Description :
To meet the ambition of the Earth Explorers from tomorrow being “World-class science
missions for Earth” it is time for a smart evolution of the traditional way of mission
preparation, development and implementation. The objective of the “BoostFutureEO early
phases” initiative is to tackle the following core aspects:
 Provide a long-term perspective for the preparation of Earth Explorers;
 Increase the maturity of innovative missions and competition;
 Help decrease uncertainty on implementation costs and reduce risks;
 Consider the benefits from some diversity in cost caps to allow more complex active
instruments and new platform developments.
Based on this a “global” and unique scenario for the missions implementation consisting of
five successive steps is suggest:
 Step 1: New approach to a revision the Living Planet Challenges (LPS) including
observational gap analysis and preparation for the update of the EO science strategy
 Step 2: New EO Mission Ideas (NEOMI)/On-boarding activities
 Step 3: Call for ideas followed by Phases 0 for candidate missions and maturation
activities for ‘commended’ missions
 Step 4: Selection of missions for Phase A and implementation of Phase A
 Step 5: Selection of mission for implementation followed by Phase B/C/D/E1
This global scenario is cyclical and will positively impact the Earth Explorers of tomorrow –
starting from EE12. It capitalises on a strengthened interaction with the Science Community
and it additionally provides a long-term perspective for the preparation of Earth Explorer
missions (and beyond).
Within this Agora session we will introduce a general overall, the rationale for each of the
respective steps with short pitches and open the floor directly for an interactive discussion.
(Detailed sessions on the update of the ESA Living Planet Challenges and the On-boarding
for new mission ideas are foreseen within the science programme.)

Speakers:
• Vanessa Keuck (ESA)

Moderators:
• Florence Heliere (ESA)
• Vanessa Keuck (ESA)

Panelists:
• Kathy Whaler (ACEO Member)
• Mark Drinkwater (ESA)
• Pierluigi Silvestrin (ESA)
• Dominique Gillieron (ESA)