Overview of ESA Earth observation CubeSats missions

The mission of the Earth Observation Programme (EOP) Directorate in ESA is to keep observation techniques at the most updated technological state, creating cutting-edge products and expanding Earth science knowledge. In recent years, in the spirit of its own mission, the EOP Directorate investigated the capabilities offered by small satellites establishing three different lines of mission implementation activities depending on the overall objective i.e., novel Earth Observation techniques in Earth science (Scout class), industrial innovation to support European industry competitiveness (InCubed class) or In Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of innovative EO techniques enabled by disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (Φ-Sat class). [ “Overview of ESA’s Earth Observation upcoming small satellites missions” M. Pastena et Al. 34th Small Satellite Conference] Although these mission lines are all relatively new, they have produced a consistent number of studies, ideas and developments and in particular many CubeSat based mission developments. This paper will present an overview of all the missions under development in the ESA Earth Observation Programmes which are based on CubeSats, starting with preliminary in-flight results of the Φ-Sat-1 mission launched in Q3 2019 representing the first ESA Earth Observation CubeSat mission. Within the Φ-Sat class a follow-on mission, namely Φ-Sat-2, has just started its preparation phase and it is planned to be launched by the end of 2022. Concerning the Scout programme, for the CubeSat-based missions the focus will be on the ESP-MACCS mission, based on a small constellation of three 12U CubeSats, that has been selected for implementation as the first Scout mission. In parallel to the ESP-MACCS mission implementation, as part of the follow-up of the Scout consolidation phase, risk retirement activities will be initiated for the NanoMagSat and TANGO missions. Finally, the paper will present the InCubed missions based on CubeSat currently under preparation, i.e. MANTIS and Hyperfield.