Exponential Technology Report 2026: Earth Observation and Geospatial Intelligence

S.1Abstract

S.2Key messages

Six readings that frame the Earth observation baseline, and the eight questions this edition answers, each with its status and source.

1. Landsat 9, Sentinel-2 and NISAR are flying; Landsat 10 is a 2031 target.²⁴⁵⁶

   Is public land imaging secure?Reported

2. Landsat, Copernicus and NISAR data are free and open on stated terms.³⁵⁷¹⁰

   Is the data free?Reported

3. Tropical primary forest loss of 6.7 million hectares in 2024.¹²

   What does the record show?Reported

4. GCOS lists 55 variables; coverage by current systems is not bound here.¹³¹⁴

   How much of the climate record is covered?Reported

5. Counts differ across vendor and agency pages.²⁰²¹

   Are commercial fleets counted?Reported

6. Funding stress, navigation interference and crowded orbits.¹⁵²³²⁴

   What threatens use of the data?Reported

7. National licensing, the EU programme and UN frameworks.²²²⁵⁴¹

   Who sets the rules?Reported

8. Whether free public data stay continuous while funding and navigation signals are stressed. SCN-XT19-CON-01

   What will 2027 test first?Expert input

S.3Headline finding

ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-CLI-009

A University of Maryland team reported 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest lost in 2024, nearly half caused by fire, with Brazil accounting for 42% of the loss.

Observation turns a diffuse loss into a countable one. The data are described as capturing changes at about 30 m resolution, and the release does not name the satellites used. A continuous public record of this kind needs the free land-imaging streams to continue¹²³. Method papers that set the approach are cited as context³³³⁴.

S.4At a glance

S.5What each steward reads in it

S.6What this edition is, and is not

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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

1.1The questions this part answers

Key questions

• Where is Earth observation risk concentrated?
• Which couplings carry Earth observation shocks into other systems?
• Which Earth observation capabilities hold under compound stress?
• What must 2027 evidence measure first?

In this part

• Narrative
• Headline finding
• Lead figure
• Five footprint and governance chapters
• Twelve-domain reading
• Sector screens
• Dependency matrix
• Risk objects
• Capability ladder
• Scenario
• Three lenses
• Portfolio

1.2The argument

1.3Twenty couplings between five systems

The Earth observation-centred matrix types the twenty couplings between the five core systems, read for their Earth observation content. Strengths are Nexus estimates (ESTIMATED) from the cited evidence and analogue events; they set the graph that 2027 evidence will test.

Transmission paths

1. 01

   GOV → INF → DAT

   Funding and policy decisions set which public missions fly and which data stay free.

   Reported NASA appropriations and Landsat 10 plan⁴²⁴

2. 02

   INF → CLI

   A lapse in a land or sea-level record would leave a gap in climate series.

   Inferred GCOS variables and Sentinel-6⁹¹³

3. 03

   TRD → INF

   Navigation signal loss disrupts timing and location for users of observation data.

   Reported IATA signal loss events²³

4. 04

   INF → INF

   Crowded orbits raise collision and debris risk for satellites.

   Reported ESA object counts¹⁵

5. 05

   FIN → INF

   Commercial revenue and public spend fund new satellites.

   Inferred vendor results and appropriations²⁴²⁶

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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

2.1Headline finding

ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-CLI-009

A University of Maryland team reported 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest lost in 2024, nearly half caused by fire, with Brazil accounting for 42% of the loss.

Implication

Observation turns a diffuse loss into a countable one. The data are described as capturing changes at about 30 m resolution, and the release does not name the satellites used. A continuous public record of this kind needs the free land-imaging streams to continue¹²³. Method papers that set the approach are cited as context³³³⁴.

What would move it

The next annual release, any revision of the 2024 figure and the continuity of land-imaging missions would each move this finding.

