ESA Observing the Earth

Earth from Space

Two new Earth Explorer concepts to understand our rapidly changing world

ESA has chosen two concepts, FORUM and SKIM, to be developed further and compete to be the ninth Earth Explorer mission.

Ozone ups and downs

Climate scientists studying three decades of ozone measurements from seven satellites see a positive trend in global recovery thanks to international efforts to curb ozone-depleting substances.

Viti Levu

Earth from Space

Three years of Sentinel-1

Shared vision strengthens Europe’s space strategy

Working together for three decades, ESA and Eumetsat have been instrumental in positioning Europe as a leader in observing Earth from space. Continuing to share a vision, the two organisations have signed a statement that will strengthen Europe in meteorology and climate monitoring, and that will help to take the Copernicus programme into the future.

Smallsats win big prize at Copernicus Masters

A constellation of small satellites that provide data on Earth’s ice and soil moisture content to complement the Sentinel fleet took the top prize at this year’s Copernicus Masters Competition.

Satellites guide ships in icy waters through the cloud

In late August, the 60 m-long US Coast Guard Cutter Maple completed its navigation through the Arctic’s ice-ridden Northwest Passage. While this was not the first time ships had taken this route, it was the first time that the International Ice Patrol had provided iceberg information based exclusively on satellite imagery.

Satellites guide ships in icy waters through the cloud

In late August, the 60 m-long US Coast Guard Cutter Maple completed its navigation through the Arctic’s ice-ridden Northwest Passage. While this was not the first time ships had taken this route, it was the first time that the International Ice Patrol had provided iceberg information based exclusively on satellite imagery.

Nearly four decades of soil moisture data now available

A new, long-term and global dataset of soil moisture measurements from space has been released to help us better understand the water cycle and climate, monitor agriculture and manage our water resources.

Western Australia

Earth from Space

Wind satellite vacuum packed

With liftoff on the horizon, ESA’s Aeolus satellite is going through its last round of tests to make sure that this complex mission will work in orbit. Over the next month, it is sitting in a large chamber that has had all the air sucked out to simulate the vacuum of space.

Sentinel-5P timelapse

Ready to reap the benefits from Copernicus Sentinel-5P

Now that Sentinel-5P is safely in orbit, engineers have started commissioning the satellite for the task of delivering extremely high-quality information on air quality. Meanwhile, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service is poised to ensure we all reap the benefits from this latest mission.

Halloween crack

Melting snow aids absorption of carbon dioxide

It appears that something good can come from something bad. Although rising global temperatures are causing seasonal snow cover to melt earlier in the spring, this allows for the snow-free boreal forests to absorb more carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.

Washington DC

Earth from Space

Sentinel-1 sees through hurricanes

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season has been a harsh reminder of the grief and devastation brought by these vast storms. Imaging the top of hurricanes from space is nothing new, but the Sentinel-1 satellites can see right through these towering spinning weather systems, measuring the sea surface below to help predict the storm’s path.

Weather and climate

Sagaing Division

Earth from Space

Ireland signs up to Copernicus Sentinel agreement

ESA and Enterprise Ireland have signed an agreement that gives Ireland access to data from the Copernicus Sentinel satellites and helps Ireland to exploit these data to benefit their country.

Watching Ophelia

ESA takes the reins of the Disasters Charter

When disaster strikes, a group of international space agencies pools its resources and expertise to support relief efforts on the ground. For the next six months, ESA will be leading the International Charter Space and Major Disasters as it brings information from satellites to the aid of the vulnerable. 

Sentinel-5P: health satellite in excellent health

Launched last week, Europe’s Sentinel-5P satellite – the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring the air we breathe – is in excellent health.

Sentinel-5P: satellite in excellent health

Launched last week, Europe’s Sentinel-5P satellite – the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring the air we breathe – is in excellent health.

Sustenance from sands

Revisit the launch event

Air quality-monitoring satellite in orbit

The first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere, Sentinel‑5P, has been launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Sentinel-5P liftoff

Liftoff replay

Plesetsk, Russia

Hurricane Ophelia

California fires

Sentinel-5P services

Sentinel-5P data

Follow the launch event

Follow the launch event

Secrets of hidden ice canyons revealed

We are all aware that Antarctica’s ice shelves are thinning, but recently scientists have also discovered huge canyons cutting through the underbelly of these shelves, potentially making them even more fragile. Thanks to the CryoSat and Sentinel-1 missions, new light is being shed on this hidden world.

Ready to assume control of Sentinel-5P

Mission controllers completed a critical final rehearsal today, confirming that everything and everyone on ground are ready to take over control of Sentinel-5P in the harsh environment of space.

Sentinel-5P poised for liftoff

With four days to liftoff, the next Sentinel satellite is now on the launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Larsen Ice Shelf

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Sentinel-5P sealed from view

As preparations for the launch of Sentinel-5P continue on track, the team at Russia’s Plesetsk site has bid farewell to the satellite as it was sealed from view in the Rockot fairing. Liftoff is set for 13 October at 09:27 GMT (11:27 CEST).

Ideas wanted in science for society

ESA is offering over 100 opportunities for industry, start-ups and scientific institutions to develop innovative ideas that bring Earth observation science closer to society.

Africa, classified

From the barren Sahara to lush jungles, the first high-resolution map classifying land cover types on the entire African continent has been released. The map was created using a year’s worth of data from the Sentinel-2A satellite.

Eye on air quality

Nordenskiold Glacier

Earth from Space

Mapping the seafloor

Virtual classroom

Earth from Space

Preparing to fly Sentinel-5P

The teams that will fly Sentinel-5P are training intensively for launch, ensuring that everyone knows their job and can react to any emergency.

