Access to data from Europe’s future generation of Sentinel Earth observation satellites is likely to be free after a joint decision by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Parliament.
The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) project will provide information on how the planet and its climate are changing from data captured from three Sentinel satellites, jointly owned by the nations of the European Union.
It now seems likely that all data from the satellites, with the exception of imagery with a ground resolution sharper than 10 metres, will be accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
In its June 16 resolution on GMES, the European Parliament voted though a resolution that concluded: “There should be a full and open-access data policy for the Sentinels through a free-of-charge licensing and online access scheme, subject to security aspects.”
ESA Earth Observation Director Volker Liebig said the agency already provided open access to its existing Earth observation satellites, eliminating the need to wait for an announcement of opportunity, or AO, before submitting a request for data and awaiting approval.
“You don’t need to go through the AO anymore,” he said. “Obviously we are restricted by our own data processing system, so you can’t order full-planet coverage and ask for delivery within five days.”
The GMES system will also include data from other satellites not owned by ESA or the European Commission — so-called Third-Party Missions — and access to information from these satellites may be more restricted.
An ongoing review by the European Commission’s of the security aspects of GMES could also result in restrict ed access to some imagery.
Access to US Landsat data used to be subject to fees but has been available free of charge since 2008, resulting in a 60-fold increase in the number of scenes downloaded per day.
Campaigners argued that US taxpayers have effectively already paid for the data once, and that making the information free helps stimulate the economy.
