Space4Climate welcomes the announcements of significant new investment from the UK Government in the Earth Observation sector through both national projects and those via the European Space Agency (ESA) Council of Ministers.
There are many aspects of these programmes that will directly address climate action including the climate satellite TRUTHS, the ESA CLIMATE SPACE programme based in Harwell and futher EO which builds the next generation of tools for Earth Observation.
The overall package comprises £315m invested by the UK in ESA Earth Observation programmes at the Council of Ministers (CMIN) meeting held in Paris last week. The meeting endorsed progressing with the UK-conceived mission TRUTHS which is being delivered by ESA with major expertise from UK organisations and collaborations with Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Romania and the Czech Republic.
‘Big boost for UK space sector’
On the same day the UK also pledged an additional £66m to national Earth Observation (EO) projects, including strategic funding for UKRI’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
Science Minister George Freeman described the outcome of the Council of Ministers as a ‘very big boost for the UK space sector’ in a Twitter post.
In a statement Mr Freeman said the UK package sought to ‘mitigate the challenges caused by the delays to association to Copernicus’ – the EU satellite services programme.
‘Strong international collaborations’
Space4Climate’s Climate Services Development Manager, Krupa Nanda Kumar, said: “Our members have been waiting for this news and we look forward to hearing more in-depth details. We anticipate exciting opportunities for the UK climate data from space sector and climate services, and a strong outlook for the Earth Observation community.”
Director of the National Centre of Earth Observation (NCEO) and Space4Climate Board member Prof John Remedios said: “This is an important step in the right direction for the UK Earth Observation science community. The funding maintains strong international collaborations despite challenges with the Copernicus programme. It initiates foundational projects in the UK that we have never had before in the form of EO climate data services and data infrastructure. The support will enable UK science and industry to lead EO satellite missions, deliver world-class climate information and grow business for the benefit of all in the UK and worldwide.” Read the full NCEO article.
TRUTHS mission moves forward
TRUTHS stands for Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio- Studies. It is a climate mission that was conceived by Space4Climate Board member Prof Nigel Fox, Head of Earth Observation at National Physical Laboratory in the UK. It is being built in collaboration with several European states and will be delivered by ESA. TRUTHS will enable climate data from space to be even more reliable, benchmarking measurements with lower levels of uncertainty and speeding up the process of determining changes to the Earth’s temperature. NPL explains: “TRUTHS will allow rigorous testing of model forecasts to support decision-making on climate adaption strategies and the success of our Net Zero activities. The mission will enable an improvement in accuracy of EO data, which will, in turn, drive a reduction in the time required for climate scientists to make unequivocal determinations of changes to the earth’s temperature. The mission provides ‘benchmark’ measurements with uncertainties small enough that future change can be detected from a background of natural variability in as short a time as possible.”
TRUTHS is scheduled for launch in 2029/30.
UK EO Climate Information Service
Within the funding being delivered through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a plan to establish a UK EO Climate Information Service (UKEO-CIS). It will produce new climate data, provide more accurate insights into national and international impacts of the climate crisis and help guide the UK towards greater resilience to the effects of climate change.
Professor Chris Merchant, Space4Climate Board member and leading NCEO climate data expert at the University of Reading, said: “The UKEO-CIS will enable many talented scientists all across the UK to work together, creating information needed to respond to the climate crisis. The new climate data from UKEO-CIS will be used to better understand growing climate risks and how to respond to them. We’ll see new and better climate data from space, for the UK and the world. And we’ll see innovation around getting that information readily into the hands of people who need to use it.”
EO data hub
There is also funding for an EO Data Hub – a collaboration between NCEO, and fellow Space4Climate members RAL Space, NPL and Satellite Applications Catapult. It aims to enable access to diverse satellite datasets for the benefit of UK industry, academia and government, particularly for applications in climate, finance, carbon services and agriculture.
Links to press releases with further details:
- UK secures £1.84bn investment for ESA programmes with support for Earth Observation sector
- Projects in receipt of funding
- Read more about what this week’s news means for TRUTHS on the NPL website
- Read Science Minister George Freeman’s open letter statement