Living Planet Programme

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Living Planet (disambiguation).

The Living Planet Programme (LPP)[1] is a programme within the European Space Agency which is managed by the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. LPP consists of two classes of Earth observation missions (listed below) including research missions known as Earth Explorers, and the Earth Watch class of missions whose objective is to develop support operational applications such as numerical weather forecasting or resource management.

List of Earth Explorers missions

Selected missions

Currently there are ten approved Earth Explorer missions, four (SMOS, CryoSat-2, SWARM, EarthCARE) of which are in orbit and operating:

  • GOCE – Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer; it was launched on 17 March 2009.[2] It reentered the atmosphere on 11 November 2013.
  • SMOS – Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite[3][4] will study ocean salinity and soil moisture; it was launched on 2 November 2009.[5]
  • CryoSat – a program designed to map the Earth's ice cover.
    • Rockot
      launch vehicle malfunctioned and was terminated.
    • CryoSat-2 was launched on 8 April 2010.
  • Swarm – a trio of satellites to map the Earth's magnetic field.[6] The SWARM constellation was launched successfully on 22 November 2013.[7]
  • Aeolus – the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus uses an innovative laser to measure global winds. Aeolus was successfully launched on 22 August 2018[8][9] and deorbited and re-entered the atmosphere over Antarctica on 28 July 2023.[10]
  • EarthCARE – Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer will examine the formation and effects of clouds.[11][12] Launched on 28 May 2024.[13]

Approved, but yet to launch :

  • BIOMASS – designed to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world's forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of its five-year mission.[14][15][16] Due to launch in 2024.[17]
  • FLEX – the FLuorescence EXplorer mission will globally monitor steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence in terrestrial vegetation.[18] It is currently scheduled to launch in 2026.[19][20]
  • far-infrared electromagnetic spectrum, in order to gain insight into water vapour and cirrus cloud regulation of the planet's surface temperature. It is currently projected to launch in 2027.[21][22]
  • ocean circulation patterns, glacial dynamics, and changes in land-surface topography.[23] It is currently projected to launch in 2029.[24]

Earth Explorer 11 Candidates

The competition for the Earth Explorer 11 mission began on 10 June 2021. A call for proposal ideas was released on 25 May 2020, with the deadline for submission on 4 December 2020.[25] Four candidates were chosen to compete for the opportunity:[26]

Cairt and Wivern have been selected as the final two competing entries. The winning candidate will be chosen in 2025 with a projected launch date in 2032 or 2033.[27]

Non-selected missions

Past candidate missions that were not selected include:

  • CoReH2O – a mission to study key characteristics in terrestrial snow, ice, and water cycles and their relations to climate change and variability.[28] Competed with BIOMASS and PREMIER for the Earth Explorer 7 mission opportunity.
  • PREMIER – a mission to study atmospheric processes related to trace gas, radiation, and chemical compositions in the mid to upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in order to understand their role on climate change.[29] Competed with BIOMASS and CoReH2O for the Earth Explorer 7 mission opportunity.
  • CarbonSat – a mission to determine the global distributions of carbon dioxide and methane and their impact on climate change.[30] Competed with FLEX for the Earth Explorer 8 mission opportunity.
  • SKIM – a mission to measure ocean-surface currents using the Doppler technique, in order to improve understanding of the ocean current dynamics behind the hydrological and geochemical cycles.[31][32]
    Competed with FORUM for the Earth Explorer 9 mission opportunity.
  • Daedalus – a mission to study the electrodynamic processes of the Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere. Competed with Harmony for the Earth Explorer 10 mission opportunity.[23][33]
  • geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar satellite that aims to observe diurnal water cycle processes, in order to improve weather prediction capabilities. Competed with Harmony for the Earth Explorer 10 mission opportunity.[23][33]

Earth Explorer 12 candidates

  • CryoRad proposes to measure low frequency passive microwave radiometry of the cryosphere.
  • ECO would directly measure the difference between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation of the planet.
  • Hydroterra+ is a geostationary satellite mission to provide high temporal rate SAR imagery to understand rapid water cycle and tectonic events.
  • Keystone would measure atomic oxygen in 50-100km of the atmosphere.

From the 17 submissions, which were all thoroughly evaluated, ESA’s Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO) recommended that four of the ideas should go forward to the assessment study phase.[34]

References

  1. ^ ESA's Living Planet Programme European Space Agency
  2. ESA
    , retrieved 30 January 2016
  3. ESA. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original
    on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  4. ^ Drinkwater, Mark; Kerr, Yann; Font, Jordi; Berger, Michael (February 2009). "Exploring the Water Cycle of the 'Blue Planet': The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission" (PDF). ESA Bulletin (137). European Space Agency: 6–15.
  5. ^ Amos, Jonathan (2 November 2009). "European water mission lifts off". BBC News. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  6. ESA
    . 9 April 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Esa's satellite Swarm launch to map Earth's magnetism". BBC News. 22 November 2013.
  8. ESA
    . Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  9. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (22 May 2015). "Cost, Schedule Woes on 2 Lidar Missions Push ESA To Change Contract Procedures". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Aeolus: a historic end to a trailblazing mission". www.esa.int. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  11. ^ "ESA signs EUR 263m earth monitoring satellite contract". Environment Expert. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  12. ESA
    . Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Gearing up for EarthCARE". ESA. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  14. ESA
    . 3 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  15. ESA
    . Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  16. ^ Amos, Jonathan (8 May 2013). "Esa approves Biomass satellite to monitor Earth's forests". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  17. ^ "Bye-Bye Biomass: forest monitoring satellite departs for final testing before launch". Airbus. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  18. ^ de Selding, Peter B. (25 September 2015). "Panel Endorses Vegetation Fluorescence Mapper for ESA's Earth Explorer Program". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  19. ^ "ALTIUS - ESA's ozone mission". ESA. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Arianespace to launch with Vega C FLEX & ALTIUS, two ESA programmes at the service of environment". Arianespace (Press release). 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  21. ESA
    . 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  22. ESA. 14 May 2021. pp. 33–37. Retrieved 27 August 2021 – via the Internet Archive
    .
  23. ^
    ESA
    . 23 February 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  24. ESA
    . 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  25. ESA
    . 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  26. ESA
    . 10 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  27. ESA
    . 21 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  28. ESA
    . 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  29. ESA
    . 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  30. ESA
    . 30 June 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  31. ESA
    . 15 November 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  32. ESA
    . 30 January 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  33. ^
    ESA
    . 21 September 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  34. ESA
    . 17 April 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.

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