Copernicus ROSE-L mission contract signature

ESA and Thales Alenia Space have signed a contract to develop the new high-priority Copernicus Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) environmental monitoring mission – as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme. From left to right: Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Riccardo Fraccaro, Under Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Italy and Massimo Comparini, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italy.

With launch planned in 2028, ROSE-L will provide continuous day-and-night all-weather monitoring of Earth’s land, oceans and ice, and offer frequent images at a high spatial resolution. During its 7.5-year lifetime, the ROSE-L mission will realise new information that cannot be gathered by existing satellites or through other means. ROSE-L will deliver essential information on forests and land cover, leading to improved monitoring of the terrestrial carbon cycle and carbon accounting.

Read full story: Contract signed for new Copernicus ROSE-L mission