EU Space Components

Copernicus

Copernicus, the EU’s Earth Observation programme, offers free, full and open access to satellite data used to provide services in six areas: land monitoring, marine environment monitoring, atmosphere monitoring, climate change, emergency management and security. It offers information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in situ (non-space) data.

The Programme is coordinated and managed by the European Commission (EC). It is implemented in partnership with the Member States, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The services are provided under a delegation of the EC by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), EU Agencies and Mercator Océan.

Copernicus Website ↗
Copernicus Services ↗
Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) ↗

Galileo

Galileo is a European, state-of-the-art system providing improved positioning and timing information. Once fully deployed, Galileo will consist of 24 operational satellites and six in-orbit spares. Although Galileo is autonomous, it is interoperable with existing satellite navigation systems (GPS, Compass, etc.), and many devices combine two or three constellations to increase accuracy and reliability. The first two operational Galileo satellites were launched in October 2011 and the constellation will be complete by 2020.

GALILEO Website ↗

EGNOS

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). It is used to improve the performance of GNSSs, such as GPS and Galileo. EGNOS monitors and corrects satellite navigation signals and provides safety of life navigation services for aviation, maritime and land-based users over most of Europe.

The EGNOS programme is managed by the GSA since January 2014 under a delegation of the EC. The GSA contracted ESSP for the operational management, service provision and the maintenance of EGNOS.

EGNOS Website ↗