Practice area: | Downstream Terrestrial Applications | Space |
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Client: | European Space Agency (ESA) |
Published: | 17 August, 2022 |
Keywords: | #ESA #European Space Agency #Value of Information Space Survey Willingness to pay |
How can we value Earth Observations missions? London Economics’ latest report for ESA values the benefits of the Aeolus weather missions at €10.6bn, with an average willingness-to-pay of €60k per user.
London Economics was commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA) to to assess the value generated by the Aeolus-1 and Aeolus-2 weather missions. The objective of the study was to demonstrate the utility of Value of Information (VOI) frameworks to the valuation of Earth Observation (EO) missions and to apply this framework to the Aeolus missions.
These missions are typically undervalued by traditional socio-economics methods as they fail to account for the contribution of EO data to more effective decision making. The VOI framework addresses this issue as it allows us to understand what the users of EO data are willing to pay to access additional information that improves their decision making. In the case of Aeolus, the unique wind observations can improve weather forecasting and benefit a range of users in the weather forecasting, climate research, renewable energy, and aviation sectors.
Key finding: The study finds that the total benefits of the Aeolus-1 and 2 missions at €10.6 billion over the mission lifetimes, greatly exceeding the mission costs. This is driven by an average willingness to pay among respondents of €60,000 per year, with Met Offices having the highest willingness to pay at €87,000 per year. Fair assessment of EO missions relies on measurement of the value of EO data on users, which VOI can facilitate. Given the value of EO data to decision making, open data policies can greatly enhance the value of these missions.
The Executive Summary and Final Report can be downloaded below or accessed here: https://space-economy.esa.int/article/136/valuing-the-benefits-of-esa-aeolus-missions-to-european-decision-makers
For questions about the study and other queries, please contact the Space Team at [email protected] or visit the team’s webpage here.