Image: ©ESA – ESA’s Earth Explorer missions
On 7–8 July, the mission scientifically led by CIMA Research Foundation will take centre stage at the ESA Earth Explorer 12 User Consultation Meeting, a key milestone in the selection process for Europe’s next Earth observation satellite mission.
After two years of scientific development, Hydroterra+ is entering the most critical phase of the ESA selection process: evaluation by the international scientific community. Even before a satellite is built, it is the scientific robustness of the mission concept that is put to the test.
This is precisely the purpose of the Earth Explorer 12 User Consultation Meeting, organised by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 7–8 July in Tallinn, Estonia. The meeting represents one of the key milestones in the selection process that will ultimately identify ESA’s twelfth Earth Explorer mission.
An open scientific consultation with the international community
The User Consultation Meeting is not a conventional scientific conference.
It is an integral part of ESA’s Earth Explorer selection process, during which the four candidate missions – CryoRad, ECO, Hydroterra+ and Keystone – are presented by their respective scientific and technical teams to the international Earth Observation community.
“The User Consultation Meeting is one of the most important milestones in the development of an Earth Explorer mission. It is far more than a presentation: it is an open dialogue with the international scientific community, where the mission’s scientific objectives, observational products and expected impact are critically discussed. For Hydroterra+, this means submitting years of research and development to a shared scientific evaluation – an essential step before potentially advancing to Phase A,” says Antonio Parodi, Programme Director at CIMA Research Foundation.
| Follow the event live ESA will live stream the sessions of the Earth Explorer 12 User Consultation Meeting, giving the scientific community and all interested participants the opportunity to follow the mission presentations via ESA Web TV Two. Those wishing to participate in the live Question & Answer session and contribute to the discussion that will support the selection of the two finalist missions may register free of charge through the official event website by 23:59 CEST on 3 July 2026. |
An innovative approach to observing processes that remain beyond today’s capabilities
“Presenting Hydroterra+ at the User Consultation Meeting means that the mission has already successfully completed a long scientific and technological evaluation process. The challenge now is to demonstrate, before the international scientific community, the scientific value of our vision and the contribution it can make to Earth Observation over the coming decades,” Parodi explains.
Hydroterra+ introduces an innovative approach to Earth Observation. The mission is based on a geostationary Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), an unprecedented configuration for an Earth science radar mission, capable of acquiring observations several times per day over the Mediterranean region and the river basins of West Africa, two of the mission’s primary study areas. Its objective is to continuously monitor the fast-evolving processes of the water cycle – from soil moisture and snow dynamics to the physical processes preceding extreme events – overcoming the temporal limitations of current satellite observation systems.
This capability to observe phenomena evolving over the course of just a few hours is one of the mission’s defining features and one of the reasons why Hydroterra+ remains among the four concepts still competing to become ESA’s twelfth Earth Explorer mission.
The outcome of the Tallinn consultation will determine which two missions advance to Phase A of development, moving one step closer to becoming ESA’s next Earth Explorer mission. A decisive milestone not only for Hydroterra+, but also for the future of observing the water cycle and the processes governing extreme events.
Read the full feature on Hydroterra+ here.