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Abstract
A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) has been one of the six candidates for the third cycle of the Earth Explorer Core missions, selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for assessment studies [1]. Earth Explorer missions focus on the science and research aspects of ESA’s Living Planet Programme [2]. A-SCOPE mission aims at observing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) for a better understanding of the carbon cycle. Knowledge about the spatial distribution of sources and sinks of CO2 with unprecedented accuracy will provide urgently needed process information about the global carbon cycle. A-SCOPE mission encompasses a new approach to observe the Earth from space based on a Differential Absorption Lidar. Though building on the efforts deployed by ESA since the early eighties in the advancement of critical technology for lidar systems, the proposed measurement concept is innovative and is supported by different technology developments. The objectives and the proposed implementation of the mission are presented in this paper as well as the instrument concepts, their performance and the status of the technology developments.