It is an evidence that Copernicus has been until now a successful programme. This is demonstrated by the timely deployment of satellites, the operational delivery of data and information generated by services and, above all, the increasing number of users globally.
Copernicus has been, and will remain, a user driven programme. We have invested in an effective space component, an efficient set of services and tools for the access and distribution of data and information.
Copernicus space component is including an increasing number of dedicated Sentinel satellites, complement by data acquired from commercial and national satellite operators.
Copernicus service component is composed of a set of 6 services providing information related to the management of the three main components of our planet (land, water and air), the monitoring of the climate, the support to emergency crises (environmental or human made disasters) and aspects linked to security needs of Europe (maritime, migration and peaceful activities).
The programme generates an incredible amount of data, and appropriate measures have been put in place to ensure their storage, access and distributions.
Copernicus responds to a huge number of user needs, requested by different communities. At the same time, it is a mine of information that can be used by a large network of companies for the productions of downstream services.
In 2021 we have just moved to Copernicus 2.0, with the provision of new financial resources, with two complementary objectives: sustainable continuation and evolution.
The continuation of the provision of existing data and information is fundamental to keep responding to the communities of users that are already basing their activities on these sources. At the same time, several companies have built their business cases on the provision of Copernicus data and we have to ensure that this flow is not interrupted.
In parallel there are new requirements coming from users, new technological opportunities and new capacities coming from the commercial sector (new space). For this reason, we have to plan the evolution of the programme both in the short and in the long term, responding to all these challenges.

ABSTRACT:

Copernicus is the most ambitious Earth Observation programme to date. It provides accurate, timely and easily accessible information to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security at global, national and regional scale. The programme is led by the European Commission (EC), acting on behalf of the European Union (EU), which is also responsible for setting requirements and managing the thematic services. The EC works in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and other European institutions.
At the centre of the programme lies the Space Component, which includes a family of dedicated satellite missions, the Sentinel family, specifically developed by ESA to respond to Copernicus user needs and which provide data about changes occurring to the oceans, land and atmosphere of our planet. Their data is made freely available for Copernicus Services, public users and major research and commercial applications.
Complementary to the Sentinel missions, the data of the Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCMs), owned and operated by commercial or institutional entities, are also made available via ESA’s data access platforms to Copernicus services and users.
A coordinated and integrated Ground Segment has ensured, since 2014, that the Copernicus space component data is delivered in a timely and user-friendly manner to users.
Also, since mid-2018, the Copernicus DIAS (Data and Information Access Service) initiative has allowed several commercial consortia to set up platforms providing an easy access to Copernicus data and information in order to boost the creation of new business models based on Earth Observation.
The Copernicus space data, along with in-situ data, feed into the Copernicus services to help address environmental and civil security challenges.
Eight satellite Sentinel missions launched to date, around 40 CCMs providing data to Copernicus public organisations, over 500000 users registered on the ESA public data dissemination hubs, and over 45 million products published by ESA since the start of the programme’s operational phase make arguably Copernicus the largest and most valuable space data provider in the world.

ESA, as coordinator and system architect of the Copernicus Space Component, ensures also that the current space infrastructure properly evolves to support data continuity and to respond to newly identified user needs.
The future of the Copernicus Space component has therefore two main priorities: continuation and evolution.
Continuity, while increasing the quantity and quality of CSC products and services, has led to one set of requirements for the Next Generation of the current Sentinel missions, which will provide enhanced continuity of the initial observations from the next decade onwards.
Emerging and urgent needs for new types of observations constitute a second distinct set of requirements that will be addressed by the so-called Sentinel Expansion missions, with the first one slated for launch in 2025. These will in fact expand the current capabilities of the Sentinels and address new EU policy priorities and gaps in current Copernicus user needs.
The six Sentinel Expansion missions, already under development, are the following:
• Copernicus Anthropogenic CO2 Monitoring (CO2M): This mission will track individual sources of anthropogenic emissions of CO2 with a high spatial-resolution imaging spectrometer;
• Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME): Enhancing services for land-cover mapping, agricultural management and coastal mapping and management, with hyper-spectral imaging;
• Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR): A marine-focused mission providing observations of sea-ice concentration, sea-surface temperature and salinity via passive microwave sensing;
• Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM): the mission will monitor land surface temperature and rates of evapotranspiration in unprecedented detail via its thermal infrared radiometer;
• Copernicus PolaR Ice and Snow Topography ALtimeter (CRISTAL): To chart sea-ice thickness and snow depth, as well as ice elevation on land this mission will be equipped with radar instruments;
• Radar Observing System for Europe – L-band (ROSE-L): A mission to support forest management, monitor soil moisture, and discriminate crop types equipped with an L-band radar sensor.

