Happy birthday Nicolaus Copernicus

19 February 1473 marks the birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus.

He was a famous and, during his time, controversial scientist and astronomer that first came up with the theory that the universe revolves around the Sun and not around the Earth. This theory is called heliocentrism and is at the heart of modern science.

The European Union decided to honour this great historical figure by naming its Earth Observation Programme after him.

The Copernicus Programme’s main goal is to achieve a wide range of Earth Observation capacity, gathering fundamental data to make sure that we take the right informed decisions for the health of our planet.

The Programme is managed by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT.

In this post we did a very thorough analysis of the programme with an overview of all satellites and services involved. Head over to learn more.

Originally published at l-zone.info.