## 6 Conclusions and Outlook
The \"Copernicus Space Component (CSC) Long Term Scenario\", issued by the ESA Earth Observation Program Board in May 2019, states in its chapter \"Optical Imaging Family\", and its sub-chapter \"Evolution of Capabilities\" on page 12 for higher-resolution thermal Earth observation:  
_\"For TIR imaging, the current assumption is to deploy a constellation of TIR satellites flying in orbits coordinated with those of Sentinel-2 NG mission and chosen in such a way that parameters for agriculture management are adequately observed. The user requirements in respect of land surface temperature lead to a wide swath to enable fast revisit, whereas accuracy and spatial resolution need to suit European agriculture fields and need to be consistent with Sentinel-2. A mid size satellite carrying a thermal infrared wide-swath sensor together with a low performance camera in the visible and near infrared for corrections and interpretation can be assumed. However, the revisit required can be achieved only with multiple satellites and could be further enhanced through small satellites complementing the observations of medium-size satellites.\"_  
Actually, the creation of an infrared monitoring constellation (IR-MC) should be considered, consisting of several dedicated small satellites of the FireBIRD class, operated in low Earth orbit (LEO) and equipped with compact sensors which deliver (preferably twice a day at different local times including the afternoon) higher-spatial resolution mid and thermal IR data in near-real time for UHI, epidemiology, evapotranspiration of plants, water management and wildfires, complementing the observations of medium-sized operational polar orbiting satellites. The IR-MC data products, including maps with fire attributes, such as the FRP, should be provided in photogrammetric mapping standards to permit the use of these products together with other information in a geographic information system (GIS). Conceptualization, D.O. and W.H. ; methodology, D.O. and B.Z. ; software, B.Z., C.F. and B.Z. ; validation, D.O. and W.H. ; formal analysis, C.F. ; investigation, D.O. ; resources, W.H. ; data curation, C.F. ; writing--original draft preparation, D.O., B.Z. and W.H. ; writing--review and editing, D.O., W.H. and B.Z. ; visualization, W.H., B.Z. and D.O. ; supervision, W.H., D.O. and C.F. ; project administration, W.H. ; funding acquisition, W.H. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research, grant number 01 LK09 04A. Not applicable. The \"Copernicus Space Component (CSC) Long Term Scenario\", issued by the ESA Earth Observation Program Board in May 2019, states in its chapter \"Optical Imaging Family\", and its sub-chapter \"Evolution of Capabilities\" on page 12 for higher-resolution thermal Earth observation:  
_\"For TIR imaging, the current assumption is to deploy a constellation of TIR satellites flying in orbits coordinated with those of Sentinel-2 NG mission and chosen in such a way that parameters for agriculture management are adequately observed. The user requirements in respect of land surface temperature lead to a wide swath to enable fast revisit, whereas accuracy and spatial resolution need to suit European agriculture fields and need to be consistent with Sentinel-2. A mid size satellite carrying a thermal infrared wide-swath sensor together with a low performance camera in the visible and near infrared for corrections and interpretation can be assumed.