EnMAP provides unique data needed to address major environmental challenges related to human activities and climate change. The mission’s main objective is to provide high-quality, regional scale hyperspectral data to improve our understanding of coupled environmental processes and to assist in the sustainable management of Earth’s resources. Despite being a primarily scientific mission, EnMAP has clear potential to evolve into an operational service.
Mission Outline
- Dedicated pushbroom hyperspectral imager mainly based on modified existing or pre-developed technology
- Broad spectral range from 420 nm to 1000 nm (VNIR) and from 900 nm to 2450 nm (SWIR) with high radiometric resolution and stability in both spectral ranges
- 30 km swath width at a spatial resolution of 30 x 30 m, nadir revisit time of 27 days and off-nadir (30°) pointing feature for fast target revisit (4 days)
- Sufficient on-board memory to acquire 1,000 km swath length per orbit and a total of 5,000 km per day.
Status
The EnMAP mission is currently in its operational phase. Full readiness of the ground segment for in-orbit operations is ensured and utilization for in-orbit spacecraft operations has been authorized; all mission components are verified and validated.
Objectives
The primary scientific objectives of the mission are to:
- provide high-quality calibrated hyperspectral data for advanced remote sensing analyses
- develop novel methodologies improving the accuracy of currently available remote sensing information
- obtain diagnostic geochemical, biochemical and biophysical parameters describing the dynamics of ecosystems
- improve understanding of complex environmental processes
- provide suitable information products for ecosystem models
- use synergies with other sensors
EnMAP significantly increases the availability of hyperspectral measurements covering large areas. To understand and fully exploit the information provided by EnMAP, novel techniques need to be developed that utilize its regional coverage on a global scale. EnMAP data provide a unique opportunity to adapt existing hyperspectral data analysis approaches derived from laboratory, field, and airborne measurements and to generate synergistic analyses with other satellite imagery like ESA’S Copernicus satellites.