Beyond Pléiades. 4D-Earth ?

Pléiades will be flying until 2026, maybe slightly later. Another key stereo mission, ASTER on-board TERRA, will stop acquiring images in 2026 or 2027. A large scientific community (in particular glaciologists) is worried about the lack of follow up stereo missions. See here a Letter to the Editor in Nature.

This is why we propose a future satellite mission (4D-Earth) able to monitor the continental areas in 3D about every month with ~2 m stereo-images. It was submitted to the CNES prospective seminar (to be held next October in St Malo, see here) and we are awaiting feedbacks from the Scientific Program Committee. The proposal, in French, is available below.

Summary: 4D-Earth is a proposal for a space mission for the high-resolution detection of changes at the Earth’s surface. It aims to provide open, systematic, global and frequent (monthly) coverage of the Earth’s continents, in order to monitor their elevations, movements and surface conditions. The mission will quantify mass transfers at our planet’s surface, revealing the impacts of climate change, telluric hazards and anthropogenic pressure on ecosystems.
4D-Earth is supported by the cryosphere, continental surface, solid earth and coastal communities. Data (digital surface model series and orthoimages) will be freely accessible.