Readings from the other desks
The Earth observation baseline is read through each steward’s lens, then once as a whole. Each lens is a projection of reviewed findings, not a separate argument. The other desks’ own editions of this subject are listed first, as cross-references, not copies.
Contents
- ·Edition home
- ·Executive summary
- 1Earth observation is infrastructure and evidence
- 2Key findings
- 3Systems and sectors at baseline
- 4Risks and capability
- 5Continuity gap in public Earth observation data
- 6Readings from the other desks
- 6.1 The other desks’ editions of this subject
- 6.2 Three lenses
- 6.3 Standards, Academy and steward contributions
- 6.4 GCRI reading: the model card
- 6.5 Global Risks Forum reading: editorial essays
- 6.6 Global Risks Alliance reading: 2027 Earth observation readiness pack
- 6.7 Nexus Standards reading: standards and regulatory watch
- 6.8 Risk Academy reading: literature and evidence review, science and assessments
- 7The 2027 agenda
- 8Systems in depth
- AMethodology
- BData appendix
- CReferences and record
- ·Complete edition, for print
6.1The other desks’ editions of this subject
Federation: each desk writes its own edition for the subjects in its remit. Until a desk releases, its edition shows its frame and the reading this edition printed for it.
| Desk | Edition | State | Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|
| GCRI Systems Evidence | No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle | Not in this cycle | |
| GRF Public Deliberation | Outside this desk’s remit | Not in remit | |
| GRA Capital Readiness | Outside this desk’s remit | Not in remit | |
| Standards Progress | No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle | Not in this cycle | |
| Academy Capability | No edition of this subject at this desk in the 2026 Baseline cycle | Not in this cycle | |
| Index Measurement | Outside this desk’s remit | Not in remit |
6.2Three lenses
One edition, read by each steward. The lens of this site comes first.
GCRI · KEY T
Technical Truth
The evidence supports reading Earth observation as physical infrastructure and as the evidence base for other systems. The public base is strong and free; the successor to the land record is a 2031 target; the footprint of the ground segment is unpublished. Evidence is strongest for mission facts and weakest for energy, workforce and commercial counts.
INF-001 · INF-002 · GOV-006 · SYS-012
GRF · KEY M
Public Meaning
For most people Earth observation arrives as a map, a forest loss figure or a weather image. The baseline asks that public debate separate agency data, vendor claims and model outputs, and keep free access to public data in view.
DAT-007 · CLI-009 · DAT-008
GRA · KEY F
Capital Meaning
Readiness implications only. Public funding passed by Congress was above the request, and commercial revenue is growing2426. These show where finance-readiness evidence will matter. Nothing here is advice, a rating or an approval.
FIN-011 · GOV-006
NEXUS
Synthesis
Earth observation is well described by single missions and thinly measured as a system. The 2027 programme should bind continuity of data streams, publish a comparable commercial count and test the continuity pathway.
SYS-012 · O-01 · O-03
6.3Standards, Academy and steward contributions
How the Nexus Standards drafts, the Risk Academy and the three stewards feed each quarterly edition for Earth observation. The standards are a preparatory working draft (2026) and are cited as drafts, never as adopted standards.
