EO·Atlas
FLEX (FLuorescence EXplorer)
ESA Earth Explorer 8 mission, launch expected 2026; carries FLORIS (Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer) operating at 500-780 nm with 0.1 nm sampling in O2-A/B bands; first mission dedicated exclusively to global SIF mapping at 300 m resolution.
FLEX (FLuorescence EXplorer) is the eighth Earth Explorer mission selected by ESA, planned for launch in September 2026 on a Vega-C rocket in tandem with the Copernicus Sentinel-3C satellite. FLEX is planned to fly approximately 40 to 100 km ahead of Sentinel-3C in the same orbital plane at 815 km altitude in a sun-synchronous orbit, enabling simultaneous surface reflectance corrections using Sentinel-3 OLCI data.[1][2]
The mission carries the FLORIS (FLuORescence Imaging Spectrometer) instrument, a pushbroom spectrometer operating across 500 to 780 nm with 0.1 nm spectral sampling in the oxygen A-band and B-band windows used for sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) retrieval. FLORIS is planned to deliver SIF maps at 300 m spatial resolution over a 150 km swath with a 27-day revisit cycle, providing global-scale SIF measurement as an ESA Earth Explorer mission.[1][3]
SIF from FLEX is intended to enable estimation of photosynthetic activity and carbon uptake across vegetation types, with applications in crop stress monitoring and ecosystem carbon cycle assessment. The satellite's planned mass is approximately 400 kg.[1]
All fields
| current status | planned |
| operator | European Space Agency |
| launch vehicle | arianespace-vega-c |
| Planned launch | 2026-09-01 |
| orbit type | LEO SSO 815 km |
| swath km | 150 |
| revisit days | 27 |
| tasking supported | false |
| Last updated | 2026-06-11 |
| claim status | unclaimed |
Compositional position
- [1]FLEX Facts and Figures - ESAagency doc2026-06-11
- [2]FLEX mission overview - ESAoperator marketing2026-06-11
- [3]FLEX - ESA Earth Onlineagency doc2026-06-11
- [4]FLEX (Fluorescence Explorer) - eoPortalcommunity2026-06-11