The Belgian edition of the workshop has been particularly timely, coming as Belgium will take over presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to June of 2024. Belgium itself has recently faced a series of disaster events linked to the increasing threat of climate change. In July 2021, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany were struck by flooding, with much of the Wallon region affected. The flooding led to the deaths of 43 people in Belgium and caused approximately €3 billion in damages in what Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden called “one of the greatest natural disasters our country has ever known”. In just a month before the workshop, Belgium would activate the Rapid Mapping component of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) as flooding struck the multiple locations West Flanders region. Here the CEMS supported response efforts, using space data from the European Union’s Copernicus programme to provide delineation of the flood extent over vast swathes of area quickly, and in a clear, accessible manner for responders and decision-makers.

Delineation map produced by CEMS during flooding in Liege, Belgium on 17 July 2021. Image taken from CEMS.

A high-level policy panel opened the workshop with Frank Monteny, Director General of Research and Space at BELSPO encouraging participants to engage in continuous multidisciplinary dialogue to highlight current capabilities, promote integration within services, and ensure services and capabilities meet the expectations and challenges of a diverse range of stakeholders. Christoph Kautz, Director for Satellite Navigation and Earth Observation in DGDEFIS of the European Commission, highlighted the EU Space Programme’s capabilities towards disaster risk management, including CEMS, and the upcoming Galileo Emergency Warning Satellite Service. The three pillars of the EU Space Programme were further elaborated by EUSPA Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa, as a mission to exploit, secure, and foster space use for European citizens’ well-being, emphasising user engagement as a core activity. Finally, Dominique Tilmans, Eurisy President, stressed the imperative to inform decision-makers about the potential of satellite technologies to address natural disasters, particularly in the context of Belgium’s specific vulnerabilities.

The EU Space Programme supports a range of services overseen by EUSPA utilising data from Earth Observation, Navigation, and Communications satellites. Copernicus enables the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), providing risk and recovery mapping as well as a rapid mapping service to authorised users during disaster events. The CEMS has become increasingly necessary due to increased climate-related events, and so increasingly utilised, with 2023 one of the busiest for the service in its 11 years of operations. The Galileo programme is supporting two burgeoning services saving lives, the ever-improving Search and Rescue (SAR) component as well as the upcoming Early Warning Satellite Service (EWSS). Where SAR allows localisation and increasingly sophisticated communications from emergency beacons to first responders using the Galileo satellites, the EWSS enables governments to provide early warning messages to citizens based on their devices’ precise location, even if terrestrial networks are damaged or inoperable. For the EU’s increasing involvement in satellite communications, they have built the requirements of the GOVSATCOM service for secure government satellite communications on the basis of end-user needs and use case analyses through the ENTRUSTED network project. By providing and supporting a centralised hub for governments to access a shared pool of secure communications services during crisis situations, the EU can facilitate a quicker, more efficient and cost-effective response, ultimately saving lives.

The EU Space Programme Activities. Image taken from presentation of Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of EUSPA.

Within Belgium’s growing space sector is an array of downstream service providers, new and established, developing applications utilising satellite data to help monitor and tackle the set of risks Belgium faces from disasters and emergencies. During the workshop six service providers demonstrated their satellite-based solutions supporting disaster risk management.

Jose Torres of Telespazio BE presented their efforts for using space data to address disasters and decarbonization, focusing on their Space Acting for Decarbonisation (SA4D) providing real-time analysis and simulation to mitigate flood risks in urban areas. VITO presented TerraFlood, using Copernicus Sentinel-1 imagery to map floods. Sentinel-1 provides Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery, which is not affected by cloud cover and reflects water in specific, identifiable ways, enabling them to image and map flooding extent. SAR can also be used to analyse ground displacement, important for monitoring areas at risk of landslides or earthquakes. SpaceBel, represented by Romy Schlögel, showed how SAR interferometry, where two satellite images taken of the same place from different points in the sky, can enable time-series monitoring of ground movement supporting the evaluation of earthquakes and enabling continuous remote monitoring of critical infrastructure. Another innovative use of SAR satellite data was given by Serge Habraken, a professor at the University of Liege, for mapping wildfire damage, particularly useful in remote areas where satellites are the only such monitoring available. What is really being measured, Habraken explained, is the loss of information between satellite images, showing a scene change on the ground that may be due to human activities, vegetation changes, fire damages, or flooding.

Mohammed Iranmanesh of ConstellR discussed the company’s daily land surface temperature data service using high-resolution satellite imagery, using the infrared part of the spectrum rather than the optical segment which is visible to our eyes. Infrared can detect changes on plant health, in particular water stresses, up to weeks before visual images, allowing users to take corrective or remedial action earlier before potential issues from draughts or infestations cause serious impacts. One of the more visible natural disaster risks, volcanos, can create risks to aeroplanes when they erupt, generating great plumes of smoke and ash hundreds of kilometres high and wide. Nicolas Clerbaux from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium introduced the NAMSAT project to monitor volcanoes and wildfires using satellite data, with a focus on early volcano eruption detection to protect aviation. Last but not least, Jean Emmanuel Roty from AerospaceLab, founded in Belgium in 2018, presented their four satellite services for disaster management, emphasising the need for sensor diversity for effective crisis response.

On reflecting on how to best connect with decision makers and societal end users to provide a service based on their needs, the panellists discussed how to bridge the gap between, on the one hand, the highly technical data from satellites and knowledge needed to interpret it, and on the other, decision makers and end users, who are most concerned with what benefits satellite data can bring and how they can implement the insights it  produces. Some suggestions focused on supplying decision-makers and end users’ knowledge on the range of use cases of satellite technologies in their own area of expertise, as well as how to interpret satellite data depending on their specific contexts. Others took a different approach, Jurgen Everaerts of VITO, one of the largest providers of satellite services in Belgium argued that “nobody should be looking at satellite data at all”. Rather service providers should focus on providing user-based advice using satellite imagery, turning data into actionable insights andguidance.

Annalisa Donati, Eurisy Secretary General, showcasing Eurisy’s success stories database.

It was then the turn of a selection of Belgian end-users themselves, to discuss how they have implemented satellite data in their work and lessons they have gained from this. With over 30 years of experience connecting service providers with end-user communities, Eurisy’s Secretary General Annalisa Donati provided a segue on the association’s work on this. One of the ways Eurisy accomplishes this is through building and maintaining the largest database in Europe of success stories where satellite technology has been implemented to solve a particular challenge. One example provided was using land cover mapping to monitor and prevent flooding in Wallonia, where the local public authority had gained a better understanding through satellite data which areas were more at risk of flooding.

Belgium’s disaster management system, BE-Alert, currently utilises various alert channels, including SMS and an internet presence. One of the challenges they highlighted was Belgians multilingualism, especially in Brussels which hosts a large international community, as well as the administrative complexity of Belgians high number of municipalities. Because of these, and other possible benefits, they are exploring possibilities of the Galileo Early Warning Satellite System, which provides alerts based on the devices location in 25 languages depending on the devices’ preference.

The Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences (ISSEP) provides an important link between authorities and space applications. Benjamin Palmaerts from the ISSEP discussed the institute’s integration of EO data in environmental monitoring services, collaborating with public institutions and industry in Wallonia. One such project FLOWS aims to incorporate EO, AI, and user-generated data for flood prevention and crisis management, integrating these into a single product highlighting particularly vulnerable populations and facilities alongside damage assessments.

Whereas the evidence Earth’s tumultuous past on display at the Institute of Natural Sciences provides a reminder on the fragile nature of life on our planet, so too should the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disaster events serve as a clear warning on the future of humankind, and our impact on our environment. The consequences of climate change will continue to reveal themselves at growing human and economic costs to society. Satellite-based services, like those demonstrated at the event, can provide crucial support in preventing, preparing, responding to, and recovering from disaster events. Increasing understanding and dialogue between service providers, end users, and decision-makers on the needs, benefits, and experiences to overcome the challenges of implementing satellite applications is a continuous but necessary process to protecting and saving lives in Belgium and beyond.

The workshop, Satellite-based Services for Disaster Risk Management”, was the Slovakian national edition of a series of workshops aimed at highlighting the potential of satellite applications during different phases of disaster risk management. Stakeholders dealing with the management of natural hazards shared their needs and experiences with the space community to streamline the process of integrating satellite-based services in disaster risk management. The workshop was organised by EUSPA, in collaboration with Eurisy and the Slovak Space Office, of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO).

Slovakia, like all countries, faces growing risks of disasters from extreme weather events linked to climate change. In particular, Slovakia is naturally vulnerable to flooding from heavy rainfall events impacting the network of rivers running through the country. Extreme heat can amplify these events, and also create severe impacts in themselves. Flooding, combined with extreme heat, and the possibility of seismic activity in the region creates land displacement risks, such as landslides.

Map showing flooded areas (in light blue) in Bratislava during a flood event in 2020. Image taken from CEMS

Disaster response is made particularly difficult by Slovakia’s, hilly terrain, which is often densely forested. This makes access by first responders more difficult, and if terrestrial infrastructure is impacted by a disaster event, can make monitoring events, assessing damages, communicating with residents, and coordinating between emergency responders far more challenging, if not impossible. It is here where satellites can play an important role, as demonstrated by a range of service providers during the workshop.

“Space based data and services are providing solutions to the challenges we face nowadays. Satellite data enables efficient mapping and monitoring of the Earth’s resources, ecosystems, and events. These data ensure safety and security of our citizens, economies and society as well.” – Head of the Slovak Space Office Ms. Jana Rovňanová

Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of EUSPA, presents the range of components and capabilities of the EU Space Programme.

Thanks to the EU Space Programme, Europeans now have access to satellite data from Earth Observation through the Copernicus programme and its space component of Sentinel missions, navigation through the Galileo, including its Search and Rescue component, as well as satellite communications, of which GOVSATCOM provides authorised public entities with secure satellite communications capabilities. These individual programmes provide the greatest impact in disaster risk management when used in combination with each other. According to Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of EUSPA, “Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, and GOVSATCOM are powerful tools individually, but an exponential achievement is reached when used in synergy. The Emergency Management and Disaster Response sector is one of the key sectors where this synergy is saving lives”.

EUSPA also offers a range of opportunities for entrepreneurs, including various funding initiatives, in order to foster innovation in using satellite data. A key cornerstone of EUSPA’s activities also includes the co-creation of solutions by establishing links with end-users, such as through ENTRUSTED network for GOVSATCOM presented by Flavio Sbardellati, Space Downstream Market Officer at EUSPA. By integrating end-users in the design process allows for a more efficient and effective definition of requirement and prioritisation of needs.

Applications of the EU Space Programme for Disaster Risk Management, taken from the presentation by Flavio Sbardellati

In transforming raw data from satellites into actionable insights and valuable advice for policy and decision makers, Slovakia hosts a healthy and growing ecosystem of companies developing solutions related to disaster risk management. Representatives from InSar.sk, YMS Slovakia, Kajo Services, Abmerit, the International Security and Emergency Management Institute (ISEMI), and MicroStep demonstrated their cutting-edge company’s services, offering a variety of perspectives on the capabilities of space data to support across all phases of the disaster risk management cycle.

Among the topics explored by services providers included using satellite-data for forest monitoring and management, which when done effectively can also support as a flood mitigation measure, radiological monitoring of agricultural areas around nuclear sites, improving public procurement for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and using satellites to enable sandstorm forecasting and thunderstorm “nowcasting”.

One of the key issues raised by many presenters was the need to integrate satellite data both with other forms of measurement, specifically in-situ data, but also with innovative processing and analysis methods, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Others meanwhile, highlighted the benefits of increased harmonisation and standardisation of risk assessment practices and processes.

yDecision, as presented by Radovan Hilbert of YMS Slovakia, enables decision-support by combining and analysing multiple types of data, providing clear risk profiles and insights.

In response to the workshop, Michal Brichta, Director of Slovak Space Office – Industry Branch, stated “The dynamically growing Slovak space ecosystem already includes a broad variety of companies using satellite data to build innovative solutions for the disaster risk management domain. We are glad that this event provided them with a unique opportunity to present their solutions to potential buyers and engage in productive expert discussion.”

In parallel to the event, a survey has been distributed to Slovakian end-users to better understand their experiences, challenges, and needs in using satellite services for disaster risk management. The survey in particular seeks to understand what the main benefits are as well as challenges for different kinds of end-users in implementing satellite-based solutions. If you are a Slovakian end-user interested in the potential of satellite-based services, you can fill in the survey here.

The results of this survey as well as the detailed findings from the workshop will be presented in an upcoming report by Eurisy.

All the presentations of the speakers are currently available at the event page on the Agenda. 

Jens Goeree: “Before and during the hackathon I did not think about the chance of winning something. My main focus or goal for this event was to increase my knowledge in programming, remote sensing and GIS. Besides that, I wanted to make connections with other participants and organizers alike”. Among his motivations to join the challenge Jens named his interest in exploring the broader utilization of datasets in the particular field of biodiversity.

Carlota Buznego: “I decided to participate because my background mixes both of the topics included in the hackathon, environmental studies and geoinformation. It was a great opportunity to meet people from my field, learn things from each other and take a challenge”.

Working within a team of new people Jens considered to be an asset: “The main reason is that when you collaborate with a team of familiar individuals, there’s a tendency to stay within your comfort zone. As a result, the group tends to adhere to familiar practices and established teamwork dynamics.” Elaborating further, he explained that his team exhibited a diverse range of backgrounds: “In the initial phase, reaching a consensus on the model we aimed to create presented some challenges. However, once we established a shared vision, our varied experiences harmoniously contributed to the development of a solution”.

In contrast, Carlota described working with people who she never met before as a challenge: “Some teams knew each other before and they had a common goal for the hackathon, I think, in that case, for us, it was a drawback. We used some time to get to know each other and to focus on a common goal”. She however admitted that for someone who came to work individually like her, meeting new people was an asset: “The people in my team had expertise that was completely different from the ones of people I have worked with before and therefore, meeting them and working together made the experience richer as well as the outcome”.

We asked Jens and Carlota to explain the solution their teams have developed to the general public. “As a team, we developed a deep learning model to predict bivalve abundance zones in the Wadden Sea. This model holds potential for assisting policymakers in making informed decisions about establishing new shipping routes that would minimize impact on these zones. Policymakers also have the option to train the model with their own data for tailored predictions”, elaborated Jens. Jens explained that they used multiple raster datasets that were made available to them during the Hackathon. He enumerated the following (environmental) datasets that they used to train the model: sentinel-2, bathymetry, salinity, median grain size, silt content and exposure time. “For prediction we used the abundance dataset. The abundance dataset contains point measurements of the amount of bivalve individuals per square meter within the study region part of the Wadden Sea”.

Carlota presented their solution as a “integration of open data from the natural park into a digital twin whose characteristics and changes can be visualized via IR.Carlota specified that her team used open data from the open data portal of the Netherlands together with satellite imagery and data from Copernicus.

Reflecting on the take-aways from the event, Carlota concluded: “I gained contacts and met amazing people. I also gained insight into the state of the art and initiatives around the geoinformation and environmental aspects”.  Jens was also pleasantly surprised: “Personally, I would say that it was better than I expected! The overall atmosphere was good and everyone was in it to learn something from each other. Furthermore, everything was arranged (food and drinks, workspaces for the groups, accommodations). This made it possible for all of us to focus on the challenge”, shared Jens.

Not everyone is yet aware of the added value that satellite data can have to better prepare societies to the effects of climate change. The Netherlands Space Office supports companies willing to develop solutions that respond to the emerging needs of public bodies by exploiting data captured by satellites.

In this webinar, four companies benefitting from the NSO innovation programme presented products using satellite data to prevent and manage congestions on the electricity grid, to monitor the health of urban trees, to better prepare to floods, and to support agroforestry.

This first episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series of 2023 was designed by Ms Coco Antonissen, Advisor for Satellite Applications at the Netherlands Space Office (NSO).

The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) stimulates the use of satellite-based data in civil society by advising the government (for example on how to procure or implement services based on satellite data), by facilitating access to data (e.g. through a data portal that can be accessed for free by Dutch entities), and by supporting the government and the industry to carry out innovation projects.

The Dutch ecosystem includes numerous private companies. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) financing scheme is conceived to support the government to identify their information needs that could be filled with satellite data and to stimulate innovation in small businesses.

The SBIR scheme is structured in three phases, from dialogue with public bodies in order to identify their needs, to the feasibility assessment, the demonstration, and commercialisation of satellite-based services that respond to the needs identified.

The four companies sharing their experience within our webinar are currently in the third phase of this path, the commercialisation stage.

The first to present its services, represented by Ties van der Heijden, was HKV Lijn in Water. The company is demonstrating a solution aimed at anticipating congestions in the electricity grid, a challenge that could become a reality in a context of energy scarcity and global warming.

The “RayCast” system uses Earth observation data from satellites made available by the NSO to forecast cloud movements and improve their estimations of solar irradiance.

Currently, HKV is validating the forecasts realised with this system with actual grid data, and is contacting regional grid operators to make them aware of the solution. After completion of the validation phase, the first operational version of their product interface will be online by June 2023.

The product will allow operators to be better prepared to congestion imbalances on the electricity grids by knowing which parts of the grid will be overloaded in order to perform targeted interventions. Moreover, it would improve forecasts for solar energy producers, hence contributing to the energy transition in the Netherlands.

The effects of climate change will be particularly felt in cities, where extreme heat is increasingly common in summer, and heavy rains can cause severe damage to people and properties, as happened in central Europe in the summer of 2021.

Greeneries, and trees in particular, can be precious allies to make cities more resilient to heat and floods, in addition to contributing to increasing social well-being and health.

Cobra Groeninzicht, represented by Dirk Voets, is using the EO data made available within the SBIR scheme to better predict the effects of climate change on single trees in cities. Satellite data are used in this product to calculate the heat stress risk of the vegetation according to the vegetation type, and to estimate the water stress and the salinity of the soil.

The results are maps of the climate stress risk of the vegetation in a city that can help civil servants to identify the best areas to plant additional trees, and that at the same time allow for predictions of what will happen if no more trees are planted in an area.

For this system, the company uses high resolution data from satellites that allow them to assess the health status of single trees.

In the city of Helmond, where the system is being tested on publicly-owned trees, every single tree is mapped. The maps allow for the recognition of species for most of them, and for the identification of young trees.

This is important information for cities to preserve their green capital and adapt to the new challenges posed by climate change.  Civil servants can access forecasts on the status of each tree and decide on the interventions to be made, while citizens could exploit the data to take action in their own gardens.

The catastrophic effects of floods on human lives and assets have become alarming worldwide, making it urgent for national and local governments to improve their flood prediction systems.

Numerous Dutch municipalities and water boards are contributing to the perfectioning of the third solution showcased in this webinar, presented by Bob Ammerlaan from Weather Impact. This company  exploits satellite-based data to improve extreme precipitation and flood risk forecasting.

Since 2019, they work with the Meteorological Institute of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water to improve forecasts of extreme precipitations in the Netherlands.

Weather Impact worked to increase the resolution of the information provided by the system already in place to reach a local scale and completed a first project in 2020. Nevertheless, the dashboard did not distinguish extreme precipitations from floods and contained too much information for emergency operators.

Within the SBIR funding scheme, satellite data, together with data from other numerous sources, was used to feed an algorithm that allows for fast flood forecasts and alerts.

Currently, to continue improving the product, ten Dutch governmental institutions, three municipalities, six water boards, and four regions are further testing it, with the intention of increasing its resolution, functionalities, and usability, and of including additional data sources by next year.

The last project to be showcased in the webinar, CarboCatch, developed by Space4Good in collaboration with the Louis Bolk Institute, was presented by Thijs Oosterhuis.

CarboCatch aims at facilitating the carbon credit market among farmers and industry, while supporting the government to plan future developments in agroforestry.

The Dutch Climate Agreement foresees to increase agroforestry in the country from the current 1.000 ha up to 30.000 ha by 2030. Agroforestry integrates pasture or crops with trees and shrubs on the same plot of land, which increases soil health, biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

While farmers are expected to reduce their carbon production, the industry is seeking to buy carbon credits from them. At the same time, public institutions need information to better plan agroforestry developments.

To provide data useful for all these actors while stimulating agroforestry practices, Carbocatch uses EO data and artificial intelligence (AI) to verify the biomass and carbon stocks and the potential carbon sequestration on specific plots.

The information is provided via maps on a dashboard including advice on which agroforestry practices are more suitable for specific plots.

We look forward to knowing how these products will further evolve and to talk about their operational uses and concrete benefits in the near future.

To know more about the activities of the NSO visit: https://www.spaceoffice.nl/en/

The presentations of the webinar are available here:

• How the NSO supports the development of EO-based solutions for climate adaption and mitigation, Coco Antonissen, Netherlands Space office
• Space-based solar irradiance nowcasting to manage traffic on the electricity grid, Ties van der Heijden, HKV Lijn in Water
• FutureTrees: Predicting the future of urban trees and their ecosystem benefits, Dirk Voets, Cobra Groeninzicht
• Extreme precipitation and flood risk forecasting, Bob Ammerlaan, Weather Impact
• Carbocatch – Bringing agroforestry home, Thijs Oosterhuis, Space4Good

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/zHWceDhJNb4

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Beyond Centre of EO Research & Satellite Remote Sensing on the 26th of May 2023 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

Satellite technology and its applications represent an effective tool to favour the achievement of this goal.  Satellites offer reliable, objective, and accurate information on soil, air, water, and vegetation, comparable over time.  The data provided supports decision-makers in taking informed decisions and implement sustainable adaptation and mitigation strategies. Despite many operational examples they are still not regularly integrated among users’ internal workflows.   

To offer practical examples of possible satellite-based applications for the protection and restoration of biodiversity, Eurisy and the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) organised the two-day workshop “e-shape solutions: Earth Observation for biodiversity and water management”. Organised in the framework of the Horizon2020 project e-shape, the workshop took place on February 14th and 15th in The Hague (NL). It involved European and national institutional representatives, researchers, and commercial actors. The objective was to showcase the EO-based pilot solutions developed with and for actual users and to exchange with them on their further monitoring needs as well as the current challenges faced for uptake.  

Harm van de Wetering, NSO Director, in its opening remarks, stressed the need for co-designed solutions. Impactful satellite applications are developed when service providers and end-users collaborate to understand needs and tackle obstacles.

Annalisa Donati, Secretary General of Eurisy, in her presentation emphasised the role that satellite applications have for our society and Eurisy’s mission to generate awareness around them. In particular, Eurisy strives to advocate for the benefits of a wider uptake of space data by users in different sectors, also by collaborating with sector experts. Eurisy and Euphresco have joined efforts to develop the policy brief “Fostering the use of satellite remote sensing to support plant health surveillance activities” to promote the operational use of satellite remote sensing to detect, monitor and combat plant pests, thus protecting a fundamental part of our biodiversity.

Delegates from the Dutch the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management illustrated to the audience the state of play of national policies revolving around the monitoring, management and planning of actions highlighting the further needs to cope with more stringent regulations. E-shape pilots demonstrated how European capabilities are already able to provide key and timely information.

Mr Gianluigi Baldesi from the European Space Agency Commercialisation Gateway reaffirmed its commitment to accompany these endeavours from innovative research to viable commercial ventures and to support them in their further growth. The new Scale Up Programme conferred at the last ESA Ministerial Conference in November 2022 has been presented in all its components. Other ESA funding opportunities specifically in the field of biodiversity protection and water management have been presented by Mr Davide Coppola, Head of Applications of the ESA Telecommunications & Integrated Applications Directorate (TIA) and complemented by national funding schemes.  

The workshop has also been the opportunity to showcase EO market trends and future perspectives. Emmanuel Pajot, Secretary General of EARSC, the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies, described a sector currently totalling €1.61 b Revenues in 2021 (latest data available) and counting 12085 employees across Europe. A sector that is poised to grow in the future both in terms of revenues and jobs.   

The event programme and the presentations are available on the dedicated workshop page.  

Read here the interview to Ms. Coco Antonissen, Eurisy Council member and Advisor Satellite Applications at the Netherlands Space Office (NSO), and to Ms. Annalisa Donati, Eurisy Secretary General. 

24 February 2023, MCST Esplora Science Centre, Kalkara, Malta

With 81 participants, including numerous representatives of the Maltese administration, academia and private sector, the e-shape workshop hosted on the 24^th of February 2023 by the Malta Council for Science and Technology reached its goal to gather local stakeholders to discuss how to integrate the use of EO data to face climate change and better manage urban areas.

Hosted in the MCST Esplora Science Centre in Kalkara, the workshop included the participation of Silvio Scerri, CEO at the MCST, of Hon. Keith Azzopardi Tanti, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Education of Malta, and of Reinhard Blasi, from the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA).

According to the words of Hon. Azzopardi Tanti, despite the numerous benefits that satellite Earth observation (EO) and satellite applications in general can deliver to a large range of communities, these solutions are still considered as technology demonstrators rather than as critical components of seamless information streams.

He also stressed the commitment of the Maltese Government to increase awareness of the possibilities offered by the space sector at large to enhance innovation and effectiveness of public administrations, create new business and increase skills and job opportunities in the country.

The workshop turned out to be a vibrant forum to showcase and discuss solutions developed within the e-shape project. The solutions presented rely on satellite Earth observation data to provide sub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts nearby touristic sites in the Mediterranean area, improve visibility underwater for divers, and monitor fishing activities.

