Heritage Missions
ESA’s Heritage Space Programme preserves, keeps accessible and curates 40+ years of Earth Observation heritage data from more than 45 satellite missions that are no longer operational and from ESA dedicated EO campaigns.
What are Heritage Missions?
The Heritage Mission programme ensures that data from missions that are no longer operational are continuing to aid in present day scientific studies, which have extensive benefits for our society and the ongoing environmental research of the planet.
More than 40 years of preserved Earth observation data, from over 45 remote sensing missions, are available. The preservation of these data supports environment and climate changed research; helping scientists discover major breakthroughs in the fight against global warming. Furthermore, information from these missions is also used to support the development of a wide range of operational applications whilst enabling harmonisation between past, present and future missions and their associated data.
Some examples of key missions from the programme include the European Remote Sensing satellites (ERS-1 and ERS-2), Envisat and the Gravity Field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE).
Heritage Missions brochure
This brochure describes ESA's Heritage Space Programme and includes infographics describing some of the missions in the programme....
Long-term data: Summarising ESA’s Heritage missions
ESA’s Heritage Space Programme preserves data from non-operational missions. Learn more about the Heritage missions in this video....
Featured Missions
ERS
Heritage Missions
The ERS programme was composed of two missions, ERS-1 and ERS-2, which together observed the Earth for 20 years, from 1991 to 2011....
Envisat
Heritage Missions
Envisat was ESA's successor to ERS. Envisat carried ten instruments aboard for a wide range of Earth observing fields. The mission was opera...
GOCE
Heritage Missions
ESA's Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission mapped Earth's geoid very accurately, opening a window into Earth's interi...
ALOS-1
Third Party Missions
The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-1) was a Japanese Earth-imaging satellite from JAXA....
JERS-1
Third Party Missions
The overall objectives of JERS-1 (Japanese Earth Resources Satellite) were the generation of global data sets with SAR and OPS sensors aimed...
KOMPSAT-2
Third Party Missions
KOMPSAT-2 (Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-2), also known as Arirang-2, was developed by KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) to continue...
NOAA POES
Third Party Missions
NOAA's AVHRR sensor is carried on the POES mission, a constellation of polar orbiting weather satellites....
SPOT
Third Party Missions
The SPOT (from French "Satellite pour l'Observation de la Terre") series of missions has been supplying high-resolution, wide-area optical i...
Discover Our Latest Data
Envisat SCIAMACHY Level 2 [SCI_____2P]
This Envisat SCIAMACHY Level 2 Total column densities and stratospheric profiles v7.1 dataset is generated from the full mission reprocessin...
Envisat SCIAMACHY Level 2 - Limb Ozone [SCI_LIMBO3]
This Envisat SCIAMACHY Ozone stratospheric profiles dataset has been extracted from the previous baseline (v6.01) of the SCIAMACHY Level 2 d...
Envisat SCIAMACHY Level 1b [SCI_____1P]
This Envisat SCIAMACHY Level 1b Geo-located atmospheric spectra V.10 dataset is generated from the full mission reprocessing campaign comple...
Fundamental Data Records for Radiometry [MWR_FDR___]
This dataset is a Fundamental Data Record (FDR) resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project. The Fundamental Data Record for Radiometry V1 produc...
Latest Data Release News
FDR4ATMOS - New ESA FDR for Atmospheric composition dataset from ERS-2 GOME and Envisat SCIAMACHY
In addition to releasing new datasets for Envisat SCIAMACHY, the European Space Agency (ESA) has advanced the earth observation capabilities...
Release of new Envisat SCIAMACHY reprocessed data
ESA's Envisat SCIAMACHY mission, which ended operations in 2012, continues to yield valuable scientific insights through ongoing data reproc...
ERS ATSR fourth Reprocessing datasets available to users
The fourth Reprocessing of the ATSR L1B datasets derived from the ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites have now been released to users by the European...
FDR4ALT - ESA unveils new cutting-edge ERS/Envisat Altimeter and Microwave Radiometer Datasets
The European Space Agency (ESA) has developed a comprehensive suite of innovative Earth system data records as part of the Fundamental Data ...
Data Access Guides
How to request level zero radar data from ERS and Envisat
To apply to use level zero (A)SAR radar data from ESA’s European Remote Sensing satellites (ERS-1 and ERS-2) and its Envisat mission for res...
Quick guide to Data Service Request submission
Follow this quick guide to learn how to submit a Data Service Request, which is required when applying for level zero (A)SAR data from ESA's...
How to access Earth observation data distributed by ESA - Fast Registration
Researchers can quickly obtain datasets from ESA’s Third Party Missions and Heritage Missions on a free basis, by using the Fast Registratio...
Quick guide to Fast Registration submission
Follow this quick guide to learn how to obtain access to datasets offered through ESA's Fast Registration mechanism....
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Latest Newsletters
Earth Online Newsletter - 08 November 2024
This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA...
Earth Online Newsletter - 25 October 2024
This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA...
Earth Online Newsletter - 04 October 2024
This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA...
Earth Online Newsletter - 20 September 2024
This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA...