June 8, 2023, marks the 25th anniversary of Copernicus, the earth observation component of the European Union’s space programme.
It was launched in 1998 and previously known as the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Programme (GMES).
Copernicus is designed to provide information on the earth’s environment to aid sectors like agriculture, climate change, disaster management, urban planning, and more.
The programme is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, the 15th-century Polish scientist who first proposed a heliocentric universe model.