European service providers also presented solutions based on EO that provide climate projections to European cities, and data to better understand the global carbon cycle or to better plan and exploit solar energy installations.

The presentations and the recordings of the workshop are now available. Click HERE to access them.

The World Settlement Footprint provides five products that monitor the changing dynamics of urban areas. Such products help policy makers to take informed decisions to make cities more sustainable and resilient to future changes. The WSF combines satellite Earth observation with machine learning and information and telecommunication technologies to provide assessments and predictions, and even to enable participatory platforms to collect and share information on urban settlements.

The 7^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was conducted by Dr Thomas Esch, Senior Scientist and leader of the “Smart Cities and Spatial Development” team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

83% of cities are highly vulnerable to disaster-related mortality and the number of people living in urban areas is constantly increasing. Sustainable and resilient management of our cities is of key importance for our future. The World Settlement Footprint Initiative developed by DLR wants to exploit Earth observation to provide up-to-date and area-wide insights into the status and the dynamics of the built environment.

Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 multispectral images, open and free, are the core of the WSF information system, that has the ambition of providing free services.

In addition to the information provided daily by satellites, the platform includes data generated by social media and volunteered geographic information, like OpenStreetMap.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence allow scientists at DLR to organise the data collected and to turn it into actionable information for policy makers, scientists and the industry.

The World Settlement Footprint initiative includes five products, or data layers.

The WSF is the first they created in 2015 and updated in 2019, a binary settlement map of the globe indicating where settlements are and how they interrelate with each other. The product is based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. It provides very precise information on the settlements’ extent on the entire Earth.

WSF visualisation of settlements in the Bavarian area of Germany based on a Sentinel-2 image and processed by an algorithm.

The second product considers the amount of impervious surface to locate the settlements. Created in 2019, it is based on WSF and Sentinel-2 images and it provides an insight into the density of built areas within cities.

WSF Imperviousness in Laos. Here, different satellite images collected over a period of time have been analysed with the support of machine learning to mask the clouds on the final image. The product shows indexes, like the built-up areas (in red), the vegetation index (in green) and the water index (in blue).

The third product developed by DLR, WSF Population, uses satellite data and statistical data on population to provide information on the distribution of people in a certain area. These products have been used on several occasions by entities such as the World Bank, that asked them to estimate the number of people exposed to natural hazards on the whole African continent.

WSF Population showing the distribution of population in Cape Town. White areas are industrial complexes where no population is estimated.

WSF Evolution shows changes of the built-up area and trends over time. Developed in collaboration with Google, the product shows where settlements are growing and how fast.

WSF evolution allows to distinguish planned urban development from more spontaneous urban growth globally. It also allows to measure indicator 11.3.1 “Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate” of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.  Indeed, a city is supposed to be more sustainable if the settlements’ growth is higher than the population’s growth.

By combining the data on settlements’ growth coming from WSF evolution with population data provided by the UN, the experts of DLR were able to find out that in cities in low-income countries, settlements grow faster than the population, while in cities in high-income countries, buildings tend to appear at a slower pace than new inhabitants.

Evolution of settlements’ extent in Cairo from 1985 to 2015 based on Landsat satellite images from that period. The colours — from red (before 1985) to violet (2015) — indicate the years in which the buildings appeared.

The products of the World Settlement Footprint are continuously evolving. Currently, building up on the WSF Evolution, WSF Imperviousness is being fed with Landsat images from 1985 that allow for the assessment of the evolution of the impervious surface over time, while also indicating population density.

In the future, Dr Esch’s team wishes to integrate such analyses with population data, as they did for the International Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, where they mapped the distribution of the population from 2015 to 2020.

Evolution of impervious surface over population density in Gaza between 1995 and 2015.

Most population modelling activities are still made in 2D. The last product of the WSF initiative, WSF 3D, also includes information on the height of the buildings in the settlements mapped, which allows to estimate population density much more precisely.

The algorithm of the WSF 3D product estimates the location of the centres of cities based on buildings’ volume.

In the main graph: the height of buildings in Paris. Even though it is still not possible to calculate the height of each building, the algorithm of WSF 3D allowed scientists at DLR to find out that cities in high-income countries tend to concentrate high buildings in the city centre, while these are more equally distributed in the neighbourhoods of cities of low-income countries.

