{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-621/annex/division-6/division-6.5/division-6.5.2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-621/annex/division-6/division-6.5/division-6.5.2.json",
  "legislation": "eudn/2018/621",
  "legislation_title": "Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/621 of 20 April 2018 on the technical specifications for the Copernicus space component pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance)",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2018-621",
  "path": "annex/division/6/division/6.5/division/6.5.2",
  "kind": "division",
  "number": "6.5.2",
  "heading": "Progress of the Space Component Evolution activities",
  "text": "The Copernicus Space Component evolution preparatory activities shall respond to the general orientations as provided in the 2016 Space strategy, in particular the preparatory activities shall consider the user requirements for:\n(a) ‘continuous improvement of current services and infrastructure’ and;\n(b) ‘additional services to meet emerging needs in specific priority areas’:\n(1) climate change and sustainable development, to monitor CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, land use and forestry, and changes in the Arctic;\n(2) security and defence to improve the Union's capacity to respond to evolving challenges related to border controls and maritime surveillance.\nThe following generic observation needs shall be considered when defining future evolution scenarios:\n(a) Continuity of observations: As a key priority, users indicated the need to ensure continuity of observations, beyond what is currently planned, with on the long-term potential improvements in terms of spatial resolution, update frequency, timeliness\n(b) New observations in response to emerging needs:\n(1) Monitoring of anthropogenic CO2 emissions;\n(2) Monitoring of polar areas to support operational (ice) monitoring and/or climate change applications in the context of the EU Arctic Policy;\n(3) Enhanced monitoring for agriculture and forestry, in particular to support water and biodiversity applications;\n(4) Enabling of novel applications for mining, drought monitoring, cultural heritage, hydrology, biodiversity, soil moisture and other parameters, requiring observations, currently not available;\n(5) Enhanced security applications;\n(6) Monitoring of environmental implementation compliance and crime applications.\nPreparatory activities to support future Copernicus space component scenarios may include:\n(a) Groups of domain experts, to analyse the high-level programmatic context, state-of-the-art and concept feasibility to support the definition of Task Forces. Groups of domain experts shall be established to assess monitoring needs related to Security and Anthropogenic CO2 emissions;\n(b) Task Forces, to elaborate and further fine-tune the observation requirements, as well as to analyse potential technical solutions with the objective to specify initial mission requirements. These analyses shall take into account current observation capacities and the renewal/upgrade of the existing infrastructure, technological maturity and the potential for international cooperation. In particular the following Task Forces shall be established:\n(1) Anthropogenic CO2 emission Monitoring;\n(2) Polar Observations;\n(3) High spatio-temporal resolution Land Surface Temperature Monitoring, to address applications for agriculture, hydrology, forestry and the environment at large;\n(4) Hyperspectral Imaging to enable innovative applications in biodiversity, mining, agriculture and forestry.\n(c) Preparatory Studies, as an input to the work of the Task Forces;\n(d) Consultation with EU Member States, Copernicus Participating States, ESA and EUMETSAT Member States, to ensure alignment of priorities and ensure consistency with the content of the ESA Long Term Scenario.\nBased upon these activities, scenarios for the evolution of the Copernicus Space Component shall be examined including a thorough cost-benefit assessment.\nThe Copernicus Space Component evolution shall be tailored to the available budget of the next Multiannual Financial Framework and to the funds mobilised by EU, ESA, participating Member States and potential additional funding sources. With these constraints in mind, evolution scenarios could be:\n(a) baseline evolution scenario a sustainable Copernicus, that foresees the programme at its current level of performance, including continued operations of services, necessary renewal/upgrade of the existing infrastructure, actions in support of improved data access and distribution and support to user uptake beyond 2020;\n(b) evolution and expansion scenario a sustainable and expanded Copernicus considering two priority areas to address emerging needs:\n(1) new observation capacities in support of environmental needs focussed on Climate change (e.g. monitoring of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions for which no satellite observations are currently available), observations of the polar regions (focussed on the monitoring of sea ice and weather in the Arctic) and support to Agriculture including the monitoring of water related parameters which could be addressed through thermal infrared observations;\n(2) new observation capacities in support of security and/or defence needs to address the new challenges the Union faces in terms of security, migration or border control.\nThe outcomes of the User Requirements process, cost-benefit analysis, technical feasibility, maturity of the technological solution, and overall affordability shall define the technical boundary conditions for the Copernicus Space Component evolution beyond 2020.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2018/621/annex/division/6/division/6.5/division/6.5.2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:13:07.904759+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}