Publié le 24 mai 2022
The race is on to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere to achieve the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. However, understanding that targets are being met is also a priority – and the best way of doing this is with support from measurements from space.
ESA, the European Commission, EUMETSAT and industrial partners are therefore working extremely hard to get the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission ready for liftoff in 2025.
The Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission, or CO2M for short, is one of Europe's Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions and will be the first to measure how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere specifically through human activity.
CO2M is one of six Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions that ESA is developing on behalf of the EU. These high-priority missions will address EU policy and gaps in Copernicus user needs, expanding the current capabilities of the Copernicus programme – the world’s biggest supplier of Earth observation data.
Now with the supplementary contract also signed, it is full steam ahead for two CO2M satellites. The contract was signed by Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, and Wolfgang Paetsch, Member OHB’s Management Board.
Simonetta Cheli, said, “I am delighted that we are at this contract rider ceremony with OHB, the prime contractor for the Copernicus CO2M mission, and I look forward to the successful implementation of this important mission together with our partners the European Commission and Eumetsat.