Contracts

A contract (also called a policy) is the agreement between your organisation and Open Cosmos that defines what you can do in DataCosmos. It controls which satellites you can task, which data products you can order, which tasking modes are available, and the pricing and currency that apply to your purchases.

Every order and tasking request is made against a specific contract. If your organisation has more than one contract, you can choose which to use — but most organisations have a single default contract that is used automatically.

What a contract contains

Field	What it means
Contract ID	A numeric identifier used when placing orders or making API requests. Also referred to as `policy_id`.
Currency	The currency in which your purchases are denominated (e.g. EUR, USD).
Default contract	Whether this is your organisation's primary contract. Use the default contract unless you have a specific reason to choose another.
Tasking modes	Which of the three tasking modes — manual, automated, and systematic — are enabled for your organisation.
Enhanced QA	Whether enhanced quality assurance processing is available under this contract.
Validity windows	Separate date ranges controlling when tasking requests can be submitted and when orders can be placed.
Contract products	The specific satellites, payloads, and data collections you are entitled to access. See below.

Retrieving your contracts via the API

You can retrieve all contracts available to your organisation with a single API call. You will need your organisation ID (a numeric identifier associated with your account) and a valid bearer token — see the Authentication page if you have not already set this up.

curl --request GET \
  "https://app.open-cosmos.com/api/data/v1/dpap/organisations/{organisation_id}/policies" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${DATACOSMOS_ACCESS_TOKEN}"

The response is an array of contract objects. Look for the entry where "default_contract": true — this is the contract that will be used for your purchases unless you specify otherwise.

{
  "data": [
    {
      "contract_id": 1001,
      "name": "Standard Contract",
      "organisation_id": 50,
      "currency": "EUR",
      "default_contract": true,
      "active": true,
      "manual_tasking": true,
      "automated_tasking": true,
      "systematic_tasking": false,
      "enhanced_qa": false,
      "contract_products": [...]
    }
  ]
}

To retrieve a specific contract directly by ID:

curl --request GET \
  "https://app.open-cosmos.com/api/data/v1/dpap/policies/{contract_id}" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer ${DATACOSMOS_ACCESS_TOKEN}"

For full parameter and response documentation, see the Policies API reference.

Understanding your available missions and data products

The contract_products array in each contract describes exactly which satellites and data products your organisation can access. Each entry in contract_products has the following structure:

{
  "id": "product-a",
  "resources": [
    { "mission_id": "OC1", "payload_id": "OC1-MSI" },
    { "mission_id": "OC2", "payload_id": "OC2-MSI" }
  ],
  "processing_levels": ["L1B", "L1C", "L2A"],
  "tasking": { ... },
  "catalog": {
    "collections": ["oc1-msi-l1c", "oc2-msi-l2a"],
    "custom_prices": [...]
  }
}

Mission IDs

The resources array lists the satellites (missions) and their payloads covered by that product. Each entry contains:

mission_id — the identifier for the satellite (e.g. OC1, OC2). Use this when submitting tasking requests to specify which satellite should acquire the imagery.
payload_id — the specific instrument or sensor on that satellite.

A single contract product may cover multiple satellites. Tasking requests submitted against this product can be acquired by any of the listed satellites unless you specify a preference.

Data products and processing levels

The processing_levels array lists the processing tiers available for the product (e.g. L1B, L1C, L2A). Higher levels indicate more processed data — for example, L2A imagery has been atmospherically corrected.

For catalog orders, the catalog.collections array lists the STAC collection IDs you can search and purchase from. You can use these collection names directly in STAC search requests to find available imagery.

NOTE

Not every processing level will necessarily be available in the catalog at any given time — processing_levels defines what your contract entitles you to, not what has been acquired. Use STAC search to check actual availability.

Tasking modes per product

Within the tasking section of each product, the priorities array lists the service tiers available (e.g. standard, rush) along with their pricing and scheduling lead times. If you are unsure which priority to use, choose the one with the lowest scheduling_priority value — this is typically the standard tier.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my organisation ID? Your organisation ID is a numeric identifier associated with your DataCosmos account. Contact the DataCosmos help desk if you are unsure what it is.

My organisation has multiple contracts — which should I use? Use the contract where "default_contract": true unless you have been advised otherwise. If you are unsure, contact Open Cosmos support.

A tasking mode I expect to have is showing as false — what should I do? Contact Open Cosmos support to check whether your contract needs to be updated.

I cannot see a satellite I expect to have access to in contract_products. Contact Open Cosmos support. Access to specific satellites is configured at the contract level.

Where to next

← Credits | Policies API Reference →