Cloud-Based Operations

EOF for Copernicus

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – System Technical Budget

The system budget scope is to provide an estimate of the expected operations load and the sizing of the general operations.
The budget provides an end-to-end global view on the operational data flows within the EOF Ground Segment for the period 2023 – Q1 2030.

These estimations are made on the basis of current operation volumes. The budget should support the sizing of the critical elements.

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – Architecture

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 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 CSC Ground Segment (GS) is based on a service-based architecture and a clear set of operations management principles (management and architectural) hereafter referred as the ESA Earth Observation Framework (EOF).

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 procurement evolutions to be adopted for establishing the future 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 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 operational CSC Mission and Data management activities 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 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 of the Copernicus Space Component activities managed by ESA to future challenges.

Within this context, this document outlines the EOF-CSC Architecture as targeted and as implemented following the Ground Segment transformation phase during the period 2019-2022. This transformed architecture is referred as EOF Copernicus Space Component Architecture in this document or simply as EOF-CSC Architecture. 

This Architecture is a representation of the overall CSC operations in terms of functional decomposition and operational data flows views. The high level architecture corresponds to the first layer of implementation and supports the implementation and the execution of all the activities related to the corresponding operational services and related procurements. The architecture reflects the fundamental principles supporting all aspects of the system, making it robust, scalable, efficient in cost and sustainable for the next 10 years without relying on unknown technological progress whilst being sufficiently flexible to benefit from any relevant future evolutions.

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – Specifications

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 CSC Ground Segment (GS) is based on a service-based architecture and a clear set of operations management principles (management and architectural) hereafter referred as the ESA Earth Observation Framework (EOF).

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 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 operational CSC Mission and Data management activities 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 has been strengthened to enhance competitiveness, prevent industrial and technical lock-in and introduce the necessary operational flexibility and transparency to allow the adaptation of the Copernicus Space Component operational activities managed by ESA to future challenges.
 
Within this context, this document contains the specifications of the EOF for the CSC operational activities entrusted to ESA by the European Commission. The specifications establish the traceability with the current baseline of requirements issued by the European Commission. This document is planned to undergo regular revisions in accordance with possible evolutions of the LTS scenario and the Copernicus Contribution Agreement. 

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – Copernicus Sentinel Data Access Annual Report 2023

A deliverable of the Sentinels Rolling Archive, Operations Maintenance and Evolution contract, this document provides an annual look at the Sentinel Data Access Service operated by the Serco Gael consortium for ESA as part of the Copernicus programme.

This Annual Report presents the performance of the Copernicus Sentinel Data Access System operated on behalf of ESA, and analyses the trends visible in the public uptake of Copernicus Sentinel data.

This is the ninth and final such report released by the data access service provider, Serco Italia Spa, and covers the period 1 January 2023 to 31 October 2023.

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – Copernicus Sentinel Data Access Annual Report 2022

A deliverable of the Sentinels Rolling Archive, Operations Maintenance and Evolution contract, this document provides an annual look at the Sentinel Data Access Service operated by the Serco Gael consortium for ESA as part of the Copernicus programme.

This Annual Report presents the performance of the Copernicus Data Access System operated by ESA during 2022 and analyses the trends visible in the public uptake of Copernicus Sentinel data. This is the eighth such report released by the data access service provider, Serco Italia SpA.

This year ESA has decided to align the reporting year with the calendar year, in order to coincide better with the reporting needs of the European Commission. Whereas in previous years the annual report covered the period 1 December to 30 November, therefore, this year the reporting year runs from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.

As a result, statistics for the month of December 2021 are not included in the figures for the year 2022. They are, however, included in all cumulative statistics, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

ESA EO Framework (EOF) – CSC – Copernicus Sentinel Data Access Annual Report 2018

A deliverable of the Sentinels Rolling Archive, Operations Maintenance and Evolution contract, this document provides an annual look at the Sentinel Data Access Service operated by the Serco Gael consortium for ESA as part of the Copernicus programme.

This Annual Report presents the performance of the Copernicus Data Access System operated by ESA during the year 1 December 2017 to 30 November 2018 (Y2018), and analyses the trends visible in the public uptake of Copernicus Sentinel data.

This is the fourth such report released by the data access service provider, Serco SpA, and covers a year in which a significant milestone was reached: following the successful launches of Sentinel-5P on 13 October 2017 and Sentinel-3B on 25 April 2018, the full set of seven Copernicus Sentinel satellites
(Sentinels-1, -2, -3 A&B and -5P) which the Data Access System was designed to serve were in orbit and their data was being made available to the public on a systematic basis.

EOF for Destination Earth Platform and Digital Twin Earth

No documents available in this category.

EOF for ESA EO Science missions (Coming Soon)