Therefore, depending on the scientific relevance of proposals, ESA will continue to grant scientists free-of-charge access to IRS optical HR/MR satellite imagery and DSMs. ESA and GAF are the exclusive suppliers in Europe of optical Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS) data from several missions. This unique service began in May 2017, funded by and carried out under the Third-Party Missions programme of the European Space Agency.

The agreement encompasses European as well as worldwide products from archive data from the IRS-1C, IRS-1D Resourcesat-1 and Cartosat-1 missions, as well as archive and new data from Resourcesat-2, continuously acquired since 1996.

Interested scientists can submit short project proposals, together with associated data requirements, to ESA. Depending on the scientific relevance of the proposal, ESA will grant the project a quota for IRS data products.

This allows access at no charge to high-resolution data from the PAN, LISS-IV Mono and LISS-III sensors as well as medium-resolution data from the WiFS and AWiFS sensors, from 1996 until today. Data can be obtained at various processing levels, including as Euro-Maps 3D DSMs with 5 m post spacing.

For more information, please visit ESA’s Third Party Missions page or contact GAF’s customer support via tpm@gaf.de.

As a result of an earlier agreement, Oceansat-2 ocean color monitor (OCM) data acquired at the Neustrelitz ground station is also available free-of-charge to all users worldwide through the ESA TPM Online Dissemination System. For more information about OCM data, visit the Oceansat-2 mission page.

The data provision activities are funded by and carried out under the European Space Agency’s Earthnet programme and its Third Party Mission activities.

The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency.

About ESA / ESRIN: www.esa.int/About_Us/ESRIN

ESRIN, the ESA Centre for Earth Observation, is one of the five ESA specialised centres situated in Europe. Located in Frascati, a small town 20 km south of Rome in Italy, ESRIN was established in 1966 and first began acquiring data from environmental satellites in the 1970s. Since 2004, ESRIN has been the headquarters for ESA’s Earth observation activities.

In addition to providing users with data from its own Earth observation satellites, ESA has for many years provided users with access to a number of non-ESA EO missions – so-called Third-Party Missions (TPM). ESA’s TPM scheme has operated for more than 40 years, providing EO data to users in Europe and around the world, and currently includes over 60 instruments on more than 50 missions.