FORUM Satellite Contract Awarded to Airbus by ESA
ESA has awarded a contract worth €160 million(≈$168 million) to Airbus in the UK to build the Earth Explorer FORUM satellite. This mission will yield unique insight into the planet’s radiation budget and how it is controlled, filling in a critical missing piece of the climate jigsaw.
“This critical Earth observation mission to measure infrared radiation from the Earth for the first time, will give scientists and climatologists the data they need to improve their global warming forecasts."
Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus.
Short for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring, FORUM is ESA’s ninth Earth Explorer mission.
Realized within ESA’s FutureEO program, Earth Explorers are pioneering research satellites. Each of these extraordinary missions carries innovative space technology and each, without exception, has exceeded their original science objectives.
Time and time again, they show how novel spaceborne instruments and measuring techniques can return an astonishing wealth of scientific findings about our planet – which, in turn, benefits society at large. The FORUM satellite promises to be all of this and more – importantly, bringing new understanding to atmospheric processes linked to climate change.
Earth’s surface temperature is driven by the radiation balance at the top of the atmosphere, but this balance has been disturbed by the emission of greenhouse gasses, trapping heat in the atmosphere that would otherwise escape into space. More than half of Earth’s outgoing longwave energy is in the far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum but this particular part of the spectrum has never been measured before.
Filling this gap, FORUM will measure across the far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. These measurements are important because Earth’s outgoing radiation at these wavelengths is strongly affected by water vapor and ice clouds, which in turn, play a key role in regulating surface temperatures. Measurements from this ambitious new mission will improve confidence in the accuracy of climate change assessments that form the basis for future policy decisions.
Following the first development phases and its final selection as the ninth Earth Explorer, ESA has awarded the contract to build the FORUM satellite mission to Airbus in the UK.
"FORUM adds to our highly successful family of Earth Explorer missions and, by acquiring novel information, will bring great benefits to climate science,” said Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programs at a ceremony marking the contract signature at the Houses of Parliament in London
“This critical Earth observation mission to measure infrared radiation from the Earth for the first time, will give scientists and climatologists the data they need to improve their global warming forecasts," said Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus. “It builds on Airbus’ heritage in designing and manufacturing cost efficient small Earth observation missions including Copernicus Sentinel-5P and is the sixth Airbus primed Earth Explorer mission for the European Space Agency.”
"FORUM, which we plan to launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in 2027, is a single-satellite mission that will carry a Fourier Transform Spectrometer that can measure across Earth’s entire far-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum," said Dominique Gillieron, ESA’s Earth Explorer Program Manager. “It will be the very first time that this part of the spectrum will be measured from space with this accuracy and this will greatly contribute to climate research. With FORUM’s important role to play, this contract is a significant milestone and we look forward to the build ahead.”
(Image provided with ESA news release)