Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines Documents Released

NASA's Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has released the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework – Optical Guidelines . Created for the benefit of the Earthnet Data Assessment Project (EDAP) and the CSDA program as part of a collaboration between ESA and NASA, the document presents the methodology the agencies use to assess the quality of optical data from commercial satellite data providers. Released on April 26, 2026, the Optical Guidelines document provides specific guidelines for the mission quality assessment of optical sensors as part of the implementation of the generic Earth Observation (EO) mission quality assessment for the optical domain. Its contents include a summary of the Joint Earth Observation Mission Quality Assessment Framework and its aims, a review of optical mission quality as evidenced by its documentation, guidelines for verifying that a mission’s data quality is consistent with stated sensor performance, and appendices containing information on common practices for radiometric and geometric calibration and validation. “The release of these joint guidelines for EO data from optical missions both documents the rigorous standards we have for commercial data and bolsters the confidence of the user community in the CSDA’s commercial data acquisitions,” said CSDA Project Manager Dana Ostrenga. …