2.2Infrastructure

1. ReportedEQL 5NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-INF-001

   Landsat 9 launched on 27 September 2021 and, with Landsat 8, provides 8-day coverage of the land mass; Landsat products have been free to download since 2008.²³

2. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-INF-002

   NASA launched the NISAR radar mission on 30 July 2025, with a 12-day coverage cycle, an average revisit of about 6 days, 3 to 10 m resolution and free and open data.⁵

3. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-INF-003

   ESA lists a 5-day revisit for Sentinel-2 at 10 m with 13 bands and a 290 km swath; Sentinel-2C launched on 5 September 2024.⁶³⁵

4. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-INF-004

   ESA counts about 40,000 tracked objects in orbit at the end of 2024, about 11,000 of them active payloads, and estimates 1.2 million debris objects larger than 1 cm.¹⁵

5. ReportedEQL 2NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-INF-005

   A commercial radar operator reports 76 satellites launched by July 2026 in its own release, while ESA lists 82 as of 2026; the two counts differ. A later vendor count is post-close, context only, and is not bound here.²⁰²¹

2.3Governance

1. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-GOV-006

   USGS lists Landsat 10 with 26 spectral bands, an 18-day revisit and a 2031 launch target; a draft request for proposal for the spacecraft was released in May 2026.⁴

2. ReportedEQL 3NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-GOV-010

   IATA reports a 220% increase in GPS signal loss events between 2021 and 2024, and EASA and IATA published a four-workstream mitigation plan on 18 June 2025.²³

2.4Data and digital

1. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-DAT-007

   Copernicus information services are free and openly accessible, and the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem grants free access through quotas, with larger use on commercial terms.⁷¹⁰

2. ReportedEQL 2NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-DAT-008

   A vendor cloud platform lists an archive of over 80 petabytes, and the vendor reports that its embedding model has a 24% lower error rate than models it tested; both statements are self-reported.¹⁸¹⁹

2.5Climate forcing

1. ReportedEQL 4NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-CLI-009

   A University of Maryland team reported 6.7 million hectares of tropical primary forest lost in 2024, nearly half caused by fire, and Brazil accounted for 42% of the loss.¹²³³

2.6Finance

1. ReportedEQL 3NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-FIN-011

   The fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill passed in January 2026 provides USD 2,153.0 million for NASA Earth Science, against a request of USD 1,033.2 million.²⁴³²

2.7Systemic

1. Expert inputEQL 2NRF-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-BASELINE-SYS-012

   The leading compound pathway for 2027 testing is a continuity gap: free public missions, their funding and navigation signals each face stress while users depend on all three. § scenario

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 32UNVERIFIED, not opened: White House Office of Management and Budget (ed.), fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA Earth science (cuts of more than 50%; more than 40 missions proposed for termination), taken from search-result summaries. Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back

3.1Where each system stood at evidence close

3.2Domain posture

Each of the twelve coupled domains is read through Earth observation, in words, not scored. The coupling column names the dependency that carries Earth observation risk into each domain.

3.3Sector screens

All sixteen sectors are screened for their dependence on Earth observation, on the same grammar as every national edition. The evidence column describes coverage of the baseline evidence, not the performance of the sector.

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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

4.1Risk objects

Each risk is read across the chain from hazard to consequence, with its status and evidence-quality level.

1. InferredEQL 4RSK-XT19-INF-001

   Continuity gap in public data streams

   Driver

   pre-launch successor and funding stress⁴²⁴³²

   Exposure

   users of free land and radar data

   Vulnerability

   single missions for some records

   Capacity

   overlapping missions and open terms²⁶⁷

   Cascade

   INF → DAT → CLI

   Horizon

   1 to 10 years

2. InferredEQL 3RSK-XT19-GOV-002

   Navigation signal interference

   Driver

   rising GPS signal loss events²³³¹

   Exposure

   aviation and services that depend on timing and location

   Vulnerability

   dependence on a single signal type

   Capacity

   reporting standards and backup navigation aids²³

   Cascade

   TRD → INF → DAT

   Horizon

   1 to 5 years

3. InferredEQL 3RSK-XT19-INF-003

   Crowded orbits and debris

   Driver

   growth in active payloads and fragmentation events¹⁵

   Exposure

   satellites in low orbits

   Vulnerability

   collision risk and loss of service

   Capacity

   tracking networks and re-entry practice¹⁵

   Cascade

   INF → DAT

   Horizon

   1 to 10 years

4. Expert inputEQL 2RSK-XT19-DAT-004

   Unverified vendor claims in decisions

   Driver

   self-reported fleet counts and model performance¹⁸²⁰²¹

   Exposure

   planners comparing sources

   Vulnerability

   no common basis for counts or accuracy

   Capacity

   peer review and open benchmarks³⁷

   Cascade

   DAT → FIN

   Horizon

   1 to 5 years

4.2Capability ladder

Existence is not readiness. Each of the fifteen capability functions is placed on the ladder by the strongest public evidence for Earth observation at the global level.

