The Earth Explorer research missions are proposed by the scientific community to demonstrate how breakthrough technology can deliver an astounding range of scientific findings about our planet. They lead to the scientific excellence that is critical to addressing the challenges society faces today and is expected to face in the decades to come – from understanding different aspects in the climate system such as atmospheric dynamics and ice melt, to societal issues such as food security and freshwater resources.
Earth Explorers provide sound heritage to develop operational missions that deliver systematic data for environmental services. Some of the current and future Copernicus Sentinel missions would simply not be possible without the technology and application opportunities demonstrated by the Explorers.