 Vegetation, H2O vap. Ref. 885 10 • Timeliness: 3 hours NRT Level 2 H O vap., Land 900 10 product 2 New OLCI bands λ center Width Aerosol, in-water property 400 15 Reduced sun glint by camera tilt in Fluorescence retrieval 673.75 7.5 Atmospheric parameter 764.375 3.75 west (12.6°) Cloud top pressure 767.5 2.5 Atmos./aerosol correction 940 20 Atmos./aerosol correction 1020 40 Multi-sensor time series Band Set of OLCI in the Visible and the Near Infra-Red SLSTR (After S.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Status of ESA Missions
    ESA Atmospheric Science Conference, Barcelona, 2009 ESA Earth Observation missions Henri Laur ESA EO Missions Management Office EO missions handled by ESA 1990 2000 METEOSAT M-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 2010 METEOSAT Second Generation MSG-1, -2, -3 METEOSAT Third Generation Meteo METOP-1, -2, -3 in cooperation with EUMETSAT ESA Earth Observation 2009 budget Science ~ 600 M€ (16.3% of ESA budget) to better ERS-1, -2 understand the Earth ENVISAT Applications Services to initiate long term monitoring systems and services ERS-1ERS-1 andand ERS-2ERS-2 missionsmissions 18 years of ERS-1/2 SAR data in the archive ERS-2 achieved 14 years in orbit in April 2009 Î ERS-2 was designed for 3 years nominal lifetime ! Platform Î no gyroscopes since 2001 Æ Gyro-less operations Î failure of the Low Bit Rate recorder in 2003 Æ set-up of a collaborative network of acquisition stations Instruments Î all instruments (but ATSR) work satisfactorily and provides useful data Î Good prospect to operate ERS-2 mission until mid-2011 Envisat MERIS (Yesterday, 6 Sep. 2009) Bordeaux Toulouse Bilbao Pyrenees ESA Atmospheric Science Conference 2009 Barcelona Zaragoza ENVISAT mission: Arctic 2007 7 years ! ~2600 Bam earthquake scientific http://www.esa.int/LivingPlanet2010/ projects First images Tectonic uplift (Andaman) + GMES pre- Hurricane operational Katrina projects Global air 09 pollution ber 20 Novem e: 15 Ozone hole 2003 eadlin acts d Abstr Chlorophyll Prestige tanker B-15A concentration oil slick iceberg CO2 map Envisat Envisat Symposium IS ER y Symposium R M R
    [Show full text]
  • The Use of Sentinel-3 Imagery to Monitor Cyanobacterial Blooms
    environments Article The Use of Sentinel-3 Imagery to Monitor Cyanobacterial Blooms Igor Ogashawara Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA; [email protected] Received: 6 May 2019; Accepted: 1 June 2019; Published: 3 June 2019 Abstract: Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) have been a concern for aquatic systems, especially those used for water supply and recreation. Thus, the monitoring of CHABs is essential for the establishment of water governance policies. Recently, remote sensing has been used as a tool to monitor CHABs worldwide. Remote monitoring of CHABs relies on the optical properties of pigments, especially the phycocyanin (PC) and chlorophyll-a (chl-a). The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential of recent launch the Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) on-board the Sentinel-3 satellite to identify PC and chl-a. To do this, OLCI images were collected over the Western part of Lake Erie (U.S.A.) during the summer of 2016, 2017, and 2018. When comparing the use of traditional remote sensing algorithms to estimate PC and chl-a, none was able to accurately estimate both pigments. However, when single and band ratios were used to estimate these pigments, stronger correlations were found. These results indicate that spectral band selection should be re-evaluated for the development of new algorithms for OLCI images. Overall, Sentinel 3/OLCI has the potential to be used to identify PC and chl-a. However, algorithm development is needed. Keywords: phycocyanin; chlorophyll-a; water quality; Lake Erie; cyanobacteria; bio-optical modeling 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The EXOD Search for Faint Transients in XMM-Newton Observations
    UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The EXOD search for faint transients in XMM-Newton observations Method and discovery of four extragalactic Type I X-ray bursters Pastor-Marazuela, I.; Webb, N.A.; Wojtowicz, D.T.; van Leeuwen, J. DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/201936869 Publication date 2020 Document Version Final published version Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Pastor-Marazuela, I., Webb, N. A., Wojtowicz, D. T., & van Leeuwen, J. (2020). The EXOD search for faint transients in XMM-Newton observations: Method and discovery of four extragalactic Type I X-ray bursters. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 640, [A124]. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936869 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:02 Oct 2021 A&A 640, A124 (2020) Astronomy https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936869 & c ESO 2020 Astrophysics The EXOD search for faint transients in XMM-Newton observations: Method and discovery of four extragalactic Type I X-ray bursters I.