| Quarter | Edition | Question | Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | State and Agenda | What matters this year, and what is the starting position? | observed baseline stays distinct from planned work |
| Q2 | Evidence and Build | What new evidence and capability exist? | a configured capability is not a validated result |
| Q3 | Stress Test and Readiness | What do scenarios and tests show? | simulated loss or performance is not observed impact |
| Q4 | Annual Synthesis and Renewal | What changed in the year, and what renews? | release follows review, not event publicity deadlines |
| Steward or body | Role | Contribution route |
|---|---|---|
| The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI Canada) | Lead Institution and Consortium Secretariat; publisher of record; technical truth (key T) | science and practice communities · GCRI gateway |
| The Global Risks Forum (GRF) | leadership, dialogue and the Universe programme; public meaning (key M) | policy, Universe and national adoption · GRF gateway |
| The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) | finance, insurance and development readiness; capital meaning (key F) | finance and insurance · GRA gateway |
| Nexus Standards | preparatory drafts on vocabulary, hazards, indicators and methods | Standards site · working groups HAZ, IND, MTH, FIN, AI |
| Risk Academy | learning pathways tied to the agenda questions | Academy gateway · learning by review |
| Nexus Standards and Academy | technology chapter inputs: GCRI evidence, NXS standards, RA capability | technology editorial board |
Standards drafts used in this edition
- Risk vocabulary NRS-C1 (424 terms) for terms in the glossary
- Hazard atlas NHS-1 1.1.0 (905 hazards in 120 families) for risk objects
- Seven risk classes: global, catastrophic, existential, emerging, planetary, exponential, frontier-tech
Standards calendar to watch
- Founding calls from 20 October 2026; working groups meet from 5 November 2026
- Inaugural Global Standards Council session, 12 January 2027
- Quarterly reviews in March, June, September and December, aligned with each edition
6.4GCRI reading: the model card
GCRI’s reading of this edition is its model card: what the national model is, what it computes and where it stops. It is printed in full in Annex A, with the methods it belongs to. Annex A, methodology
6.5Global Risks Forum reading: editorial essays
Four signed essays by the Reports editorial team set out the positions this edition takes. They are interpretation, labelled as such; the evidence they draw on is in the findings register.
Earth observation is a physical build-out of satellites, ground stations and archives, and the evidence base for climate, forests and disasters. Keeping the two readings together shows what must keep running.
EDITORIAL ESSAY · 01
Infrastructure and evidence
Landsat has been free since 2008, and Copernicus and NISAR data are free and open on stated terms. These are decisions of authorities and can change.
EDITORIAL ESSAY · 02
Free data are a policy choice
An agency mission page, a vendor release and an embedding model carry different weight. This edition labels each and asks for a common basis before counts are compared.
EDITORIAL ESSAY · 03
Separate agency data, vendor claims and model outputs
Observation data are placed in space and time by navigation signals. Rising signal loss is therefore an observation risk as well as an aviation risk.
EDITORIAL ESSAY · 04
Navigation is part of the system
6.6Global Risks Alliance reading: 2027 Earth observation readiness pack
The registers that open the 2027 global cycle. At baseline each is initialised from this edition.
| Item | Register | State at baseline | First 2027 entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Earth observation risk state delta | baseline set by this edition | changes against the baseline |
| E2 | WEFH+B state delta | five global system readings set | indicator updates and freshness |
| E3 | Agenda and Portfolio movement | eight agenda items · 6 proposed objects | admission decisions |
| E4 | Federation delivery register | national chapters in preparation | national chapters |
| E5 | Consortium capability register | national consortia forming | first contributions |
| E6 | Leadership questions and challenges | none yet | first challenge log |
| E7 | Foundry technical state | national environments prepared | first federation cut |
| E8 | Publication candidates | twelve findings carried forward | PUBLISH · HOLD dispositions |
| E9 | Universe readiness | one candidate mission | admission and role spine |
| E10 | Correction register | none | first federation-wide cycle |
Publication dispositions
- Publish
- Hold
- Needs evidence
- Restricted
- Superseded
6.7Nexus Standards reading: standards and regulatory watch
Instruments and published guidance that shape the systems in this edition, by status on the retrieval date. The edition assesses no one’s compliance.