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 32UNVERIFIED, not opened: White House Office of Management and Budget (ed.), fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA Earth science (cuts of more than 50%; more than 40 missions proposed for termination), taken from search-result summaries. Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 31UNVERIFIED, not opened: Baltic and Nordic States submission to ICAO on GNSS interference (about 123,000 flights affected from January to April 2025; April figures differ across outlets), taken from trade-press summaries. International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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

5.1Assumptions

Scenario SCN-XT19-CON-01: what is assumed, and what is held constant.

Baseline

the 2026 reference state in this edition

Drivers

a mission fault or funding change arrives while navigation signal loss and crowded orbits persist

Analogues

the 2024 to 2025 launches of Sentinel-2C and NISAR, and the 2031 target for Landsat 10⁴⁵⁶

Interventions

none modelled: the specification describes the unmitigated case

Run state

narrative specification; quantified run scheduled for 2027

5.2The cascade, step by step

1. 1

   GOV → INF

   a funding or mission decision delays a successor

   2026

2. 2

   INF → DAT

   a free data stream thins or ends for some regions

   2025

3. 3

   DAT → CLI

   a climate or forest record loses continuity

   2024

4. 4

   TRD → INF

   navigation interference degrades timing for users

   2025

5. 5

   FIN → INF

   commercial supply fills gaps on vendor terms

   2026

6. 6

   GOV → DAT

   access rules diverge between states

   2025

5.3The scenario as a table of steps

How the shock in scenario SCN-XT19-CON-01 would travel through Earth Observation and Geospatial Intelligence’s coupled systems, step by step, under the assumptions the edition states.

A teaching model of a conditional scenario under the edition’s stated assumptions: not a forecast, not a prediction and not a warning. Sources: Earth Observation and Geospatial Intelligence 2026, scenario SCN-XT19-CON-01 (2026); Earth Observation and Geospatial Intelligence 2026, references (NR-CIT-1) (2026).

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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

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.

6.2Three lenses

One edition, read by each steward. The lens of this site comes first.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. 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
29. 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
30. 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
31. 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
32. 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
33. 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
34. 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
35. 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
36. 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
37. 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

7.1Questions for the operational series

1. O-01

   How continuous are the free public data streams if a mission fails or funding changes, and which users depend on a single stream?

   INI-XT19-CON-01 · continuity of public data; first output: continuity register.

2. O-02

   How much do navigation interference and spoofing affect timing, location and tasking of observation services?

   INI-XT19-NAV-02 · navigation interference; first output: interference overlay.

3. O-03

   How can commercial fleet counts, revisit and resolution be compared on a common basis?

   INI-XT19-COM-03 · claims on a common basis; first output: comparison table.

4. O-04

   What do ground segments, archives and processing need in power, cooling and water?

   INI-XT19-FPR-04 · footprint; first output: footprint estimates.

5. O-05

   How large are archives, and who can reach them at what cost?

   INI-XT19-ARC-05 · archives and access; first output: access map.

6. O-06

   Which national policies set data terms, licensing and procurement for observation?

   To be admitted in 2027; first output: policy overlay.

7. O-07

   What workforce exists for sensor engineering, analysis and geospatial services?

   To be admitted in 2027; first output: scoping note.

8. O-08

   Which readiness capabilities have been tested in real continuity events, and which are only planned?

   Readiness capability register; first output: rung evidence for 15 functions.

7.2Portfolio proposed for the Q1 2027 alignment

Five initiatives and one Universe mission candidate are proposed for the 2027 Earth observation portfolio. They are programme objects: no partner, funder or member is attached to them in this edition.

7.3The pathway

The Earth observation edition reads national readiness chapters, the coupled sector reports on climate, disaster and infrastructure, and the global edition through one governed evidence graph. At baseline the federation is designed; the global energy and lifeline editions are drafted. This page states what exists today and what comes next.

