The ESA's Earth Observation Open Science Program [Space Agencies]

The world of Earth observation (EO) data is rapidly changing, driven by exponential advances in sensor and digital technologies. Recent decades have seen the development of extraordinary new ways of collecting, storing, manipulating, and transmitting data that are radically transforming the way we conduct and organize science. This convergence of technologies creates new challenges for EO scientists and data and software providers to fully exploit large amounts of multivariate data from diverse sources. At the same time, these technological trends also generate huge opportunities to better understand our planet and turn big data into new types of information services. This article briefly describes some of the elements of the European Space Agency's (ESA) EO Open Science program, which aims to enable the digital transformation of the EO community and make the most of the large, complex, and diverse data delivered by the new generation of EO missions, such as the Copernicus Sentinels.