There is now a body of evidence to indicate that coupling occurs between the lithosphere–atmosphere–ionosphere prior to earthquake events. Nevertheless the physics of these phenomena and the possibilities of their use as part of an earthquake early warning system remain poorly understood. Proposed here is a programme to create a much greater understanding in this area through the deployment of a dedicated space asset along with coordinated ground stations, modelling and the creation of a highly accessible database. The space element would comprise 2 co-orbiting spacecraft (TwinSat) involving a microsatellite and a nanosatellite, each including a suite of science instruments appropriate to this study. Over a mission duration of 3 years ∼ 400 earthquakes in the range 6–6.9 on the Richter scale would be ‘observed’. Such a programme is a prerequisite for an effective earthquake early warning system.