ESA's Future Earth Explorer: three candidate missions

The European Space Agency has released the call for the next Earth Explorer Core Mission Ideas in March 2005 with the aim to select the 7th Earth Explorer mission to be launched in the next decade. Twenty-four proposals were received and subject to detailed scientific and technical assessment. In the so-called Phase 0, six concepts have been selected and further investigated. A down-selection was made after the User Consultation Meeting held in Lisbon, Portugal in January 2009. Three candidate mission concepts are now being further investigated in the feasibility and consolidation phase (phase A), after which the 7th Earth Explorer will be selected. The candidate missions under consideration are: -BIOMASS - Global measurements of forest biomass and extent, -CoReH2O - (Cold Regions Hydrology High-resolution Observatory) - Detailed observations of key snow, ice and water cycle characteristics, -PREMIER - (PRocess Exploration through Measurements of Infrared and millimetre- wave Emitted Radiation) - Understanding the processes that link trace gases, radiation, chemistry and climate in the atmosphere. This poster will give an overview of the science objectives, the observation requirements and the status for each candidate mission.