FutureEO

ESA's FutureEO programme visualization (2021)

ESA's Earth Explorer missions (2022)

ESA's Living Planet programme visualization (2013)

FutureEO (formerly Living Planet Programme) ^{[1] [2]} is a Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) managed by the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. FutureEO supports preparation and development of series of Earth observation satellite missions including the established Earth Explorers, the smaller agile Scout missions, ^[3] as well as CubeSat-type Φ-sats. ^[4]

Earth Explorer missions

ADM-Aeolus model

Artist's impression of the Biomass satellite

The Earth Explorer missions of the European Space Agency are innovative Earth-Observation scientific missions; so far, 11 Earth Explorers have been selected. ^[2] The selection process involves a competition between various scientific concepts: 4 mission concepts are typically considered in Phase-0, and only one of them is selected at the end of Phase-A. ^[5]

Launched

• GOCE – Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer; it was launched on 17 March 2009. ^[6] It reentered the atmosphere on 11 November 2013.
• SMOS – Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite ^{[7] [8]} will study ocean salinity and soil moisture; it was launched on 2 November 2009. ^[9]
• CryoSat – a program designed to map the Earth's ice cover.
  • CryoSat-1 was lost in 2005 when the Russian Rokot launch vehicle malfunctioned and was terminated.
  • CryoSat-2 was launched on 8 April 2010.
• Swarm – a trio of satellites to map the Earth's magnetic field. ^[10] The SWARM constellation was launched successfully on 22 November 2013. ^[11]
• Aeolus – the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus used an innovative laser to measure global winds. Aeolus was successfully launched on 22 August 2018 ^{[12] [13]} and deorbited and re-entered the atmosphere over Antarctica on 28 July 2023. ^[14] Following the success of Aeolus as an Earth Explorer, ^[15] Aeolus-2 is a cooperation involving ESA ^[16] and EUMETSAT. ^[17] which will provide two operational satellites.
• EarthCARE – Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer examines the formation and effects of clouds. ^{[18] [19]} Launched on 28 May 2024. ^[20]
• BIOMASS – designed to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world's forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of its five-year mission. ^{[21] [22] [23]} Launched on 29 April 2025. ^[24]

Selected

• FLEX – the FLuorescence EXplorer mission will globally monitor steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence in terrestrial vegetation. ^[25] It is currently scheduled to launch in 2026. ^{[26] [27]}
• FORUM – Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring; a mission to measure Earth's outgoing radiation emissions across the entire far-infrared electromagnetic spectrum, in order to gain insight into water vapour and cirrus cloud regulation of the planet's surface temperature. It is currently projected to launch in 2027. ^{[28] [29]}
• Harmony (formerly known as Stereoid) – a pair of synthetic aperture radar satellites that aims to further the study of ocean circulation patterns, glacial dynamics, and changes in land-surface topography. ^[30] It is currently projected to launch in 2029. ^[31]
• WIVERN (Wind Velocity Radar Nephoscope) – a mission to measure cloud wind velocity, rain, snow, and ice water via a Doppler weather radar nephoscope, in order to improve weather forecast models. Selected as the 11th Earth Explorer mission in September 2025. ^[32]

Non-selected

Past candidate missions that were not selected include:

• CoReH2O – a mission to study key characteristics in terrestrial snow, ice, and water cycles and their relations to climate change and variability. ^[33] Competed with BIOMASS and PREMIER for the Earth Explorer 7 mission opportunity.
• PREMIER – a mission to study atmospheric processes related to trace gas, radiation, and chemical compositions in the mid to upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in order to understand their role on climate change. ^[34] Competed with BIOMASS and CoReH2O for the Earth Explorer 7 mission opportunity.
• CarbonSat – a mission to determine the global distributions of carbon dioxide and methane and their impact on climate change. ^[35] Competed with FLEX for the Earth Explorer 8 mission opportunity.
• SKIM – a mission to measure ocean-surface currents using the Doppler technique, in order to improve understanding of the ocean current dynamics behind the hydrological and geochemical cycles. ^{[36] [37]} Competed with FORUM for the Earth Explorer 9 mission opportunity.
• Daedalus – a mission to study the electrodynamic processes of the Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere. Competed with Harmony for the Earth Explorer 10 mission opportunity. ^{[30] [38]}
• Hydroterra (formerly known as G-Class) – a geosynchronous synthetic aperture radar satellite that aims to observe diurnal water cycle processes, in order to improve weather prediction capabilities. Competed with Harmony for the Earth Explorer 10 mission opportunity. ^{[30] [38]}
• Cairt (Changing-Atmosphere Infra-Red Tomography Explorer) – a mission to observe atmospheric chemistry and dynamics in the altitude range of 5 to 120 km, in order to better understand the relationship between climate change and atmospheric circulation. Competed with Wivern for the Earth Explorer 11 mission opportunity. ^{[39] [40] [41]}
• Nitrosat – a mission to precisely measure nitrogen dioxide and ammonia levels in the atmosphere, which is essential to understanding the role of nitrogen compounds in aerosol pollution. Competed with Wivern for the Earth Explorer 11 mission opportunity. ^{[39] [40] [41]}
• Seastar – a mission to study sub-mesoscale meteorological dynamics by providing 1 km resolution ocean surface current and wind vectors for coast, shelf, and polar ice zones. Competed with Wivern for the Earth Explorer 11 mission opportunity. ^{[39] [40] [41]}

Earth Explorer 12 candidates

From the 17 submissions, ESA’s Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO) recommended that four of the ideas should go forward to the assessment study phase: ^[42]

• CryoRad proposes to measure low frequency passive microwave radiometry of the cryosphere.
• ECO would directly measure the difference between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation of the planet.
• Hydroterra+ is a geostationary satellite mission to provide high temporal rate SAR imagery to understand rapid water cycle and tectonic events.
• Keystone would measure atomic oxygen in 50–100 km of the atmosphere.

Missions of Opportunity

• Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) – a proposed mission to map Earth's gravity field, projected to launch in 2032

Scout missions

Illustration of the HydroGNSS satellite

• CubeMAP (Scout 1), cancelled – quantifying processes in the upper-atmosphere. ^{[43] [44]}
• HydroGNSS (Scout 2) – two identical satellites sensing Galileo and GPS signals reflected by Earth's surface for improving the knowledge of Earth's hydrological cycle. Launching in late 2025. ^[45]
• NanoMagSat (Scout 3) – measuring the ionospheric environment, monitoring Earth's magnetic field. ^{[46] [47]}
• Tango (Scout 4) – monitoring three greenhouse gases: methane, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide being emitted from large industrial sites. ^{[48] [47]}
• SIRIUS, proposed – thermal infrared imaging of European cities to study urban heat islands. ^{[49] [50] [51]}

Φ-sat missions

• Phi-Sat-1 , launched in 2020
• Phi-Sat-2 , launched in 2024

See also

• Mission Science Division
• List of European Space Agency programmes and missions
• List of Earth observation satellites
• Advisory Committee for Earth Observation

