{"id":58069,"date":"2025-10-03T10:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58069\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:18:13","slug":"hydrognss-esas-first-scout-begins-launch-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58069\/","title":{"rendered":"HydroGNSS: ESA\u2019s first Scout begins launch preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\tApplications<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t29\/09\/2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t675 views<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t17 likes<\/p>\n<p>The European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA\u2019s) HydroGNSS mission, which will investigate the Earth\u2019s water cycle, has landed in California and is ready to start preparations for launch.<\/p>\n<p>Changes in the global water cycle pose a threat to our environment and to communities around the world. HydroGNSS, part of ESA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/Applications\/Observing_the_Earth\/FutureEO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FutureEO<\/a> programme, delivers observations on\u00a0four hydrological parameters that are Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) or closely related to ECVs:<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2025\/09\/HydroGNSS_at_Surrey_Satellite_Technology_facilities\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HydroGNSS at Surrey Satellite Technology facilities<\/a><\/p>\n<p>soil moisture,<\/p>\n<p>inundation or wetlands,<\/p>\n<p>freeze\/thaw state, and<\/p>\n<p>above-ground biomass.<\/p>\n<p>ECVs, which are\u00a0defined by the global climate observing system (GCOS), measure physical, chemical, or biological characteristics that provide empirical evidence to assess climate risks. These parameters are used in many applications and areas of science: from weather forecasting and flood prediction, to understanding wetlands, as well as data on permafrost and forest carbon stocks. HydroGNSS will also measure wind speed over the ocean and sea-ice extent as secondary products.<\/p>\n<p>By providing valuable data on the Earth\u2019s water cycle, HydroGNSS will ensure there are no data gaps when missions such as ESA\u2019s SMOS and NASA\u2019s SMAP come to an end.<\/p>\n<p>\tNavigation signals for Earth\u2019s water cycle<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2025\/09\/HydroGNSS_at_SSTL_cleanroom\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HydroGNSS at SSTL cleanroom<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The mission will provide measurements on these water-related indicators using a technique called Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry.<\/p>\n<p>This technique involves the signals from systems such as Galileo and GPS, which are part of the GNSS. These navigation satellites work by continually transmitting low-power L-band microwave navigation signals towards Earth. Their primary purpose is to provide global positioning, navigation, and timing services, such as the navigation systems in cars and mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p>However, when the GNSS signal reflects off Earth\u2019s surface, it is altered by the physical properties of terrain, ice, oceans or vegetation. The HydroGNSS mission obtains scientific data on the Earth\u2019s water cycle by comparing this altered signal with the direct signals from the GNSS satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The mission consists of two microsatellites, both of which carry a GNSS reflectometry instrument in an orbit of 500-600 km, 180 degrees apart.<\/p>\n<p>\tAffordable and sustainable<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tHydroGNSS: an ESA Scout mission<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>ESA\u2019s Scout Project Manager, Jean-Pascal Lejault, explained that the technique of GNSS-reflectometry may be the only future affordable and sustainable means of taking global soil moisture measurements at a resolution of better than 25 km. \u201cThe hope is that HydroGNSS will pave the way for this type of mission for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Pascal added, \u201cFor now we are extremely excited to see the satellite arrive in California. I would like to thank our colleagues at Surrey Satellite Technology for their expertise and dedication in developing HydroGNSS and delivering the satellites ready for launch preparations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tAgile missions for innovative science<\/p>\n<p>HydroGNSS has been developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) for ESA\u2019s Scout framework, part of the agency\u2019s FutureEO programme. The potential of GNSS reflectometry for land sensing was demonstrated by two missions: TechDemoSAT-1 (an ESA and UK Space Agency mission) and the CYGNSS constellation (a NASA mission). SSTL was also involved in both demonstration missions.<\/p>\n<p>This new family of small \u2018Scout\u2019 satellites are developed within short timeframes and deliver science data, either by miniaturising existing space technologies or by demonstrating new observing techniques.<\/p>\n<p>HydroGNSS is the first of three Scout missions, which pave the way to innovative science in a quick and adaptable way, complementing ESA\u2019s Earth Explorer research missions.<\/p>\n<p>Launch is expected later this year on a Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2025\/09\/Members_of_ESA_s_HydroGNSS_team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Members of ESA\u2019s HydroGNSS team<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like<\/p>\n<p id=\"ezsr_just_rated_26881624\" class=\"ezsr-just-rated hide\">Thank you for liking<\/p>\n<p id=\"ezsr_has_rated_26881624\" class=\"ezsr-has-rated hide\">You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Applications 29\/09\/2025 675 views 17 likes The European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA\u2019s) HydroGNSS mission, which will investigate the Earth\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-58069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}