The overall system architecture for the Copernicus Space Component (CSC) and its evolution have been defined on the basis of user requirements coordinated by the European Commission. The Long-Term Scenario (LTS) describes the main elements of this architecture and is maintained and evolved in an iterative process in close interaction with the European Commission (COM), EUMETSAT and EU Member States and Copernicus Participating States. 

ESA needs to guarantee the continuity of the on-going operations with the maximum level of performances for the flying Copernicus Sentinels while facing the technical and financial challenges to adapt to the evolutions of the CSC architecture. 

The EOF-CSC is based on a service-based architecture and a clear set of operations management principles (management and architectural) hereafter referred as the ESA EO Framework (EOF) for the Copernicus Space Component.

The EOF encompasses all the activities necessary to successfully deliver the expected level of CSC operations entrusted to ESA (i.e. establishment and maintenance of the new baseline, procurement actions, operations management, reporting, etc.).

The EOF-CSC is documented throughout a complete package describing and specifying the applicable operational concepts as well as the architecture and operations procurement approach adopted for establishing and evolving the CSC operations baseline (in particular with respects to the future Expansion Missions, associated with the necessary cost information to size the proposed approach and potential trade-offs). 

The EOF-CSC implementation is based on a service architecture with well-identified components that exchange data through Internet respecting defined interfaces. A service presents a simple interface to its consumer that abstracts away the underlying complexity.  Combined with deployments on public cloud infrastructure, the service approach shall offer large adaptability to evolution of the operational scenarios in particular for what regards scalability.

Since the transformation process which started in 2019, the EOF-CSC operations have been transferred to cloud based environments (in anticipation of the enlargement of the Copernicus Sentinel missions and in response to the ever-increasing demand for Copernicus data) and the service-oriented approach for each component of the EOF-CSC operations has been strengthened to enhance competitiveness, prevent industrial and technical lock-in and introduce the necessary operational flexibility and transparency to allow the adaptation to future challenges.

Within this context, this document outlines the organization and principles of the CSC ESA operations.  This Operations Concept describes the overall Sentinels operations set-up, from satellite commanding to the data acquisition, production, archiving and data access. The Operations Concept defines also the process for the operations implementation, procurement and management as well as the approach for maximising the operations performance for mission exploitation in adequacy with the needs and the available resources.