1. 01

   National readiness chapters

   observation and geospatial readiness in each national edition

   IN PREPARATION · national baselines

2. 02

   Sector couplings

   GS-12 Earth observation · GS-07 climate · GS-08 disaster

   GS-12 DRAFTED · sector baselines

3. 03

   Technology system model

   satellites, data, navigation, funding, governance

   v0 SPECIFIED · v1 with federation evidence

4. 04

   Strategic links

   SR-02 lifeline systems · SR-13 strategic technology

   PLANNED · strategic baselines

5. 05

   Universe

   annual proving environment

   CANDIDATE MISSION · mandate in 2027

6. 06

   XT-19 report

   this series

   BASELINE DRAFT · 2027 annual edition

7. 07

   Evidence and correction

   one graph, many projections

   OPEN · first correction cycle in 2027

7.4Universe 2027: evidence pack for the Earth observation candidate mission

1. 01

   Mandate

2. 02

   Core Build · 1 month

3. 03

   Action · 1 week

4. 04

   Evidence seal

5. 05

   Portfolio correction

6. 06

   Next mandate

Mission

ID

MSN-XT19-2027-01 · Continuity gap Universe mission

Role spine

Leadership sponsor · Institutional anchor · Mission lead: drawn from national pathways

Receiving actors

to be identified with the mandate

7.5Handoffs and routing

Where the baseline’s findings go next. A handoff routes a finding for awareness, review or work; it transfers no authority.

7.6Feeds and signal register

Escalation routes

• none · keep monitoring
• research question
• project
• risk object
• annual publication
• signal report

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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

8.1Satellites, sensors and orbits

Public and commercial satellites supply optical and radar data. Evidence is strongest where agency pages state launch dates and design, and weakest where counts come from vendors.

Related editions

• GLB Global Systems
• GS-12 Earth Observation and Planetary Intelligence
• GS-07 Climate and Earth Systems
• XT-18 Space and Orbital Infrastructure
• XT-08 Cloud, Edge and Distributed Computing
• XT-01 Artificial Intelligence and Agentic Systems

8.2Data, archives and compute

Observation data are large and mostly open. Archive access runs through agency portals and commercial cloud services, and the energy footprint of that processing is not published here.

Related editions

• GLB Global Systems
• GS-12 Earth Observation and Planetary Intelligence
• GS-07 Climate and Earth Systems
• XT-18 Space and Orbital Infrastructure
• XT-08 Cloud, Edge and Distributed Computing
• XT-01 Artificial Intelligence and Agentic Systems

8.3Orbit, launch and ground segment

Observation depends on launch, ground stations and a safe orbit. Orbits are crowded, and materials and ground-segment evidence is thin.

Related editions

• GLB Global Systems
• GS-12 Earth Observation and Planetary Intelligence
• GS-07 Climate and Earth Systems
• XT-18 Space and Orbital Infrastructure
• XT-08 Cloud, Edge and Distributed Computing
• XT-01 Artificial Intelligence and Agentic Systems

8.4Funding, economy and workforce

Public funding and commercial revenue both support observation. Congress passed funding well above the request, and workforce numbers are not bound.

Related editions

• GLB Global Systems
• GS-12 Earth Observation and Planetary Intelligence
• GS-07 Climate and Earth Systems
• XT-18 Space and Orbital Infrastructure
• XT-08 Cloud, Edge and Distributed Computing
• XT-01 Artificial Intelligence and Agentic Systems

8.5Navigation, security and governance watch

Observation data rely on navigation signals and on rules for licensing and access. Signal loss is rising, and frameworks differ by state.

Related editions

• GLB Global Systems
• GS-12 Earth Observation and Planetary Intelligence
• GS-07 Climate and Earth Systems
• XT-18 Space and Orbital Infrastructure
• XT-08 Cloud, Edge and Distributed Computing
• XT-01 Artificial Intelligence and Agentic Systems

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 29UNVERIFIED, not opened: ESA (ed.), Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6 (launch 4 November 2025; fourth satellite of the first Sentinel-1 series), taken from search-result summaries; the ESA page returned an access error. European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 32UNVERIFIED, not opened: White House Office of Management and Budget (ed.), fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA Earth science (cuts of more than 50%; more than 40 missions proposed for termination), taken from search-result summaries. Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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

A.1Methods

The global baseline uses published values and four simple derivations. Each is shown in full so that any reader can reproduce it.

