As part of the second cycle of Earth Explorers Opportunity Missions, three new candidate proposals were selected to enter Phase A (feasibility study) in May 2002. The three missions selected are ACE+, EGPM and SWARM.
It is expected that the feasibility studies will be complete by mid-2004, after which two of the three missions will be selected for implementation. The launch of the first mission is envisaged for 2008.
This selection follows a call for proposals in June 2001, which resulted in ESA receiving 27 outline proposals encompassing all areas of Earth Observation remote sensing. In January 2002, 25 full proposals were submitted for evaluation to Scientific Review Teams for in-depth scientific and engineering assessments. Based on these reviews the Earth Science Advisory Committee (ESAC) established a shortlist of 6 recommended missions. Finally, on May 15-16, ESA’s Programme Board for Earth Observation selected three missions to undergo feasibility study:
ACE+ (Atmospheric and Climate Explorer) – a climatological mission that will measure variations and changes in global atmospheric temperature and water vapour.
EGPM (European contribution to Global Precipitation Mission) – a mission element within an international initiative to measure precipitation (e.g. rain snowfall) all over the Earth every 3 hours.
SWARM – a constellation of small satellites to study the dynamics of the Earth’s magnetic field and its interactions with the Earth system.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announces a second opportunity for scientists from the Earth Observation community to make proposals for Earth Explorer Opportunity Missions to conduct research in the field of Earth Observation and/or to demonstrate the potential of new innovative Earth Observation observational techniques of relevance to both the scientific and the applications communities.The major milestones are as follows:
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