Development of ESA capability for the estimation and prediction of Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) to become independent of the International Earth Orientation and Reference Service (IERS).

Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) are of fundamental importance for all ESA missions. Currently, the EOPs are obtained from an external entity the Earth Orientation and Reference Service (IERS). The goal of this activity is the development of ESA capability for the estimation and prediction of Earth Orientation Parameter in order to become independent of external services. Several aspects related to this subject topic need to be investigated and further developed. Of particular concern are the following topics: - The estimation of EOPs based on the combination of different complementary observation types such as SLR, VLBI and GNSS. The study shall analyse the difficulties resulting from the combined processing of different observation types and their contribution to the individual global parameters. Different concept shall be proposed, implemented, prototyped and tested. - The prediction of EOPs based on empirical and also physical modelling. The prediction of EOP is a very difficult area, which need fundamental development in order to obtain reliable results. In the frame of this activity, different concepts for the prediction of EOPs shall be developed, prototyped and tested.