Earth Observation Portal Update: Launches, Satellites, Articles October 2024 - January 2025
Activity Report
The period October 2024 - January 2025 saw a number of updates and additions to the EO Portal. Over the period, 7 new launches took place, 13 new EO Portal articles covering new missions and thematic topics were published, and more than 10 articles have been updated with new information.
Summary
Recent Satellite Launches
Several new Earth observation satellites were launched between October 2024 and January 2025.
Europa Clipper
The Europa Clipper mission launched on October 14, 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 16:06 UTC.
Jilin Constellation
Jilin-1 Gaofen-05B-01 and Jilin-1 Pingtai-02A-03 launched on a Kinetica-1 orbital vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, on November 11, 2024, at 04:03 UTC.
Sentinel-1
The Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite lifted off from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana onboard the Vega C launcher (VV25 mission), at 21:20 UTC.
Ionosphera-M
Ionosphera-M 1 and Ionosphera-M 2, the first two of four Ionosphera satellites, were successfully launched on November 4, 2024 at 23:18 UTC on a Soyuz-2-1b rocket, from Russia's Vostochny spaceport.
Proba-3
Proba-3 was launched on December 5, 2024 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India, at 10:34 UTC, on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
Transporter 12
Transporter 12, the most recent of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rideshare missions, launched on January 14, 2025, carrying a number of payloads. The following EO Portal articles are in the process of being updated to including information about their launch:
- Planet Flock - 36 fourth generation platforms
- Planet Pelican-2
- Satellogic Newsat-45
- ICEYE - four platforms
- Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter (BRO-16)
- NORSAT-4
- Care Weather Veery-0F
Newest Mission Articles
Seven new Satellite Mission articles have been published over the last four months. The new articles describe important new capabilities across the domains of the carbon cycle, environmental monitoring, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) radiation, agriculture, meteorology, and space-based life sciences.
TECIS (Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite) / Goumang
TECIS (Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Inventory Satellite), also known as Goumang, is China’s first carbon detection satellite, developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST). Launch on August 4, 2022, the satellite aims to help China reach carbon neutrality by surveying carbon sinks, terrestrial biomass and atmospheric aerosols.
ROSE
Rose is a Very High Resolution (VHR) Earth observation satellite developed by Aerospacelab Belgium. Launched on March 4, 2024, Rose aims to capture detailed images of the Earth’s surface to enhance geomapping, environmental monitoring, defence and disaster response. The satellite builds on the capacity of technologies tested on earlier Aerospacelab satellites, standardising information for various private and public stakeholder missions.
PLATERO
The PLATERO satellite is a commercial CubeSat mission of Open Cosmos that aims to detect and track environmental hazards from space to aid rapid response and inform future environmental and sustainable policies. The mission was launched on November 11th, 2023.
SC-ODIN
SC-ODIN (Space Concordia’s Orbital Dust Imaging Nanosatellite) is a 3U CubeSat developed by students of Concordia University to image dust phenomena over Lake Colhue Huapi in Argentina and the Namibian coastal regions, and to measure radiation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 6 July 2023.
EagleEye
Launched in August 2024, the Polish EagleEye mission represents a science-industry consortium effort to showcase national space venture capability and support agriculture and military sectors with Earth observation data. The mission was jointly developed by Creotech Instruments S.A., Firma Scanway S.A., and the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK PAN), and funded by the European Union and the European Regional Development Fund of the Smart Growth Development Operational Programme 2014-2020.
QuickSounder
QuickSounder is the first planned satellite of the Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON), a collaborative mission operated and developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA, respectively. QuickSounder will serve as a prototype for NOAA's next generation of environmental Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
Tiangong (Chinese) Space Station
The Tiangong Space Station, which translates to "Sky Palace," is China's permanently crewed modular space station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and a milestone in the country's Manned Space Program. Operational since April 2021, it features a core module, Tianhe, connected to two science modules, Wentian and Mengtian, with a planned addition of the Xuntian space telescope module.
The station's mission includes providing a reliable long-term orbital platform, ensuring astronaut health and safety, and facilitating cutting-edge scientific and technological experiments. It hosts 23 enclosed experiment racks for research in fields such as space life sciences, microgravity physics, material science, and fundamental physics, along with platforms for unpressurized external experiments.
Newest Thematic Articles
The Thematic articles hosted on EO Portal cover a range of cross-cutting topics related to satellite missions, including applications, instrument types, measurement types and more. From October 2024 - January 2025, six new thematic articles were added to the EO Portal.