This presentation will therefore give an overview of the current status and above all of the future perspectives of the Copernicus space infrastructure.

The Copernicus Sentinel programme has expanded from 6 to 12 family of missions. These will allow to address a larger number of policy priorities and will provide the backbone for a very large number of geospatial services.
Thanks to their design and the quality of their data, the Sentinels data are extensively used by scientists, operational agencies, commercial services worldwide. Several ‘New Space’ actors repeatedly stated – paraphrasing Isaac Newton – that their business stand on the base provided by Copernicus. Copernicus has become so pervasive, the number and types of users so diverse that it is unconceivable today to imagine the future of Earth Observation without such system: even the New Space panorama will look very different if Copernicus ceased to be there!
The 6 new Sentinels (so called Expansion Missions) are: CO2M, CRISTAL, LSTM, CHIME, CIMR, ROSE-L.
They all are reaching (or have just reached, as it is the case for CO2M and CRISTAL) the stage of the Preliminary Design Review and they are all busy advancing in their technological risk retirement breadboarding phase.
We will review their main development achievements and provide an overview of their main development ahead. While the Sentinels Expansion have proceeded to the development phase, the future generation of Sentinels 1, 2, 3 are going through their early design phase and are going to take shape in the next couple of years.

The Copernicus Regulation provides the mandate for ESA to define the overall system architecture for the Copernicus Space Component (CSC) and its evolution on the basis of user requirements coordinated by the European Commission. The Long-Term Scenario (LTS) describes the main elements of this architecture and has been generated in close interaction with the European Commission and EUMETSAT. The architecture of the LTS is intended to meet expectations and needs in terms of stability and continuity while increasing the quantity and quality of the CSC products and services. In addition, emerging and urgent needs for new types of observations are also addressed.

Delivering marine and atmosphere data for Copernicus: Looking Back, going forward

Since 2014, shortly after the establishment of the Copernicus Programme, EUMETSAT has been delivering satellite data for the Copernicus programme. EUMETSAT, as an Entrusted Entity of the European Commission for Copernicus, delivers data from the Jason-3, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 missions, complemented by data from EUMETSAT’s own satellite fleet and third party missions. Data delivered by EUMETSAT targets the marine and atmosphere user community, in line with its strategy and mandate.
The Sentinel-3 mission is jointly operated by ESA and EUMETSAT, with EUMETSAT being responsible for satellite flight operations, the marine centre and some atmospheric products. Sentinel-6, operated by EUMETSAT following its launch in 2020, plays an important role in Europe and the international community, by providing critical data on global sea level, as well as near real time wind and wave observations essential for marine meteorology.
In partnership with ECMWF, EEA and Mercator Ocean International, EUMETSAT also operates WEkEO, a Copernicus cloud-based data access system, offering integrated data access from the Copernicus Sentinels and Copernicus services.
User uptake of these data streams has increased significantly over the years, thanks to the uniqueness and quality of the data delivered by Copernicus as well as the dedicated awareness and capacity building activities.
In 2021, EUMETSAT and the European Commission renewed their agreement, as such ensuring the continuity and expansion of the marine and atmosphere data services provided since 2014. The Commission also entrusted EUMETSAT with new tasks, namely with development activities for the expansion of the Copernicus Space Infrastructure in support of ESA. In particular, this entails taking up its share of responsibility for the development of the ground segment of the CO2M mission as well as the development and deployment of processing chains for global ocean and atmosphere products for the CIMR and CRISTAL missions.
The next years will be marked by a further increase of activities, with EUMETSAT being responsible for the operations of the Sentinel-3 marine mission, Sentinel-4, Sentinel-5, Sentinel-6, CO2M and the potential generation of global ocean and marine products from the CIMR and CRISTAL missions.
This presentation will look back to the achievements of the past and will provide an outlook towards the following years.