Call for Media

Call for Media

Marine chlorophyll

Call for new Earth Explorer mission ideas

As part of ESA’s commitment to realise new satellite missions that advance our understanding of Earth, benefit society and demonstrate innovative space technologies, a call is now open for new Earth Explorer ideas.

Call for new Earth Explorer mission ideas

As part of ESA’s commitment to realise new satellite missions that advance our understanding of Earth, benefit society and demonstrate innovative space technologies, a call is now open for new Earth Explorer ideas.

Sentinel-5P satellite fuelled

Engineers have been at Russia’s Plesetsk launch site for a month now, ticking off the jobs on the ‘to do’ list so that the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite is fit and ready for liftoff on 13 October. With the satellite now fuelled, the team has passed another milestone.

Watch live: EO Open Science

Watch live

Northwest England

Earth from Space

Giant berg on the move

Giant berg on the move

Flat land

Mapping the world’s forests

Using satellite radar data, scientists have created a global map that quantifies the amount of wood in our forests – a key to understanding Earth’s carbon cycle and, ultimately, climate change.

Earth from Space

Meet Sentinel-5P

Travel app wins top prize at App Camp

An app that uses satellite imagery to give flight travellers an interactive, bird’s-eye view of their routes took the top prize at this year’s Space App Camp at ESA’s centre in Frascati, Italy.

Travel app wins top prize at App Camp

An app that uses satellite imagery to give flight travellers an interactive, bird’s-eye view of their routes took the top prize at this year’s Space App Camp at ESA’s centre in Frascati, Italy.

Join us for #Sentinel5P launch

Are you passionate about our planet and interested in how satellites help to improve everyday lives and do you share your passion via social media? Then ESA’s next SocialSpace event is for you.

Join us for #Sentinel5P launch

Are you passionate about our planet and interested in how satellites help to improve everyday lives and do you share your passion via social media? Then ESA’s next SocialSpace event is for you.

App Camp wrap-up

Earth through different eyes

In the 1960s, photographs of Earth taken by the first astronauts captured the imaginations of people across the world. The pictures not only became icons for space exploration, but also the fragility of our planet. But astronauts were not the only ones with their eyes on Earth.

Syracuse

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Sentinel-5P launch preparations in full swing

With liftoff set for 13 October, engineers at Russia’s Plesetsk launch site are steaming ahead with the task of getting Europe’s next Copernicus satellite ready for its journey into orbit.

Burn scars

Earth from Space

First day of camp

Petermann Glacier

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Investing in industrial innovation

A new ESA initiative, Investing in Industrial Innovation in Earth Observation – also known as  ‘InCubed’ – kicked off today with an open call for European businesses to apply for a chance to gain financial and practical support for industry projects.

Italy’s drought seen from space

Despite the welcome showers at the weekend, abnormally low soil-moisture conditions persist in central Italy. Scientists are using satellite data to monitor the drought that has gripped the country.

New era in air-quality monitoring a step away

The Sentinel-5P satellite has arrived in Plesetsk in northern Russia to be prepared for liftoff on 13 October. Built to deliver global maps of air pollutants every day and in more detail than ever before, this latest Copernicus mission will set a new standard for monitoring air quality.

New era in air-quality monitoring a step away

The Sentinel-5P satellite has arrived in Plesetsk in northern Russia to be prepared for liftoff on 13 October. Built to deliver global maps of air pollutants every day and in more detail than ever before, this latest Copernicus mission will set a new standard for monitoring air quality.

EO Open Science

Monitoring air quality

Mapping crops

Cloud-free view

Managing water

Watching Harvey

Burn scars

Sentinel-1 speeds up crop insurance payouts

For the first time in India, a state government is using satellites to assess lost crops so that farmers can benefit from speedy insurance payouts.

Sweltering south

Greenland wildfire

Does loss lead to instability?

Thanks to the satellite era, we recently witnessed the birth of one of the biggest icebergs on record. While the breakup of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf hit the headlines around the world, this dramatic event also presents scientists with a unique opportunity to learn more about ice-sheet stability.

Taking farming into the space age

Humans started to cultivate land around 10 000 years ago, so we must be pretty good at it by now. However, environmental concerns, sustainability, quotas, subsidies and paperwork make farming more challenging than ever. Satellites offer a solution to many of these problems, but how does the ordinary farmer tap into their potential?

Irrawaddy Delta

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Mastering winds

Northeastern Europe

Earth from Space

Air pollution monitoring Sentinel on show

With Sentinel-5 Precursor about to be packed up and shipped to Russia for liftoff in late September, media representatives, members of the UK Space Agency and National Centre for Earth Observation had the chance to see this Copernicus air-pollution monitoring satellite standing proud in the cleanroom.

Pilanesberg

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Vesuvius on fire

Sentinel satellite captures birth of behemoth iceberg

Over the last few months, a chunk of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf has been hanging on precariously as a deep crack cut across the ice. Witnessed by the Copernicus Sentinel-1mission, a lump of ice more than twice the size of Luxembourg has now broken off, spawning one of the largest icebergs on record and changing the outline of the Antarctic Peninsula forever.

Sentinel satellite captures birth of behemoth iceberg

Over the last few months, a chunk of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf has been hanging on precariously as a deep crack cut across the ice. Witnessed by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, a lump of ice more than twice the size of Luxembourg has now broken off, spawning one of the largest icebergs on record and changing the outline of the Antarctic Peninsula forever.

Call for Media: First Copernicus air-quality monitoring satellite on show

Media are invited to see the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite on 20 July at Airbus in Stevenage, UK, before it is shipped to Russia for launch. As well as viewing this state-of-the-art Copernicus satellite in the cleanroom, media representatives will be able to learn how the mission will revolutionise air-quality monitoring.