LPP consists of two classes of Earth observation missions (listed below) including research missions known as Earth Explorers, and the Earth Watch class of missions whose objective is to develop support operational applications such as numerical weather forecasting or resource management.
Currently there are ten approved Earth Explorer missions, four (SMOS, CryoSat-2, SWARM, EarthCARE) of which are in orbit and operating: Approved, but yet to launch : The competition for the Earth Explorer 11 mission began on 10 June 2021.
A call for proposal ideas was released on 25 May 2020, with the deadline for submission on 4 December 2020.
The winning candidate will be chosen in 2025 with a projected launch date in 2032 or 2033.
[27] Past candidate missions that were not selected include: From the 17 submissions, which were all thoroughly evaluated, ESA’s Advisory Committee for Earth Observation (ACEO) recommended that four of the ideas should go forward to the assessment study phase.