Gravity & Magnetic fields
Earth’s gravitational field represents the net acceleration imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation which is resultant from the planet’s mass distribution, as well as centrifugal force from the Earth's rotation. Measuring the changes in gravitational field strength over time can provide information on ocean circulation, glacial melt, droughts or geodesy. Satellite gravimetry, which are satellite-based measurements of the geoid and its time variations, facilitates an understanding of ocean processes, topographic processes such as the evolution of land and ice sheets, and the physics of Earth’s interior. Gravitational field measurements from space are primarily gathered by accelerometers, precise satellite orbit determination systems, or satellite-to-satellite tracking systems.
GNSS Radio Occultation
GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) is a remote sensing technique that uses GNSS measurements from low-Earth orbiting satellites. GNSS-RO allows for a long-term, global coverage profile of Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere with high accuracy and resolution in all-weather conditions. GNSS-RO works by taking advantage of radio signals broadcast from GNSS satellites already in orbit, using limb sounding techniques. GNSS-RO satellites intercept these radio signals and measure the refraction and signal delay caused by molecules and electrons in the atmosphere. This technique is ideally suited to weather forecasting, understanding atmospheric processes, climate monitoring, space weather, and ionospheric research. The first application of this was in 1995 by the US GPS/MET (GPS/Meteorology) instrument onboard GeoEye’s OrbView-1 satellite to provide vertical profiling of Earth’s lower and upper atmosphere.
Sea Surface Temperature
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) refers to the bulk temperature of the ocean’s upper layers, measured using satellite microwave and infrared radiometers, as well as in situ methods like buoys and ships. Satellite instruments capture temperatures at varying depths and the SST data collected reveals critical ocean dynamics, and coastal upwelling, which influence weather predictions, marine ecosystem monitoring, fisheries, and coastal management. SST is vital for understanding climate patterns and global weather systems, including events like El Niño and La Niña, and plays a crucial role in storm development, particularly tropical cyclones, which draw energy from warm ocean waters.
Atmospheric Sounders
Atmospheric sounders measure physical properties of the atmosphere as they vary with altitude. These properties can include atmospheric temperature, humidity, pressure and wind speed, as well as concentrations of gases such as ozone and water vapour. This data provides three dimensional maps of atmospheric properties to help improve numerical weather models and understanding of weather patterns, as well as increase knowledge about the changing climate.
Ariane-6
Ariane 6 is Europe's latest heavy-lift rocket, developed by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). This expendable launch system comes in two configurations: Ariane 62, a medium-lift version with two P120C boosters, and Ariane 64, a heavy-lift variant with four boosters. Designed for affordability and flexibility, Ariane 6 addresses the growing demands of commercial and government space missions while ensuring Europe's strategic autonomy in space by reducing dependence on external providers like SpaceX.
The launcher offers enhanced payload capacity, a re-ignitable upper stage engine for deploying multiple payloads into different orbits, and innovative 3D-printed components that streamline production by reducing time, cost, and waste.
Digital Twins
Digital Twins are virtual models that replicate physical systems, processes, or objects to simulate and predict their behavior under various conditions. Originating from NASA’s Apollo 13 mission, these models enable testing and analysis by merging vast amounts of data into a cohesive framework. Digital twins have applications in fields like agriculture, urban planning, healthcare, and disaster monitoring.
Examples include the Weather-Induced Extremes Digital Twin for monitoring meteorological events and the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin for modeling long-term climate impacts, both part of the EU Destination Earth initiative. These models integrate real-time data, dynamic forecasting, and impact assessments to explore multiple scenarios and inform decision-making.
Other Updates
A number of other articles have been updated between October 2024 and January 2025, across the full range of EO Portal contents.
- Sentinel-1
The article has been updated with new information, including important details about the reentry of Sentinel-1B, the orbit control of Sentinel-1A, and the commissioning period of Sentinel-1C
- Starlink
The launches section has been updated with a table listing all the satellites launched so far, alongside new information about the mission.
- CHORUS
Details about MDA CHORUS and CHORUS X Imaging / Beam Modes, including images of design specification, and other new information have been added.
- Galileo FOC
The article has been updated with the Galileo FOC new launches, which took place on September 17, 2024.
- GPM
The article has been enhanced and updated with additional information.
- Worldview Legion
The article has been updated with WorldView-Legion 3 and 4 launches in May 2024.
- MTG
An update about MTG-Imager I1 beginning operational service, alongside other new information has been added.
- EarthCARE
The article has been updated with information about EarthCARE’s launch in May 2024.