Mission Science Division
The Earth and Mission Science Division is a group of European Space Agency (ESA) staff mission scientists, contractors, research fellows, young graduates, trainees, and administrative staff working within the Science, Applications and Climate Department of the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes. The Division is located at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, South Holland, The Netherlands. Introduction. The Earth and Mission Science Division (MSD) supports the preparation, development and operations of research and operational missions within the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. The Division is responsible for ensuring the application of scientific and other  user community requirements in all phases of the development of Earth Observation missions, from precursor studies through to in-orbit satellite operations, and for ensuring coherence throughout with the objectives expressed in the mission requirements documents, including the management of mission-, instrument-specific, or ad-hoc advisory structures (as required). The Division organises and supports the activities of the Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO), including management and implementation of the scientific selection procedure for ESA research missions. In support of the preparation of new mission concepts, or development and operations of each ESA approved Earth Observation mission, the Division  conceives, initiates and conducts supporting scientific studies (in house and external) to ensure that the mission is "fit for purpose". In addition, the Division organises, coordinates and executes Campaigns for the purpose of acquiring airborne, balloon-borne, or in-situ data. Campaigns are specifically designed in support of technology or mission concept development, mission development, data simulation, and instrument calibration or product validation purposes. Campaign data are distributed publicly. Mission Science Division Management. The Mission Science Division management team are: Research Missions. ESA's Earth Observation research missions comprise Earth Explorers, Missions of Opportunity, and Scout missions. The Earth and  Mission Science Division has published several Calls for Proposals of Mission Ideas, and prepared and contributed to the approval of nine science-driven ESA Earth Explorers , with three candidates selected from proposals to the 2017 Call for core Earth Explorer mission ideas; and four candidates selected from the 2020 Call for Earth Explorer research mission ideas, namely: Earth Explorer "Core" missions. A Call for proposals for Earth Explorer 10 (EE-10) core mission ideas was released in September 2017. Three candidate mission ideas: Daedalus, Harmony and Hydroterra were selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in September 2018. In February 2021  Harmony was selected to proceed to Phase A feasibility study: Selection of Earth Explorer 10 is planned in 2022. A Call for proposals for Earth Explorer 11 (EE-11) mission ideas was released on 25 May 2020. The Call closed in December 2020, with 15 proposals submitted via the EO Proposals Submission (EOPRO) Website | https://eopro.esa.int. Upon peer review of all proposals, the following four candidate ideas were selected for Phase 0 pre-feasibility study in June 2021. Operational Missions. The Division currently supports the development of six series of approved Copernicus Programme Sentinel Missions, six Copernicus Expansion missions, and four  Copernicus Next Generation missions as part of the Space Component of the joint EC/ESA Copernicus initiative. It has supported the development of MetOp, and is currently active in supporting the preparation of MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG). Recently, the TRUTHS mission was approved for preparatory phase activities as a potential Earth Watch mission. Copernicus Space Component missions. In preparation for the second-generation of Copernicus (Copernicus2.0), six Sentinel "Expansion" missions are being developed by ESA to address EU Policy and gaps in user needs, and to increase the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component: In preparation for Copernicus2.0 , design concepts for four next generation Sentinels (Sentinel-NG) are being prepared by ESA within its FutureEO Programme, to deliver enhanced continuity to the first generation Sentinel satellites: Meteorological Satellite Series. The Division also presently supports the development of several instruments out of the 10 instrument payload of the approved series of second generation MetOp satellites. The MetOp-SG series is developed in cooperation with EUMETSAT, as part of the EUMETSAT Polar System – Second Generation initiative. EPS-SG represents Europe's contribution to the future Joint Polar System (JPS). Earth Watch. The Division is currently supporting the feasibility phase of  the following potential future mission: External links. For more information, see