    [Show full text]
  • FAME-C: Cloud Property Retrieval Using Synergistic AATSR and MERIS Observations
    Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3873–3890, 2014 www.atmos-meas-tech.net/7/3873/2014/ doi:10.5194/amt-7-3873-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. FAME-C: cloud property retrieval using synergistic AATSR and MERIS observations C. K. Carbajal Henken, R. Lindstrot, R. Preusker, and J. Fischer Institute for Space Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin (FUB), Berlin, Germany Correspondence to: C. K. Carbajal Henken ([email protected]) Received: 29 April 2014 – Published in Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss.: 19 May 2014 Revised: 17 September 2014 – Accepted: 11 October 2014 – Published: 25 November 2014 Abstract. A newly developed daytime cloud property re- trievals. Biases are generally smallest for marine stratocu- trieval algorithm, FAME-C (Freie Universität Berlin AATSR mulus clouds: −0.28, 0.41 µm and −0.18 g m−2 for cloud MERIS Cloud), is presented. Synergistic observations from optical thickness, effective radius and cloud water path, re- the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) spectively. This is also true for the root-mean-square devia- and the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), tion. Furthermore, both cloud top height products are com- both mounted on the polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite pared to cloud top heights derived from ground-based cloud (Envisat), are used for cloud screening. For cloudy pixels radars located at several Atmospheric Radiation Measure- two main steps are carried out in a sequential form. First, ment (ARM) sites. FAME-C mostly shows an underestima- a cloud optical and microphysical property retrieval is per- tion of cloud top heights when compared to radar observa- formed using an AATSR near-infrared and visible channel.
    [Show full text]
  • The CMEMS Globcolour Chlorophyll a Product Based on Satellite Observation: Multi-Sensor Merging and flagging Strategies
    Ocean Sci., 15, 819–830, 2019 https://doi.org/10.5194/os-15-819-2019 © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The CMEMS GlobColour chlorophyll a product based on satellite observation: multi-sensor merging and flagging strategies Philippe Garnesson, Antoine Mangin, Odile Fanton d’Andon, Julien Demaria, and Marine Bretagnon ACRI-ST, Sophia Antipolis, 06904, France Correspondence: Philippe Garnesson ([email protected]) Received: 21 December 2018 – Discussion started: 2 January 2019 Revised: 20 May 2019 – Accepted: 21 May 2019 – Published: 24 June 2019 Abstract. This paper concerns the GlobColour-merged will require a better characterisation and additional inter- chlorophyll a products based on satellite observation (SeaW- comparison with in situ data. iFS, MERIS, MODIS, VIIRS and OLCI) and disseminated in the framework of the Copernicus Marine Environmental Monitoring Service (CMEMS). This work highlights the main advantages provided by the 1 Introduction Copernicus GlobColour processor which is used to serve CMEMS with a long time series from 1997 to present at The Copernicus Marine Environmental Service (CMEMS) the global level (4 km spatial resolution) and for the Atlantic provides regular and systematic reference information on the level 4 product (1 km spatial resolution). physical state and on marine ecosystems for global oceans To compute the merged chlorophyll a product, two major and for European regional seas, including temperature, cur- topics are discussed: rents, salinity, sea surface height, sea ice, marine optical properties and other such parameters. – The first of these topics is the strategy for merging This capacity encompasses satellite and in situ data- remote-sensing data, for which two options are consid- derived products, the description of the current situation ered.
    [Show full text]
  • Update on PROBA-2 TDM and ALPHASAT TDP8 Flight Data
    Update on PROBA-2 TDM and ALPHASAT TDP8 Flight Data Christian POIVEY, Gerard PLANES CONANGLA, Marco d’ALESSIO, Reno HARBOE-SORENSEN ESA ESTEC CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 OUTLINE 1. PROBA-2 TDM 2. Summary of PROBA-2 TDM SEE flight data on memories 3. ALPHASAT TDP8 4. Summary of ALPHASAT TDP8 SEE flight data on memories CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 PROBA-2 Launched on November 2, 2009 LEO orbit: 713-733 km, 98 degrees inclination PROBA-2 - TDM 1. TDM : Memories on board TDM/Proba II a. TID (RADFETs) Atmel AT68166 (4*AT60142) 2M x 8 b. Reference SEU monitor Alliance AS7C34096A-12TI 512K x 8 c. SEL experiment Semi. – SEL Samsung K6R4008V1D 512K x 8 – SEU ISSI IS61LV5128AL-12 512K x 8 d. Flash memory experiment. 2. Period analyzed ISSI IS62WV20488BLL 2M x8 a. March 2010-January 2015 Samsung K9FG08U0M 1G x 8 – (1769 days) CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 PROBA-2 TDM CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 SEL experiment, SEL Data SEL experiment in TDM/Proba-2 Tot SAA Alliance Semi. AS7C34096A-12TI 512K x 8 3 2 Samsung K6R4008V1D-TI10 512K x 8 8 4 ISSI IS61LV5128AL-12 512K x 8 357 293 ISSI IS62WV20488BLL 2M x8 12 5 CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 SEL experiment, SEL Data IS61LV5128AL Differential latchup rate (smoothed in blue) CNES ESA Radiation Effects Final Presentations Days March 9&10, 2015 SEL experiment, SEL Data Comparison with Calculated Rates SEL rate prediction was performed for the 4 SRAMs using OMERE under solar maximum conditions, a sensitive volume thickness of 1 micron and 10 mm of Aluminum shielding.
