In addition to five years of routine operations of SCIAMACHY on-board of ESA's ENVISAT mission, the launches of
the TerraSAR-X and RapidEye missions and the beginning of both their operational phases are the major milestones for
the German Space Programme in 2007 and 2008. These two missions will contribute significantly to the European
GMES-Initiative and to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and enhance the knowledge about
state and dynamics of the Earth's system. Both missions are implemented under public-private-partnership between
government and industry, an innovative economic scheme for space mission implementation. With the TanDEM-X and
the Hyperspectral EnMAP mission this efficient way of sharing competences, costs and responsibilities on one hand and
benefits on the other hand will be further followed. In addition, with MetImage Germany started the development of an
imaging radiometer for the European post-EPS satellite system of EUMETSAT. These five attractive missions are
important contributions of the German Earth Observation Community to the global system. This investment underlines
the political objective of Europe and Germany to advance the environmental agenda. In parallel technology
developments for next generation Earth Observation instruments have started, namely High Resolution Wide Swath SAR
(Synthetic Aperture Radar), IR detectors and coolers, optical components and mechanisms for LEO and GEO and high
power Mixed Garnet laser transmitters for LIDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) applications. With these activities
Germany will be able to provide future Earth Observation missions with suitable technologies as an answer to the
increasing complexity of user requirements.
In this paper the objectives and the strategy of the German Earth Observation Programme will be explained and the main
elements, i.e. missions and technology developments as well as the plans for the future will be introduced.
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