A.2Model card, Earth observation System Model v0

Model ID

MDL-XT19-EOGEO · v0.1

Purpose

represent Earth observation as infrastructure coupled to launch and orbit, ground segment, data policy, navigation signals, funding and governance

Family

graph-based system of systems

Inputs

the cited sources of this edition; no proprietary data

Method

expert-specified coupling strengths (STRONG · MODERATE · WEAK) from assessments and analogue events

Validation

none yet, first validation against federation evidence in 2027

Uncertainty

qualitative; strengths are hypotheses, not measurements

Domain of validity

global scale; not for asset-, site- or country-level use

Reproducibility

strength table and sources published in this edition

A.3The baseline evidence cut

Every Nexus edition is published from a frozen evidence cut. The global baseline cut is documentary: it pins the exact edition of every source cited. Federation cuts begin with the first national Foundry cuts in 2027.

Cut ID

DC-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-B0

Type

baseline documentary cut

Resolution policy

pinned · as of 30 September 2026

Sources pinned

43 cited sources, each at the edition and access date in the references

Model runs

none at baseline, analytical values are stated with their method

Digest

computed at freeze and recorded in the publication record

Supersedes

nothing, first cut of the series

Superseded by

the 2027 Earth observation annual cut

Lineage

1. 01

   source edition

2. 02

   pinned citation

3. 03

   finding

4. 04

   page

5. 05

   publication record

A.4Evidence age and coverage

A 2026 global edition rests on evidence observed in many different years. This page shows each time base, so that no single year label hides older evidence.

A.5Evidence cards, two anchor sources

Evidence cards to follow in 2027

• NASA⁵: first science data release and product documentation
• WRI¹²: error bounds and method notes of the dataset
• USGS⁴: Landsat 10 contract and schedule
• GCOS¹⁴: status report text

A.6Publication acceptance record

Editorial self-check at evidence close. Every applicable item carries a disposition; the remaining items are review, approval and deposit.

A.7Status words

A.8How the edition is made, released and corrected

Every edition is built from a sealed evidence cut, reviewed under three keys, signed and deposited before any site shows it as published; corrections go to Nexus Standards as change proposals and feed the next cut.

A teaching model of the process, not a forecast and not a record of any run; dates and counts on this page come from the programme record. Sources: Reports governance at GCRI Canada (2026); Zenodo, repository of record for Reports deposits (2026).

Lifecycle, one state at a time: Draft, Computed, Evidence bound, Reviewed, Approved for release, Published, Corrected, Superseded. This edition is a draft.

A.9Glossary and abbreviations

A.10Technical annex

A.1 · indicator definition: revisit time

Construct

interval between successive observations of the same ground location by a mission or constellation

Unit

days

Method

orbit repeat cycle and swath width, as stated by the mission owner

Source

ESA Sentinel-2 page⁶ and NASA NISAR page⁵

Uncertainty

not stated on the pages read

Known limits

definitions differ by mission; cloud cover and tasking change effective revisit

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 31UNVERIFIED, not opened: Baltic and Nordic States submission to ICAO on GNSS interference (about 123,000 flights affected from January to April 2025; April figures differ across outlets), taken from trade-press summaries. International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 32UNVERIFIED, not opened: White House Office of Management and Budget (ed.), fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA Earth science (cuts of more than 50%; more than 40 missions proposed for termination), taken from search-result summaries. Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
12. 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
13. 1Union of Concerned Scientists (ed.), UCS Satellite Database (data current through 1 May 2023; 7,560 operating satellites; page last updated 2 January 2024; updates paused). Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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

B.1The indicator set

B.2Global source register

The governed source set behind this edition. Each source keeps its authority, coverage, cadence and role; categories describe origin, not truth.

Domains bound by the register

• INF
• DAT
• CLI
• GOV
• FIN
• TRD
• ENE
• WAT
• FOO
• BIO

B.3Regional reading, Earth observation across ten clusters

Regional plates follow with the regional editions. This page gives the regional reading of Earth observation infrastructure and exposure in table form and ranks no region.

B.4Cluster card: free and open land-imaging chain

• public missions
• open data
• archives
• continuity

Systems in view

Landsat 8 and 9, Sentinel-2, NISAR, archives and catalogues

Defining events

Landsat 9 launch 2021; Sentinel-2C 2024; NISAR 2025²⁵⁶

Couplings

GOV → INF funding; INF → DAT open terms; DAT → CLI records

Capability evidence

open access and catalogue standards documented³¹⁶¹⁷

Gaps

continuity of successors; archive volumes; ground-segment footprint

Agenda items

O-01 · O-05

B.5How countries appear in the Earth observation edition

Countries enter the Earth observation edition through the readiness chapters of their own national editions, on one card grammar. They are read against peer distributions and thresholds, never ranked.