    [Show full text]
  • Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Bands Capabilities for Retrieving Chlorophyll-A: Lake Burullus, Egypt
    Sentinel-2 Red-Edge Bands Capabilities for Retrieving Chlorophyll-a: Lake Burullus, Egypt M. S. Salama1, Hanan Farag1,2 and Maha Tawfik2 The TIGER initiative 1- University of Twente, The Netherlands 2- National Water Research Center, Egypt UNIVERSITY TWENTE. Outlines • Why Snetinel-2 for water quality? • Challenges. • Requirements and objectives. • Study area and data. • Why Red-bands models? • Calibration and validation. • Rapid Eye Chl-a products. • Sentinel-2 expected accuracy. • Demonstration with SPOT time series. • Preliminary conclusions. UNIVERSITY TWENTE. Why Sentinel-2 for water quality? The aquatic biosphere is uniquely monitored by EO sensors as they provide synoptic information on key water quality variables at high temporal frequency. The Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) payload of SENTINEL-2 mission will sample 13 spectral bands: four bands at 10 m, six bands at 20 m and three bands at 60 m spatial resolution. The twin satellites of SENTINEL-2 mission offer data at frequency of 5 days at the Equator. UNIVERSITY TWENTE. Challenges 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Part of the 33 34 35 reality36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 What you see is not what you get! UNIVERSITY TWENTE. Requirements and objective Consistent EO-estimates of water quality parameters in inland and coastal waters requires three components: – (i) a reliable atmospheric correction method; – (ii) an accurate retrieval algorithm and – (iii) an objective method for calibration and validation. The objective : – Investigate the capabilities of red-bands of the Sentinel-2 MSI sensor in detecting Chl-a in inland waters; – Calibrate and validate such a model.
    [Show full text]
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar in Europe: ERS, Envisat, and Beyond
    SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR IN EUROPE Synthetic Aperture Radar in Europe: ERS, Envisat, and Beyond Evert Attema, Yves-Louis Desnos, and Guy Duchossois Following the successful Seasat project in 1978, the European Space Agency used advanced microwave radar techniques on the European Remote Sensing satellites ERS-1 (1991) and ERS-2 (1995) to provide global and repetitive observations, irrespective of cloud or sunlight conditions, for the scientific study of the Earth’s environment. The ERS synthetic aperture radars (SARs) demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of a highly stable SAR instrument in orbit and the significance of a long-term, reliable mission. The ERS program has created opportunities for scientific discovery, has revolutionized many Earth science disciplines, and has initiated commercial applica- tions. Another European SAR, the Advanced SAR (ASAR), is expected to be launched on Envisat in late 2000, thus ensuring the continuation of SAR data provision in C band but with important new capabilities. To maximize the use of the data, a new data policy for ERS and Envisat has been adopted. In addition, a new Earth observation program, The Living Planet, will follow Envisat, offering opportunities for SAR science and applications well into the future. (Keywords: European Remote Sensing satellite, Living Planet, Synthetic aperture radar.) INTRODUCTION In Europe, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technol- Earth Watch component of the new Earth observation ogy for polar-orbiting satellites has been developed in program, The Living Planet, and possibly the scientific the framework of the Earth observation programs of Earth Explorer component will include future SAR the European Space Agency (ESA).
    [Show full text]
  • Launch of the PROBA-2 Satellite: Another Success for NGC Aerospace
    PRESS RELEASE November 2, 2009 Launch of the PROBA-2 satellite: another success for NGC Aerospace On November 2 nd , 2009 at 1:50 am Greenwich mean time (7:50 pm on November 1st in Sherbrooke), the PROBA-2 satellite began its two-year space journey to accomplish its dual mission of scientific discovery and technology demonstration. Launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, the 130 kg satellite was successfully placed on its sun- synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 km. PROBA-2, which is the size of a large television and consumes the energy equivalent to a 60 Watt bulb, has four scientific experiments on board (two in the field of space weather and two for sun observation) as well as 17 technological innovations that will be validated in orbit. Involved in the project since 2004, Sherbrooke-based NGC Aerospace participated in the design and implementation of PROBA-2 by providing the software that controls the attitude and orbit of the satellite in accordance with the requirements of the scientific mission. Thus, it is the computer software designed by NGC which orients the spacecraft so its cameras and scientific instruments can acquire their data with the accuracy and the stability required by the mission scientists. In addition, thanks to its participation in the project, NGC will have the opportunity to validate in orbit, in the context of a real space mission, up to six different technological innovations, ranging from the measurement of the satellite temperature to determine its position above the ground to using the Earth's magnetic field to orient the spacecraft in the desired direction.
