New technologies for CoReH2O mission

Three candidate Earth Explorer Core Missions have been selected for Phase A after a User Consultation Meeting which took place in January 2009 [1]: BIOMASS, CoReH2O and PREMIER. A further down-selection shall take place in 2013, with a projected launch in the 2019 timeframe. Among the three candidates, BIOMASS and CoReH2O are SAR missions, the latter providing dual-frequency (X/Ku-band) observations of snow cover, glaciers, lakes and sea ice for retrieving the snow cover extent, snow-water equivalent as well as other important cryospheric parameters. The Phase A studies have been completed in 2011 and their results are presented. In parallel, technology risk-retirement activities were started, and their latest status and results are reported in this paper.