Level-2 News
Sentinel-2A: Exceptional temporary extension campaign starting in March 2025 [link]
"ESA announced the launch of an exceptional temporary extension campaign for the Sentinel-2A satellite starting in March 2025, exceptionally complementing the nominal two-satellites (Sentinel-2B/2C) mission constellation operations configuration.
The campaign foresees the implementation of a tailored Sentinel-2A operations scenario ensuring the continuity of the Sentinel-2A systematic observations over Europe every 10 days (as for Sentinel-2B/C) and featuring a global coverage every 20 days.
Starting at end of January 2025, the Sentinel-2A will initiate its maneuvers to reach its new orbital position, 36° away from Sentinel-2B, by early March 2025. This configuration will enhance the availability of Sentinel-2 data, with additional Sentinel-2 observations on the same relative orbit, occurring 2 days apart from Sentinel-2B and 1 day apart from Sentinel-2C."
Planet Signs $230 Million Commercial Agreement for Pelican Satellites [link]
"Planet announced the signing of a multi-year $230 million agreement to expand its partnership with a long-standing, Asia-Pacific commercial partner. Pursuant to the agreement, Planet will build and deliver a constellation of new Pelican high resolution satellites, securing certain capacity on the satellites for the partner, in addition to providing operational services. Planet will leverage the increased capacity of the expanded fleet to serve its own government and commercial customers around the world."
Planet Signs Deal with European Space Agency (ESA), Joining the Copernicus Contributing Missions [link]
"Planet announced that they have signed a multi-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). Through this contract, Planet joins the Copernicus Contributing Missions, officially contributing commercial satellite data alongside ESA’s Sentinel satellite data to the Copernicus services."
Array Labs, Umbra, Raytheon Join Forces to Accelerate 3D Product Rollout [link]
"Array Labs, Umbra Space, and Raytheon, an RTX business, announced a strategic three-way teaming agreement to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced 3D Earth observation capabilities. The collaboration aims to accelerate the delivery of 3D geospatial products to commercial and government customers."
Rocket Lab to launch OroraTech satellites [link]
"Rocket Lab announced Jan. 22 a contract to launch a set of wildfire-monitoring satellites for German company OroraTech on a short turnaround.
Rocket Lab said it will launch eight of OroraTech’s smallsats on an Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The press release announcing the contract did not disclose a launch date, but Rocket Lab said in a social media post that the launch “is just a few weeks away.”"
Commercial weather startups forecast increased funding under Trump [link]
"A decade ago, startups raising money to launch commercial weather satellites were convinced they had a goldmine on their hands because they could improve forecasting models. The problem? NOAA spent years evaluating the commercial observations before acquiring limited datasets under short-term contracts. Many of the businesses, figuratively and literally, never got off the ground.
Now, some of those same entrepreneurs see another opportunity. They expect the second Trump administration to reshape the market for their data and push tens of millions of dollars in new money toward their businesses."
BlackSky Secures $100 Million Defense Contract for Gen-3 Monitoring Capabilities [link]
BlackSky Technology won a seven-year contract worth over $100 million with an unnamed, strategic international defense partner for real-time, space-based monitoring capabilities, the company announced Jan. 28.
The deal includes current Gen-2 capabilities and allows the defense partner to access Gen-3 satellites, which offer 35 cm high-resolution imagery and sub-hourly revisit rates. The deal includes annual capacity minimums. BlackSky said its subscription-based model allows the customer to adopt these capabilities into daily intelligence operations."
Sen unveils 4K livestream of Earth and space station docking port [link]
"London-based Sen unveiled an ultra-high resolution livestream Jan. 27 from space.
Since 2007, Sen has developed the technology and tools to offer the livestream, called SpaceTV-1, from the International Space Station. Advertising, sponsorship and subscriptions will provide funding for the livestream."
Ariane 6 to take Sentinel-1D into orbit [link]
"Entrusted by the European Commission, ESA has signed a contract with Arianespace to secure an Ariane 6 rocket for the launch of the Sentinel-1D satellite, the fourth unit of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, scheduled for the second half of this year."
First MetOp Second Generation satellite to launch in August [link]
"ESA, Eumetsat, the European Commission and Arianespace have announced an agreement to advance the launch of the first MetOp Second Generation weather satellite, which also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission, to August 2025 aboard an Ariane 6 rocket."
Europe’s carbon dioxide monitoring mission elevated to the power of three [link]
"Building on the initial contract to develop two satellites for the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission, the European Commission and ESA have now entrusted OHB System AG with the development of a third satellite.
This addition will accelerate global coverage, enabling faster and more comprehensive measurements of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from human activities to enhance the evaluation of climate mitigation efforts."
Developer's Orbit
Exploring Field Boundary Data with LLMs [link]
Follow this blog post on potential of using a custom LLM interface to explore interoperable field boundary data.
A deep dive into GeoParquet Downloader QGIS Plug-in [link]
Check out this in-depth post by Chris Holmes ; an overview of his recently developed QGIS plug-in.

Snapshots

A Chill Over Chicagoland [link]
"Between January 19 and 24, 2025, a brutal cold snap hit Chicago. This satellite image captured a glimpse of the wintry aftermath.
The first half of the cold spell saw the chilliest weather, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). On January 21, the air temperature in Chicago reached as low as minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26 degrees Celsius). At the time, little to no snow covered the ground in Chicago, which NWS noted is uncommon amid sub-zero temperatures.
Snowflakes returned toward the end of the cold spell. Between the mornings of January 22 and 23, several waves of snowfall produced the blanket of white across the Chicago area visible in this image, acquired on January 24, 2025, with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8."
Interesting reads
Smouldering woody debris fuels air pollution over the Amazon [link]
"A groundbreaking study, funded by ESA, reveals that fire emissions in the Amazon and Cerrado are largely driven by the smouldering combustion of woody debris. This crucial discovery highlights the significant influence of fuel characteristics on fire emissions, with wide-ranging implications for global carbon cycles, air quality and biodiversity.
According to the research, woody debris accounts for up to 75% of the total burned live and dead biomass in these biomes, contributing to disproportionately high emissions of carbon monoxide and other air pollutants.
In addition, the study estimates that during 2020 wildfires in the Amazon consumed approximately 372 million tonnes of dry biomass, resulting in carbon monoxide emissions of around 40 million tonnes."
Competitions
SpaceUp Competition [link]
"A global competition for entrepreneurs focusing on Space based solutions for challenges in vital sectors.
Around 28 Million USD contractual opportunities."
Application Deadline: 12 Apri 2025
Open Roles
Kuva Space opened three more roles - Finland [link]
Mechanical Engineer – Satellite Design & Manufacturing
Embedded Systems Engineer
Front-end Web Developer
Remote Sensing Data Scientist at VTT - Finland [link]
Remote Sensing GIS Analyst at Anew Climate [link]
"Anew Climate is looking for 2 GIS professionals to join their geospatial team and help them evaluate, execute, and monitor forest carbon projects, with a focus on machine learning/AI applications in remote sensing."
Python Developer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD [link]
"The successful candidate will support the development of a Python-based AI/ML stack for developing NASA Earth Systems Digital Twins (ESDTs) called the Coupled Reusable Earth System Tensor Framework (CREST), along with its use to develop and deploy TERRAHydro, a state-of-the-art ML-based terrestrial ESDT."