A new international platform is quietly reshaping the way we validate and harmonise Earth observation data from satellites.
Known as the CEOS-Product Validation Platform (CEOS-PVP), it offers a free and open service where space agencies, commercial operators, and researchers can check, compare, and improve the quality of their optical satellite measurements.
Developed by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) on behalf of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the platform provides the tools needed to make satellite imagery more consistent and interoperable, helping to unlock innovation across climate science, environmental monitoring, agriculture, and many other fields.
Why data consistency matters in orbit
Even the most advanced satellites are not immune to small shifts in performance. The intense vibrations of launch and the harsh conditions of space can subtly alter sensors, affecting their ability to record precise measurements over time.
When Earth observation data from multiple satellites needs to be combined – especially for tracking long-term environmental changes – those small discrepancies can lead to big differences in the results.
Independent performance checks are essential. Without them, integrating Earth observation data from different sources into a single, reliable picture is challenging.
This is particularly critical for applications such as climate change tracking, where detecting small trends over decades requires unwavering accuracy.
How CEOS-PVP works
The CEOS-PVP is hosted on the UK’s Earth Observation Data Hub (EODH), acting as a central archive where satellite operators upload imagery collected over designated ‘reference’ sites.
These include specially monitored deserts, instrumented facilities like RadCalNet, and even the Moon – natural and artificial benchmarks that the Earth observation community has refined over decades.
One of the platform’s key features is RadVAL, a visualisation tool that lets users track a sensor’s performance over time against chosen references.
The system also creates a virtual reference by combining results from multiple sites, offering a common baseline that any satellite can be measured against.
This makes it easier to harmonise Earth observation data from different sensors and prepare Analysis Ready Data (ARD) that can be substituted or combined without loss of quality.
A boost for the growing “new space” sector
While large satellites often carry onboard calibration equipment, smaller ‘smallsat’ systems typically rely solely on external references.
The CEOS-PVP provides these operators with a pathway to demonstrate and improve their data quality, helping them meet international standards and compete in a growing global market for Earth observation data.
For both commercial and public missions, the platform’s shared tools and transparent metrics reduce duplication of effort, allowing more focus on applying satellite data to real-world challenges.
Laying the groundwork for future AI and climate applications
Beyond immediate calibration needs, the CEOS-PVP lays the foundation for more advanced uses of Earth observation data.
By providing a standardised, trusted reference, it enables the application of artificial intelligence to decades of archived imagery, opening new possibilities for environmental modelling, digital twin simulations, and predictive analytics.
Future upgrades will link the platform to reference satellite missions such as ESA’s TRUTHS, a UK-led project designed to provide absolute, physics-traceable calibration values.
This would anchor the virtual reference in a definitive ‘truth’ measurement, further boosting confidence and comparability between sensors worldwide.
Such precision will be crucial for detecting subtle signals, whether measuring the effectiveness of carbon reduction policies, monitoring biodiversity, or informing legal and financial decisions where high-confidence data is essential.
By creating a single place where satellite performance can be assessed, visualised, and compared, the CEOS-PVP is helping to bridge the gap between diverse satellite missions and the unified, trusted datasets that governments, businesses, and scientists rely on.
As participation grows and more data is added, the platform is set to become a central part of the Earth observation ecosystem, supporting everything from disaster response to climate action, and ensuring that the world’s view from space remains as accurate and consistent as possible.
