specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: European Space Agency (ESA)
providerId: esa
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
reconciled: true
tags:
  - Earth Observation
  - Copernicus
  - Space Weather
  - Astronomy
  - FinOps
  - FOCUS
description: >-
  FOCUS-aligned FinOps for ESA public APIs. The primary metered surface is the
  Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE) free tier, whose cost is zero for registered
  users up to the published monthly quotas. Beyond free-tier limits, CDSE offers
  extended quota access through the Copernicus Service framework and the ESA Network
  of Resources — commercial pricing for these paths is negotiated and not publicly
  listed. All other ESA scientific APIs (Gaia TAP, ESASky Legacy TAP, Space Weather
  HAPI, CCI ESGF, Datalabs GraphQL) are provided at no cost to the research community.
  The principal FinOps risk is unintended quota burn-down of openEO credits,
  Sentinel Hub processing units, or S3 transfer volume by automated pipelines running
  without cost guardrails.
sources:
  - https://documentation.dataspace.copernicus.eu/Quotas.html
  - https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/analyse/apis
  - https://www.finops.org/framework/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: European Space Agency
serviceCategory: Earth Observation / Space Science
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Free Tier with Extended Quota via Application
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: EUR
  chargeCategories:
    - Usage
    - Credit
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
  ServiceCategory: Earth Observation
  ProviderName: European Space Agency (ESA)
  PublisherName: European Space Agency
  InvoiceIssuerName: European Commission / ESA
  BillingCurrency: EUR
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
  - name: sentinel_hub_requests
    description: >-
      Count of Sentinel Hub API requests consumed against the 10,000/month free
      quota. Each request may also consume processing units depending on the
      operation type and area of interest.
    unit: requests
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account
      - api_endpoint
      - collection

  - name: sentinel_hub_processing_units
    description: >-
      Processing units (PU) consumed by Sentinel Hub operations. PU cost scales
      with the spatial area, number of bands, and script complexity.
    unit: processing_units
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account
      - collection
      - resolution

  - name: openeo_credits
    description: >-
      openEO platform credits consumed from the 10,000/month free allocation.
      Credit consumption scales with the computational complexity and data volume
      of batch processing jobs.
    unit: credits
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account
      - process_graph_id
      - collection

  - name: s3_transfer_volume
    description: >-
      Cumulative data transfer over S3/OData/STAC interfaces measured in a 30-day
      rolling window against the 12 TB free-tier limit. Exceeding throttles
      bandwidth to 1 MB/s.
    unit: GB
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account
      - collection
      - product_type

  - name: direct_http_cog_requests
    description: >-
      Count of direct HTTP Cloud-Optimised GeoTIFF (COG) requests against the
      50,000/month free quota.
    unit: requests
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account

  - name: data_workspace_products
    description: >-
      Count of offline product orders processed through Data Workspace against
      the 25/month free limit. This is the only interface for Deferred Available
      (offline) product retrieval.
    unit: products
    aggregation: sum
    dimensions:
      - user_account
      - product_type

principles:
  - name: Visibility
    description: >-
      Monitor Sentinel Hub processing unit consumption and openEO credit burn-rate
      using the CDSE dashboard. Set alerts when monthly usage exceeds 70% of free
      quota to avoid unexpected throttling mid-month. Track the 30-day rolling S3
      transfer window continuously for pipelines downloading large Sentinel products.

  - name: Allocation
    description: >-
      Separate CDSE user accounts per team or project to isolate quota pools.
      Tag all openEO batch jobs and Sentinel Hub requests with project identifiers
      via request metadata where supported. Maintain distinct credentials for
      development/test versus production pipelines to prevent test traffic from
      consuming production quota.

  - name: Optimization
    description: >-
      Use STAC or OData catalogue queries before downloading to filter products
      to the minimum necessary set. Prefer Cloud-Optimised GeoTIFF partial reads
      over full-product downloads to reduce S3 transfer volume. Cache Sentinel Hub
      rendered tiles to avoid re-processing identical requests. Schedule large
      openEO batch jobs early in the month when the credit pool is full. Use
      Sentinel Hub statistics endpoints in place of full imagery pulls for analysis
      workflows that only need aggregated metrics.

  - name: Accountability
    description: >-
      Assign a data engineering lead as quota owner per CDSE account. Review
      monthly usage against quota headroom before the reset date. For projects
      requiring sustained high-volume access, proactively apply for extended quota
      through the Copernicus Service desk or ESA Network of Resources to avoid
      mid-project throttling.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com