Harmony is a European
Earth observing satellite
An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...
mission projected to launch in 2029.
The mission concept, belonging to the
ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...
’s
Living Planet Programme
The Living Planet Programme (LPP) is a programme within the European Space Agency which is managed by the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. LPP consists of two classes of Earth observation missions (listed below) including research miss ...
, comprises two identical
satellite
A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
s that will fly in formation with a
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
Sentinel-1
Sentinel-1 is the first of the Copernicus Programme satellite constellations conducted by the European Space Agency. The mission was originally composed of a constellation of two satellites, Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B, which shared the same orbi ...
satellite. Both Harmony satellites will carry a receive-only
synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or 3D reconstruction, three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target regi ...
(intended to work together with Sentinel-1’s radar) and a multibeam thermal-infrared instrument. The mission will measure small shifts in the shape of the land surface connected with
volcanism
Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...
and
earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
s. It will also study the dynamics of
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s and
ice sheet
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacier, glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice s ...
s, as well as cloud movements and sea-surface temperature differences.
Paco López-Dekker from the
Delft University of Technology
The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...
in the Netherlands is the Lead Investigator of the mission.
Florence Hélière is the Project Manager.
Timeline
* In September 2018, Harmony (then named "Stereoid") was selected as one of three concepts to compete for the tenth
Earth Explorer mission.
* In February 2021, Harmony was chosen to be ESA's tenth Earth Explorer mission.
* In March 2022, the mission concept was tested using two aircraft flying in formation over the Dutch
Wadden Islands
The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or the Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the northwest of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denm ...
.
* In September 2022, ESA Member States formally selected Harmony for implementation.
* In October 2024, ESA has awarded a contract (over €280 million) to
OHB
OHB SE, headquartered in Bremen, is a European space and technology group specializing in the development and implementation of complete space systems, the production of components for various launcher programs as well as the operation of satell ...
to build the satellites as prime contractor.
* In November 2024, OHB has selected
ABB
ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...
to provide thermal infrared imaging instruments for the two satellites.
[{{Cite web , last=Boucher , first=Marc , date=2024-11-13 , title=ABB to Provide Thermal Infrared Sensors for ESA's Harmony Satellites , url=https://spaceq.ca/abb-to-provide-thermal-infrared-sensors-for-esas-harmony-satellites/ , access-date=2025-03-03 , website=SpaceQ Media Inc. , language=en-US]
See also
*
List of European Space Agency programmes and missions
The European Space Agency (ESA) operates a number of space missions, both individually and in collaborations with other space agencies such as Japanese JAXA, U.S. NASA, Chinese CNSA, as well as space agencies of ESA member states (eg. French ...
Links
Flyer: Bringing Harmony to a dynamic worldEarth Explorer 10 Candidate Mission Harmony: Report for Mission SelectionHarmony satellites (image)Harmony mission patch (image)
References
Earth observation satellites of the European Space Agency