Genesis project

The potential of GNSS is such that ESA is proposing a dedicated mission called Genesis as part of its Future NAV programme to its Council of Ministers at the end of this year. The Genesis mission will combine, for the first time ever, all space-based ‘geodetic’ (or Earth measuring) techniques aboard a single well-calibrated satellite, establishing precise and stable ties between them. Genesis will then become a true dynamic space geodetic observatory allowing to improve the realisation of the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) – the single most precise model of Earth – towards the goal of achieving an accuracy of 1 mm and a long-term stability of 0.1 mm/yr.

Javier concludes: “The Terrestrial Reference Frame is the foundation for all space- and ground-based observations in Earth Science and Navigation and, therefore, Genesis will have a major significance since it will have an impact on multiple scientific and societal endeavours, from supporting a more accurate monitoring of several climate change essential variables to improve the orbit determination accuracy of all the GNSS satellites, to name two examples.”