Members of ESA’s HydroGNSS team

ESA’s HydroGNSS Scout mission, which will investigate hydrological climate variables from space, will provide measurements on water-related indicators such as soil moisture, freeze–thaw state over permafrost, inundation and wetlands, and above-ground biomass, using a technique called Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry.

ESA’s HydroGNSS team is pictured here with one of the mission's satellites. The mission consists of two microsatellites, both of which carry a GNSS reflectometry instrument in an orbit of 500-600 km, 180 degrees apart.

HydroGNSS has been developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) for ESA’s Scout framework, part of the agency’s FutureEO programme. This new family of small ‘scout’ satellites are developed within short timeframes and deliver science data, either by miniaturising existing space technologies or by demonstrating new observing techniques.