    [Show full text]
  • Envisat and MERIS Status
    MERIS US Workshop 14 July 2008 MERIS US Workshop, Silver Spring, July 14th, 2008 MERIS US Workshop Agenda a.m. ENVISAT/MERIS mission status, access to MERIS data 08:10-08:55 H. Laur (ESA) and distribution policy 08:55-09:10 Discussion Examples of the use of MERIS data in marine & land 09:10-09:40 P. Regner (ESA) applications 09:40-10:00 B. Arnone (NRL) Examples of MERIS data use for U.S. applications 10:00-10:20 S. Delwart (ESA) MERIS instrument overview 10:20-10:40 S. Delwart Instrument characterization overview 10:40-10:55 Discussion 10:55-11:10 Coffee break 11:10-11:30 S. Delwart Instrument calibration methods and results 11:30-11:50 Discussion 11:50-13:20 Lunch break MERIS US Workshop, Silver Spring, July 14th, 2008 MERIS US Workshop Agenda p.m. 13:20-13:50 L. Bourg (ACRI) Level 1 processing 13:50-14:10 Discussion 14:10-14:30 S. Delwart Vicarious calibration methods and results 14:30-14:50 Discussion 14:50-15:10 L. Bourg Overview Level 2 products 15:10-15:25 Coffee break 15:25-16:25 L. Bourg Level 2 processing 16:25-17:10 Discussion 17:10-17:25 P. Regner BEAM Toolbox 17:25-17:40 H. Laur Plans and status of the OLCI onboard GMES Sentinel-3 17:40-18:00 Discussion MERIS US Workshop, Silver Spring, July 14th, 2008 MERIS US Workshop, July 14th, 2008, Washington (USA) ENVISAT / MERIS mission status, access to MERIS data and distribution policy Henri LAUR Envisat Mission Manager & Head of EO Missions Management Office MERIS US Workshop, Silver Spring, July 14th, 2008 ESA: the European Space Agency The purpose of ESA: An inter-governmental
    [Show full text]
  • Mapping Water Quality Parameters with Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument Imagery in the Baltic Sea
    remote sensing Article Mapping Water Quality Parameters with Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument Imagery in the Baltic Sea Kaire Toming 1,2,3 ID , Tiit Kutser 1,*, Rivo Uiboupin 4, Age Arikas 4, Kaimo Vahter 4 and Birgot Paavel 1 1 Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Mäealuse 14, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia; [email protected] (K.T.); [email protected] (B.P.) 2 Centre for Limnology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014 Tartu, Estonia 3 Department of Ecology and Genetics/Limnology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden 4 Department of Marine Systems, School of Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia Road 15a, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia; [email protected] (R.U.); [email protected] (A.A.); [email protected] (K.V.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +372-6718-947 Received: 2 August 2017; Accepted: 12 October 2017; Published: 20 October 2017 Abstract: The launch of Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) on board Sentinel-3A in 2016 is the beginning of a new era in long time, continuous, high frequency water quality monitoring of coastal waters. Therefore, there is a strong need to validate the OLCI products to be sure that the technical capabilities provided will be used in the best possible way in water quality monitoring and research. The Baltic Sea is an optically complex waterbody where many ocean colour products, performing well in other waterbodies, fail. We tested the performance of standard Case-2 Regional/Coast Colour (C2RCC) processing chain in retrieving water reflectance, inherent optical properties (IOPs), and water quality parameters such as chlorophyll a, total suspended matter (TSM) and coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the Baltic Sea.
    [Show full text]
  • Espinsights the Global Space Activity Monitor
    ESPInsights The Global Space Activity Monitor Issue 6 April-June 2020 CONTENTS FOCUS ..................................................................................................................... 6 The Crew Dragon mission to the ISS and the Commercial Crew Program ..................................... 6 SPACE POLICY AND PROGRAMMES .................................................................................... 7 EUROPE ................................................................................................................. 7 COVID-19 and the European space sector ....................................................................... 7 Space technologies for European defence ...................................................................... 7 ESA Earth Observation Missions ................................................................................... 8 Thales Alenia Space among HLS competitors ................................................................... 8 Advancements for the European Service Module ............................................................... 9 Airbus for the Martian Sample Fetch Rover ..................................................................... 9 New appointments in ESA, GSA and Eurospace ................................................................ 10 Italy introduces Platino, regions launch Mirror Copernicus .................................................. 10 DLR new research observatory ..................................................................................
    [Show full text]