- IN FORCE
- PUBLISHED
- DRAFT
- PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY
| Instrument | Body | Scope | Status | Relevance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OGC standards suite17 | OGC | global | PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY | interoperability |
| STAC specification16 | STAC community | global | PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY | catalogue metadata |
| Landsat free and open data policy3 | USGS | US | IN FORCE | data access |
| Remote sensing principles39 | UN General Assembly | global | PUBLISHED 1986 | principles |
| Outer Space Treaty43 | United Nations | global | IN FORCE | space activities |
| 15 CFR Part 96022 | US Department of Commerce | US | IN FORCE | private remote sensing licensing |
| Regulation (EU) 2021/69641 | European Union | EU | IN FORCE | Union Space Programme |
| EU Space Act proposal40 | European Commission | EU | PUBLISHED 2025 | safety and sustainability |
| EASA and IATA mitigation plan23 | EASA and IATA | global aviation | PUBLISHED 2025 | navigation interference |
| UN-IGIF25 | UN-GGIM | global | PUBLISHED · VOLUNTARY | national geospatial frameworks |
Changed since 2024
6.8Risk Academy reading: literature and evidence review, science and assessments
The review behind this edition covers Earth observation assessments, peer-reviewed science and the institutional reports that bind its findings. Systematic reviews for each agenda item begin in 2027.
Review protocol
- Question
- What does the published evidence establish about Earth observation and geospatial intelligence as infrastructure and its couplings?
- Sources searched
- peer-reviewed journals; agency mission pages; standards bodies and frameworks; vendor and market announcements
- Window
- releases available at evidence close, 30 September 2026
- Selection
- sources that bind or contextualise a finding in this edition
- Next step
- systematic reviews for agenda items 01 to 05 in 2027
| Reference | Type | Year | Role | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hansen et al.33 | journal article | 2013 | context | global forest change maps |
| Wulder et al.34 | journal article | 2012 | context | free data and Landsat |
| Drusch et al.35 | journal article | 2012 | context | Sentinel-2 design |
| Torres et al.36 | journal article | 2012 | context | Sentinel-1 design |
| Gorelick et al.37 | journal article | 2017 | context | cloud analysis platform |
| Pekel et al.38 | journal article | 2016 | context | surface water mapping |
| Global Forest Watch release12 | WRI | 2025 | supports | forest loss 2024 |
| Reference | Issuer | Year | Role | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landsat 92 | USGS | 2021 | supports | land imaging |
| Landsat data access3 | USGS | 2026 | supports | data policy |
| Landsat 104 | USGS | 2026 | supports | successor plan |
| NISAR5 | NASA | 2025 | supports | radar mission |
| Sentinel-26 | ESA | 2024 | supports | optical mission |
| Sentinel-69 | ESA | 2025 | supports | sea level |
| Copernicus pages7810 | European Commission and ESA | 2026 | supports | programme and access |
| Reference | Issuer | Year | Role | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCOS variables and status report1314 | WMO | 2024 | supports | climate variables |
| OGC17 | OGC | 2026 | supports | standards |
| STAC16 | STAC community | 2026 | context | catalogues |
| UN-GGIM25 | United Nations | 2026 | supports | framework |
| Remote sensing principles39 | United Nations | 1986 | framework | principles |
| Outer Space Treaty43 | United Nations | 1967 | framework | space activities |
| Licensing page22 | US Department of Commerce | 2026 | supports | licensing |
| Reference | Issuer | Year | Role | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICEYE pages2021 | vendor and ESA | 2026 | context | radar fleet |
| Vantor WorldView Legion27 | vendor | 2025 | context | optical fleet |
| Planet results26 | vendor | 2026 | context | commercial revenue |
| AlphaEarth and Earth Engine1819 | vendor | 2025 | context | embeddings and archive |
| Space Environment Report15 | ESA | 2025 | supports | orbit |
| EOSDIS volumes30 | NASA | 2021 | context | archive growth |
| Handbook on the space economy42 | OECD | 2022 | context | measurement |
Where the evidence agrees
Notes
Numbers are the edition’s reference numbers, so a note reads the same in every chapter. The full list, with every source and its licence, is in Annex C. Annex C, references
