- 1ESA Directorate of Navigation, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- 2ESA Directorate of Operations, ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
- 3ESA Directorate of Science, ESA/ESAC, Villafranca del Castillo, Spain
Genesis is an ESA mission dedicated to Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Science, conducted by the ESA Navigation Directorate. Its primary objective is the contribution to the improvement of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) accuracy (1mm) and long-term stability (0.1mm/year). Secondary objectives include the contribution to a high number of other scientific disciplines (geodesy, geodynamics, earth rotation, geophysics, earth gravity field, atmosphere and ionosphere sciences, metrology, relativity…) [1].
On the industrial side, the company OHB Italia has been contracted by ESA as prime for the development, qualification, launch and 2 years operation of the mission, with a launch date in 2028 [2]. Antwerp Space (B), as the major sub-contractor of OHB-I, oversees the payload and geodetic instruments. Industrial activities were kicked-off in April 2024, the System Requirements Review was successfully closed-out in Q4 2024, and work is on-going towards a Preliminary Design Review in Q4 2025.
In parallel, on the scientific side, after a first successful Genesis Workshop held in February 2024 [3], a Genesis Science Exploitation Team was set-up and members appointed. The Genesis Science Exploitation Team are actively supporting the mission development (in particular consolidation of requirements) and will play a key role in its future exploitation.
The presentation will provide a high-level description of the mission, and provide the programmatic status of Genesis.
[1]: Delva et al. Earth, Planets and Space 75, 5 (2023)
[2]: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Satellite_navigation/ESA_kicks_off_two_new_navigation_missions
[3]: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Satellite_navigation/The_geodetic_community_meets_Genesis
How to cite: Gidlund, S., Fusco, G., Waller, P., Morlet, C., Perez Lissi, F., Sakalauskaite, E., Enderle, W., Schoenemann, E., Berton, J.-C., Gini, F., and Navarro, V.: Overview of Genesis - an ESA mission at the Foundation of Navigation, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15776, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15776, 2025.
