Speaker
Description
FORUM (Far-infrared-Outgoing-Radiation Understanding and Monitoring), the 9th Earth Explorer mission (EE9), has a main goal to study the Earth’s radiation budget in order to improve climate models and give a better insight on how climate change is affecting our planet.
A LCA of the FORUM mission has been conducted by Airbus DS with the support of SCALIAN. A first iteration was delivered in 2024 and a second iteration was completed in November 2025.
The scope of this second iteration includes S/C Platform manufacturing, S/C Payload manufacturing (partially: 6 out of 15 instruments due to lack of data), GSE manufacturing, Satellite assembly, Transportation until launch site and Prime Office work and travels.
A detailed environmental analysis was performed going level by level from assembly, system, subsystem, equipment until the elementary flow (material, energy consumption, water consumption, waste production, etc). The environmental impacts are assessed using the ESA LCA Methodology based on EF3.0 single score. This analysis enables the identification of the main elementary flows (hotspots) causing the highest contribution to the potential FORUM environmental impacts.
LCA of FORUM S/C presentation will be focused on the environmental results and use of its outcomes. A particular focus will be made on the main hotspots, contributors and leverages/optimisation proposals. Feedback and lessons learned could be discussed also.