COPERNICUS CO2M MISSION ADVISORY GROUP
DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION
24 NOVEMBER 2025 – 09 JANUARY 2026 – 12:00 hrs noon (CEST)
Submit your application for the Copernicus CO2M Mission here – [OPEN]
In order to submit your application, you need to be a registered user. To register or to log in to the site, please go to the Menu in the top left corner. Note that the last uploaded version of your application file (short CV and accompanying statement) to this Group membership application will replace any previously uploaded file on this system, and will be used by ESA and EUMETSAT for membership evaluation.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF CALL RESULTS
We shall evaluate all applications in Q1 2026.
COPERNICUS CO2M MISSION OVERVIEW
The Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission is supported during its development by a Mission Advisory Group (MAG). As the mission development has successfully completed its Phase C, ESA and EUMETSAT are renewing the terms of reference reflecting the need for support in the next development phases. This CO2M MAG call is for membership to support both ESA and EUMETSAT with advice in Phase D and E1 of all three satellites in the CO2M constellation. The launches are currently anticipated in 2027 for CO2M-A, 2028 for CO2M-B and 2029 for CO2M-C. This is a joint call issued and supported by both Agencies.
Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring Taking stock of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2M)
As part of the Copernicus Programme, the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA), are expanding the Copernicus Space Component and are implementing satellite remote measurements for supporting anthropogenic CO2 (and CH4) emission monitoring. The Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will provide measurements supporting well-informed policy decisions and for assessing the effectiveness of strategies for CO2 (and methane, CH4) emission reduction. This will reduce the uncertainties associated with current anthropogenic emission estimates at national and regional scales. Satellite measurements of atmospheric CO2 and CH4, complemented by in-situ measurements and bottom-up inventories, will be elaborated in an advanced (inverse) modelling scheme to provide a transparent and consistent quantitative assessment of their emissions and their trends at the scale of megacities, regions, countries, and at global scale.
In the CO2M Mission development, ESA is responsible for developing the space segment. This development includes the launch & early operations phase (LEOP), the satellite commissioning phase and the development of the flight operations segment. The launch is under the European Commission responsibility delegated to ESA.
The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is responsible of the development of the operational ground segment (with contributions from ESA) and the CO2M system operations during the system commissioning and routine phases.
The CO2M mission will be equipped with three instruments, which will work together to enable accurate measurements of CO2 and CH4. The Integrated CO2 and NO2 Imaging Spectrometer (CO2I/NO2I) will provide CO2, CH4 and NO2 observations with a kilometer-scale spatial resolution in support of estimating anthropogenic emissions. The 3-band CLoud IMager (CLIM) will detect the presence of low altitude water clouds and high-altitude cirrus in the spatial sample of CO2I, allowing the removal of these data from the retrieval process. The Multi-Angular Polarimeter (MAP) will support the accurate retrieval of CO2 and CH4 by accurately estimating the effective light path which is affected by aerosol.
The three satellites, CO2M-A, CO2M-B, and CO2M-C will be phased in a constellation in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude around 735 km and an orbital inclination of 97.7°. The satellites fly at 11:30 local time in descending orbit with an 11-day repeat cycle each. Once each satellite has completed its commissioning phase, EUMETSAT will be responsible for the operation of the space segment, and the operational provision and validation of the data from the CO2M mission on behalf of the EC. For validation, CO2M will require co-located ground-based reference measurements, not only of XCO2 and XCH4, but also of aerosol optical depth and NO2 at the same locations, both for polluted (close to the sources) and for background conditions, and at a representative set of locations around the globe. The launches of the constellation satellites are anticipated for CO2M-A in 2027, CO2M-B in 2028 and CO2M-C in 2029.
Related information and links:
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/EarthObservation/CO2M_MRD_v3.0_20201001_Issued.pdf
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/EarthObservation/CO2M_factsheet_2025.pdf
https://www.eumetsat.int/copernicus-co2m-science-support
Images:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/06/CO2M_patch
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