Future earth observation missions

The GRS department is co-shaping the future of our spaceborne Earth Observation in several ways.

Mission Requirements and Performance

We are or have been participating in Mission Advisory Groups for the European Space Agency (ESA), participating in the definition of requirements or analyzing the performance of existing satellite missions, such as Sentinel-1, or missions currently under study, for example SKIM.

Future mission studies

We lead or participate in ESA or NSO (via NWO) studies into future mission. For example, we currently lead a NL-RIA, knowledge network that studies novel Earth Observation concepts using radar on-board small satellites (e.g. CubeSats). We have also study the product-level performance of future systems.

Earth Explorers

We are also deeply involved in ESA's Earth Explorer program. A recent highlight is the selection of the STEREOID (Stereo Thermo-Optically Enhanced Radar for Earth, Ocean, Ice, and land Dynamics) mission idea, a concept born GRS, as an Earth Explorer 10 mission candidate.