Editions in the 2026 Baseline programme

How to read a country card

• Each system is shown against the distribution of its peers, with thresholds where they exist
• Couplings and risk objects come from the country’s own national edition
• Capability rungs record evidence, not a judgement of institutions
• Evidence age is printed, so older national data are visible as such

B.6Licences

B.7Formats and provenance

Provenance

Edition pack

The edition’s content pack (JSON), from which the print and web editions are built

Evidence cut

DC-XTECH-EOGEO-GLOBAL-2026-B0, closed 30 September 2026

Reproducibility

sourced values cited; analytical values reproducible from stated parameters

Self-check

14 of 23 at evidence close; a fail on any item blocks release

Review

five passes scheduled before release (in Annex C)

Publisher of record

GCRI for the Nexus Consortium

Corrections

Registry correction pathway; upheld corrections are published as notices with a new version

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 29UNVERIFIED, not opened: ESA (ed.), Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6 (launch 4 November 2025; fourth satellite of the first Sentinel-1 series), taken from search-result summaries; the ESA page returned an access error. European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 11Copernicus Climate Change Service (ed.), Global Climate Highlights 2025 (page only; the headline figures were not read). European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 31UNVERIFIED, not opened: Baltic and Nordic States submission to ICAO on GNSS interference (about 123,000 flights affected from January to April 2025; April figures differ across outlets), taken from trade-press summaries. International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.back
24. 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
25. 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

C.143 sources

NR-CIT-1, editor first. A DOI is linked where the source has one; Nexus records carry a UNI once the catalogue allocates it (NS-1).

1. 1Union of Concerned Scientists (ed.), UCS Satellite Database (data current through 1 May 2023; 7,560 operating satellites; page last updated 2 January 2024; updates paused). Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Observation year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-03.
2. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
3. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
4. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6
5. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 8
6. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 8
7. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6
8. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
9. 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. Cited in chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 6
10. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 2, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
11. 11Copernicus Climate Change Service (ed.), Global Climate Highlights 2025 (page only; the headline figures were not read). European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03.
12. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 6, chapter 7
13. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
14. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 6
15. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
16. 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. Cited in chapter 4, chapter 6
17. 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. Cited in chapter 4, chapter 6
18. 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. Cited in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
19. 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. Cited in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 6, chapter 8
20. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8
21. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8
22. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 3, chapter 6, chapter 8
23. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8
24. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
25. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
26. 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. Cited in chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
27. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
28. 28UNVERIFIED, not opened: POST-CLOSE, context only: ICEYE (ed.), release on the Bandwagon-5 launch of 20 October 2026 (84 SAR satellites launched in total), taken from search-result summaries. ICEYE, Espoo. Observation year 2026. Accessed 2026-11-03.
29. 29UNVERIFIED, not opened: ESA (ed.), Sentinel-1D reaches orbit on Ariane 6 (launch 4 November 2025; fourth satellite of the first Sentinel-1 series), taken from search-result summaries; the ESA page returned an access error. European Space Agency, Paris. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03. Cited in chapter 8
30. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
31. 31UNVERIFIED, not opened: Baltic and Nordic States submission to ICAO on GNSS interference (about 123,000 flights affected from January to April 2025; April figures differ across outlets), taken from trade-press summaries. International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03. Cited in chapter 4
32. 32UNVERIFIED, not opened: White House Office of Management and Budget (ed.), fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA Earth science (cuts of more than 50%; more than 40 missions proposed for termination), taken from search-result summaries. Washington. Observation year 2025. Accessed 2026-11-03. Cited in chapter 2, chapter 4, chapter 8
33. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 2, chapter 6
34. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6
35. 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. Cited in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6
36. 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. Cited in chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6
37. 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. Cited in chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6
38. 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. Cited in chapter 3, chapter 6
39. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
40. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
41. 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. Cited in the summary, chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 6, chapter 8
42. 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. Cited in chapter 6, chapter 8
43. 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. Cited in chapter 6

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