References

1. "Living Planet programme introduction". www.esa.int. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
2. "Earth Explorers: ESA's pioneering science missions for Earth". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
3. "Scouts: ESA's agile research missions". www.esa.int. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
4. "FutureEO brochure" (PDF).
5. "Earth Explorers: from science to applications". www.esa.int. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
6. GOCE site, ESA , retrieved 30 January 2016
7. "ESA's water mission SMOS". ESA. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
8. Drinkwater, Mark; Kerr, Yann; Font, Jordi; Berger, Michael (February 2009). "Exploring the Water Cycle of the 'Blue Planet': The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission" (PDF). ESA Bulletin (137). European Space Agency: 6–15.
9. Amos, Jonathan (2 November 2009). "European water mission lifts off". BBC News . Retrieved 30 January 2016.
10. "Eurockot to launch two ESA Earth observation missions". ESA. 9 April 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
11. "Esa's satellite Swarm launch to map Earth's magnetism". BBC News. 22 November 2013.
12. "Aeolus – ESA Future Missions". ESA . Retrieved 19 September 2017.
13. de Selding, Peter B. (22 May 2015). "Cost, Schedule Woes on 2 Lidar Missions Push ESA To Change Contract Procedures". SpaceNews . Retrieved 3 October 2015.
14. "Aeolus: a historic end to a trailblazing mission". www.esa.int. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
15. "Aeolus-2 Value of Information". www.esa.int. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
16. "Ministers back ESA's bold ambitions for space with record 17% rise". www.esa.int. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
17. "EPS Aeolus". www.eumetsat.int. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
18. "ESA signs EUR 263m earth monitoring satellite contract". Environment Expert. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
19. "EarthCARE – Earth Online – ESA". ESA . Retrieved 16 January 2019.
20. "Gearing up for EarthCARE". ESA. 27 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
21. "Biomass". ESA. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
22. "Biomass – ESA Future Missions". ESA . Retrieved 19 September 2017.
23. Amos, Jonathan (8 May 2013). "Esa approves Biomass satellite to monitor Earth's forests". BBC News . Retrieved 8 May 2013.
24. "Biomass launched to count forest carbon". www.esa.int. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
25. de Selding, Peter B. (25 September 2015). "Panel Endorses Vegetation Fluorescence Mapper for ESA's Earth Explorer Program". SpaceNews . Retrieved 3 October 2015.
26. "ALTIUS - ESA's ozone mission". ESA. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
27. "Arianespace to launch with Vega C FLEX & ALTIUS, two ESA programmes at the service of environment". Arianespace (Press release). 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
28. "Contract secures design for ESA's FORUM satellite". ESA . 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
29. Status of the Current and Future ESA Earth Observation Missions and Programmes. CGMS-49. ESA . 14 May 2021. pp. 33–37. Retrieved 27 August 2021– via the Internet Archive.
30. "ESA moves forward with Harmony". ESA. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
31. "ESA selects Harmony as tenth Earth Explorer mission". ESA . 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
32. "ESA selects WIVERN as 11th Earth Explorer mission". www.esa.int. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
33. "CoReH2O – Report for Mission Selection – An Earth Explorer to observe snow and ice". ESA. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
34. "PREMIER – Report for Mission Selection – An Earth Explorer to observe atmospheric composition". ESA. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
35. "Reports on Earth Explorer Candidates CarbonSat and FLEX Now Available". ESA. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
36. "Two new Earth Explorer concepts to understand our rapidly changing world". ESA. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
37. "Save the date: Earth Explorer 9 User Consultation Meeting". ESA. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
38. "Three Earth Explorer ideas selected". ESA. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
39. "Calling for ideas for next Earth Explorer". ESA. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
40. "Four mission ideas to compete for Earth Explorer 11". ESA. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
41. "Cairt and Wivern Earth Explorer candidates go forward". ESA. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
42. "ESA selects for new Earth Explorer mission ideas". ESA. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
43. "CubeMAP mission development halted". www.esa.int. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
44. "CubeMAP (ESP-MACCS, Earth Scout 1)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
45. "HydroGNSS/Scout-2".
46. Antoine, Roux (11 March 2024). "The NanoMagSat mission gets go-ahead from ESA! - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris". www.ipgp.fr. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
47. (Update on) EO programmes and CM25
48. "NanoMagSat and Tango Scout missions get go-ahead". www.esa.int. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
49. "The European Space Agency awards Thales Alenia Space the study of the SIRIUS mission to monitor Urban Heat Islands from space". thalesgroup. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
50. Aeroespacial, Actualidad (26 June 2025). "La ESA adjudica a Thales Alenia Space el estudio de la misión SIRIUS". Actualidad Aeroespacial (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 June 2025.
51. Aeroespacial, Actualidad (24 October 2025). "Thales Alenia Space lidera la misión SIRIUS de la ESA para estudiar las islas de calor urbanas desde el espacio". Actualidad Aeroespacial (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 November 2025.