- 24Planetary Society (ed.), You just saved NASA budget (analysis of H.R. 6938; Earth Science USD 2,153.0 million against USD 1,033.2 million requested; NASA Science USD 7.25 billion; House 8 January 2026, Senate 15 January 2026; signature awaited on the page). The Planetary Society, Pasadena. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 26UNVERIFIED, not opened: Planet Labs PBC (ed.), fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 results (revenue USD 307.7 million, up 26%; 40 satellites launched in the fiscal year), taken from search-result summaries; the release page returned an access error. Planet Labs, San Francisco. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 17OGC (ed.), About OGC (founded 1994; non-profit; more than 150 open geospatial standards stated; offices in Belgium and the United Kingdom). Open Geospatial Consortium, Wakefield. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 16STAC community (ed.), About STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog; open source community; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence; no adoption figures on the page). Radiant Earth and contributors. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 3USGS (ed.), Landsat Data Access (products free to download since 2008; Collection 2 available from commercial cloud with catalogue metadata). United States Geological Survey, Reston. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 39UNVERIFIED, not opened: United Nations General Assembly resolution 41/65, Principles relating to remote sensing of the Earth from outer space, 1986, cited from memory. United Nations, New York. Observation year 1986. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 43UNVERIFIED, not opened: Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, 1967, cited from memory. United Nations, New York. Observation year 1967. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 22US Department of Commerce (ed.), Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (licensing of private remote sensing space systems under 15 CFR Part 960 and 51 U.S.C. 60101 et seq.; tiers not described on the page). Office of Space Commerce, Washington. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 41UNVERIFIED, not opened: European Parliament and Council, Regulation (EU) 2021/696 establishing the Union Space Programme, 2021, cited from memory; the legal text page returned no content. European Union, Brussels. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 40UNVERIFIED, not opened: European Commission (ed.), proposal for an EU Space Act (regulation on the safety, resilience and sustainability of space activities), June 2025, cited from memory; the proposal page returned not found. European Commission, Brussels. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 23EASA (ed.), EASA and IATA publish comprehensive plan to mitigate GNSS interference (release of 18 June 2025; four workstreams; workshop of over 120 experts in May 2025; IATA reports 220% rise in GPS signal loss events from 2021 to 2024). European Union Aviation Safety Agency, Cologne. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 25POST-CLOSE, context only: UN-GGIM (ed.), Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (sixteenth session 5 to 7 August 2026; 282 delegates from 80 Member States; Integrated Geospatial Information Framework; World Geospatial Information Congress planned 16 to 19 November 2026). United Nations, New York. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 4USGS (ed.), Landsat 10 (mission page; 26 spectral bands; 18-day revisit; 10 to 20 m and 60 m resolution; launch target 2031; draft request for proposal for the spacecraft on 18 May 2026). United States Geological Survey, Reston. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 14GCOS (ed.), GCOS publications index (latest status report listed is GCOS-240, 2021; earlier report 2015; report text not opened). World Meteorological Organization, Geneva. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 33UNVERIFIED, not opened: Hansen, M.C. et al., High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change, Science 342, 850 to 853, 2013; the journal page returned an access error. Observation year 2013. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 34UNVERIFIED, not opened: Wulder, M.A. et al., Opening the archive: how free data has enabled the science and monitoring promise of Landsat, Remote Sensing of Environment 122, 2 to 10, 2012, cited from memory. Observation year 2012. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 35UNVERIFIED, not opened: Drusch, M. et al., Sentinel-2: ESA optical high-resolution mission for GMES operational services, Remote Sensing of Environment 120, 25 to 36, 2012, cited from memory. Observation year 2012. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 36UNVERIFIED, not opened: Torres, R. et al., GMES Sentinel-1 mission, Remote Sensing of Environment 120, 9 to 24, 2012, cited from memory. Observation year 2012. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 37UNVERIFIED, not opened: Gorelick, N. et al., Google Earth Engine: planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone, Remote Sensing of Environment 202, 18 to 27, 2017, cited from memory. Observation year 2017. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 38UNVERIFIED, not opened: Pekel, J.