The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Left: The image shows a comparison between normalised data processed on board Copernicus Sentinel-6 and downlinked (blue line), compared to full raw (SAR-RAW) data processed on the ground (red line). By removing the trailing edge of the data before being transmitted to Earth, the data rate is reduced by 50% (SAR-RMC) (Range Migration Compensation). High fidelity low-noise data are thanks to Sentinel-6’s Poseidon-4 digital instrument architecture, which is a first. There are no significant differences in geophysical parameter retrieval performance, and the onboard processing demonstrates expected performance.
Right: Example of sea-surface height measurements processed by the ESA Level-2 Ground Prototype Processor showing Low Resolution Mode, SAR-RAW and SAR-RMC data over a transect in the Southeast Atlantic Ocean. Significant sea-surface height structure is visible in the data revealed by a very low noise signal. The improvement of synthetic aperture processing is evident in the data.
Read full story: Sea-level monitoring satellite first results surpass expectations