GENESIS is part of ESA’s FutureNAV programme, approved at ESA’s Council at Ministerial Level last November, seeking to respond to new satnav concepts and trends in an effective, agile way, bolstering European competitiveness in this vital sector.

Mapping planet Earth for better positioning

The best place to measure our home planet is actually nowhere on Earth, but from up above it. Satellites are a means of not only monitoring the terrestrial environment but also setting it within a set framework for mapping and pinpointing changes over time. The International Terrestrial Reference Frame, ITRF, is the foundation for all space and ground-based observations in navigation and the Earth sciences and, therefore, its improvement thanks to GENESIS will provide major benefits in all related applications.