-F. et al., High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes, Nature 540, 418 to 422, 2016, cited from memory. Observation year 2016. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 12WRI (ed.), Global Forest Loss Shatters Records in 2024, Fueled by Massive Fires (release of 21 May 2025; 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest lost; nearly 50% from fire; Brazil 42%; data from the University of Maryland GLAD Lab at about 30 m). World Resources Institute, Washington. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 2USGS (ed.), Landsat 9 (mission page; launched 27 September 2021; 705 km sun-synchronous orbit; 16-day repeat cycle with an 8-day offset from Landsat 8; data at no charge). United States Geological Survey, Reston. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 5NASA (ed.), NISAR mission overview (launched 30 July 2025 from India; 12-day coverage; average revisit about 6 days; 3 to 10 m; free and open data). National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 6ESA (ed.), Sentinel-2 (mission page; 2A 23 June 2015, 2B 7 March 2017, 2C 5 September 2024; 13 bands; 10 m; 290 km swath; 5-day revisit). European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 9ESA (ed.), Sentinel-6 (mission page; Sentinel-6B launched 17 November 2025; reference altimetry mission to 2030 at least; 95% of the ocean measured). European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 7European Commission (ed.), About Copernicus (Earth observation component of the EU space programme; six services; free and openly accessible; archived site). European Commission, Brussels. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 8European Commission (ed.), Copernicus (policy page; nearly 800 European companies active in Earth observation with EUR 1.8 billion revenue; market projected near EUR 6 billion by 2033; 96% SMEs or startups; Commission statements). Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space, Brussels. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 10ESA (ed.), Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, about page (free access through quotas for individual use; larger use on commercial terms). European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 13GCOS (ed.), Essential Climate Variables (list of 55 variables: 16 atmosphere, 20 land, 19 ocean; last updated 20 December 2024). World Meteorological Organization, Geneva. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 20ESA (ed.), ICEYE, Earth Online third party mission page (82 X-band SAR satellites launched for the ICEYE constellation as of 2026; constellation mean revisit at the equator 20 hours; access by accepted project proposal). European Space Agency, Frascati. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 21ICEYE (ed.), ICEYE launches four new satellites aboard Transporter-17 (release; launch 7 July 2026; 76 satellites launched in total; up to 16 cm resolution claimed; vendor announcement, weak evidence). ICEYE, Espoo. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 27UNVERIFIED, not opened: Vantor (ed.), WorldView Legion constellation (six satellites launched 2 May 2024 to 4 February 2025; 30 cm class; capacity figures differ across summaries), taken from search-result summaries. Vantor, Westminster. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 18Google DeepMind (ed.), AlphaEarth Foundations (blog post of 30 July 2025; 10 m embeddings; 24% lower error rate than models tested; over 1.4 trillion embedding footprints per year; vendor announcement, weak evidence, performance self-reported). Google DeepMind, London. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 19Google (ed.), Earth Engine (product page; multi-petabyte catalogue; over eighty petabytes stated; commercial use available and free for academic and research use; vendor statements, weak evidence). Google, Mountain View. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 15ESA (ed.), ESA Space Environment Report 2025 (web page of 1 April 2025; about 40,000 tracked objects; about 11,000 active payloads; estimated 1.2 million debris objects larger than 1 cm; data to end 2024). European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2024. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 30UNVERIFIED, not opened: NASA (ed.), Earth Observing System Data and Information System archive statistics (59.24 petabytes on 30 September 2021; projections to 2030 differ by page), taken from search-result summaries; the statistics page returned an access error. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt. Observation year 2021. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
- 42UNVERIFIED, not opened: OECD (ed.), OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy, third edition, 2022, cited from memory; the page returned an access error. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. Observation year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-03.back