Europe’s Copernicus programme completes 25 years: its impact so far Premium
The Hindu
Copernicus, the earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme, completes 25 years in June 2023. We look at the impact that the programme has had so far.
June 8, 2023, marks the 25th anniversary of Copernicus, the earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme. Launched in 1998 and previously known as the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Programme (GMES), Copernicus is designed to provide information on the earth’s environment to aid sectors like agriculture, climate change, disaster management, urban planning, and more.
The programme is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, the 15th-century Polish scientist who first proposed a heliocentric universe model.
Copernicus integrates satellite and non-space data, including ground-based, airborne, and seaborne measurement systems, to offer data related to earth observation. The mission relies on a group of satellites, called Sentinel satellites, for gathering data.
Copernicus was implemented by member states in association with the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), EU Agencies and Mercator Océan. It is managed by the European Commission.
Its data is freely available for anyone to access.
Precision farming, which uses technology sensors and analysis tools to improve crop yields, is one of the major impact areas of the Copernicus programme. Copernicus helps assess agricultural land use and trends, crop conditions and yield forecasts, and also supports input management, farm management recording and irrigation management.
Data from Copernicus was particularly helpful in improving irrigation management in Lower Austria, where the Marchfield region suffered from a water resource management problem due to a shortage of precipitation. Up to 60% of total freshwater use in this area is for irrigation.
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