The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected three proposals for the feasibility study phase of the second cycle of its Earth Explorer Opportunity Missions (EEOM).
Two of the three missions - the Atmosphere and Climate Explorer (ACE), European contribution to Global Precipitation Mission (EGPM) and Small Satellites to Study the Dynamics of the Earth's Magnetic Field (SWARM) - will be selected for launch, with the first mission planned for 2008. They will cost €110 million ($108.4 million).
ACE is a four-satellite mission orbiting at 650 x 850km (400 x 530 miles), using intersatellite cross-link measurements, while EGPM is a sun-synchronous polar-orbiting craft. SWARM has four satellites, with two each in two orbital planes at 400-500km.
The first Opportunity missions were selected in 1999, with Cryosat due in 2004 to study ice-sheets and sea ice, and the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission set for 2006.
The ESA Earth Explorer Core Mission programme will feature the Earth Gravity Field and Ocean Circulation and Atmospheric Dynamics Missions, to be launched in 2005 and 2007.
Source: Flight International
