FutureEO at Ministerial Council
The ESA Council at Ministerial level, CM22, is a time for critical decisions. In November 2022, ESA’s Member States, Associate States and Cooperating States will come together to strengthen Europe’s space sector and ensure it continues to serve European citizens. At the heart of ESA’s proposals for its Earth Observation Programmes is FutureEO.
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The cornerstone of Earth observation
Uniquely, FutureEO carves out the long-term vision for ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes – it’s at the core of everything. This forward-looking research and development programme harnesses novel ideas and concepts to forge pioneering satellite mission to understand the Earth system for a more sustainable future and strategic autonomy for Europe.
Main goals
- Secure and prepare the foundations for tomorrow's Earth observing systems in Europe
- Deliver bold and ambitious research missions to advance Earth science and demonstrate their scientific relevance
- Foster Earth observation data discoverability and exploitation addressing the scientific challenges and delivering solutions for society
- Enable the further development of the Earth observation downstream service sector and support the user community
Act now
With the climate crisis upon us, we are facing a multitude of serious environmental and societal issues. The window of opportunity is closing fast. We need to act urgently. Agreements on climate change and policy addressing issues such as the decarbonisation of Europe, as outlined in Europe’s Green Deal, rely on the backing of robust science. As a world-leading programme, FutureEO takes on the responsibility of yielding scientific excellence and the undisputable facts to understand our changing world.
Scientific and technological excellence
By returning critical data to understand the planet and predict what lies in store, satellites such as the Earth Explorers – FutureEO’s bold research missions – are fundamental to advance science and, subsequently, to restore environmental balance for a sustainable future. Each of these extraordinary missions carries innovative space technology, demonstrating how new techniques ca return an astonishing wealth of scientific findings about our planet.
Harmony, the most recent mission selected as an Earth Explorer promises to yield new insight into ocean, ice and land dynamics, all of which have a direct bearing on societal issues such as risk monitoring, water and energy resources and climate change.
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A better life for all
Critically, FutureEO also paves the way to operational satellite missions, such as the European Commission’s Copernicus Sentinels and Eumetsat’s meteorological missions that underpin a wealth of services to improve daily life and boost the economy. In turn, this information from space is essential to tackling global environmental challenges to benefit society as well as securing long-term strategic autonomy for Europe.
New opportunities
While Europe is placed firmly as a world leader in Earth observation, the sector is shifting rapidly. Earth observation is not only becoming increasingly competitive but is also offering new opportunities as a wealth of New Space commercial initiatives emerge and the digital revolution gathers pace. Embracing the concept of New Space, for example, ESA’s Scout missions small satellites follow an extremely agile and low-cost development process.
In partnership
Strong partnerships are also key to realising complex new missions. ESA and NASA are working hard to realise the MAGIC gravity constellation to observe the amount of water in oceans, ice sheets, glaciers, and underground for a better understanding of sea-level change and to improved water management. It’s now time to decide on ESA’s contribution to this ambitious gravity mission.
Market growth
FutureEO is the foundation upon which Europe builds its operational Earth observation satellite missions and application services, thereby leading to considerable socio-economic benefits. It is forecasted that by 2030 the upcoming FutureEO segment will have generated an added value of three and a half times the investment in the programme and will support almost 20,000 jobs.
Letters from European organisations in support of FutureEO
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts: Importance of FutureEO to ECMWF
European Association of Remote Sensing Companies: Supporting FutureEO at Ministerial Council
Advisory Committee for Earth Observation: Supporting FutureEO on behalf of the scientific community
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics: In support of realising the MAGIC constellation
European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation: Supporting FutureEO for Horizon Europe actions
European Space Sciences Committee: Supporting ESA's proposals and FutureEO at Ministerial Council
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