These data have a great potential to support decision making, especially when integrated within thematic applications. Among current activities, DLR is running the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform project, funded by the European Space Agency. On the platform users can generate information on demand by selecting their area and time of interest. The platform also provides other data, like population data, that can be combined to produce statistics.

The World Settlement Footprint intiative’s products are largerly used for evidence-based policy advice and decision support (e.g., by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) and for knowledge and technology transfer (more than a thousand institutions use the WSF products).

Nevertheless, also local authorities can use such data if they have a geographic information system (GIS). In addition, the WSF can also provide data in the form of statistics or Excel tables that can be used also by municipalise without a GIS. At the moment, the DLR team is also working on technologies to transfer information machine-to-machine for users who can’t store large datasets.

To know more about the activities of DLR visit: https://www.dlr.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

The presentation of the webinar is available here: 20221104_EurisyMembersCorner_DLR-TEsch (2)

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/R08Rq6DUAVI

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) on the 16th of December 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

As the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office intends to leverage on international opportunities to boost the development and use of space-based services locally.

After the Members’ Corner webinar organised on the issue of space-based services for the transport sector in May 2022, the Slovak Space Office hosted a new webinar of the series, this time focused on their activities to stimulate the use of satellite data and services to build sustainable cities and communities.

Despite being a relatively small country, Slovakia has a vibrant space ecosystem, including private space tech companies, R&D institutions, and companies operating in spin-in technologies (such as electronics and ITC).

After becoming the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office prepares to select new additional programmes within the organisation, and to leverage on its fast-growing downstream ecosystem to stimulate the participation of local entities to Horizon Europe projects.

Michal Brichta, leading the Industry Branch of the Slovak Space Office, introduced the audience to the activities and the mission of the newly established national space agency, created one year ago by merging the Space Policy Unit of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and the Space Industry Unit of the Investment and Trade Development Agency of Slovakia (SARIO).

The SSO currently supports 20 project partnerships, resulting from inter-institutional as well as international cooperations. Both locally and internationally, the SSO also supports discussions on the democratisation of space, working to ensure that all countries and all people can benefit from space research and applications.

Furthermore, the SSO operates to raise the awareness of such benefits of private and public entities, and to build skills for the future generations.

To this end, the SSO organises the “Emerging Space” staple event, which next edition will be held on May 3^rd 2023, and it has been hosting a Cassini Hackathon in 2021. In November 2022, the SSO will also contribute to ActInSpace, an international innovation contest uniting over 100 cities across 50 countries, open to everyone.

For this 6^th webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series, the Slovak Space office selected three examples of use of satellite data to increase quality of life in urban aeras.

The first example was presented by Alex Kutka, from Gospace Tech s.r.o. Initially focused on upstream space activities, since 2016 Gospace made its mission to “bring rocket science into urban challenges”.

Since then, the company developed a smart parking solution and a smart hydrometeorological station monitoring system, both using data from satellites.

This second service was developed to enable city authorities to intervene rapidly in the event of a rise of the Danube River in Bratislava. The system allows for the automatic monitoring of water levels and it includes a mobile app that alerts authorities and citizens via email and SMS.

The system is based on a small sensor (match.com), the size of a cup of tea, connected through a wireless satellite connection and equipped with a battery that can last for at least 5 years. Thanks to the satellite connection, the measurements of the sensor can be communicated to a control unit over a distance up to 700 kilometres.

This system allows for the monitoring of water pumps, water reservoirs, waste waters, and river levels also in remote locations, and even underground.

Gospace’s portfolio of customers includes the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the Bratislava Water Company and the Slovak Water Management Company.

Following the presentation of the services of Gospace, the webinar showcased the experience of the University of Prešov (UNIPO) using satellite data to come up with innovative urban solutions based on citizen science.

Since 2020, Mr Miloslav Michalko is one of the two mentors of a group of self-organised students who are passionate about the potential of crowd mapping. The group is part of an international community of humanitarian mappers, that got inspired by the role played by satellites to enable mapping and post-disaster intervention in Haiti in 2010.

At UNIPO, they acknowledge the power of the crowds to use satellite imagery to map roads, trails, cafes, train stations and much more around the world, as it happens in OpenStreetMap (OSM) under an open license.

In 2022, the UNIPO team won a citython co-funded by the European Union with the “Green Parking Smart Surrounding” app. Since temperatures in cities are increasing, the team wanted to provide people with an app allowing to monitor temperatures in parking areas and to take measures to cool down the air there.

The app relies on satellite data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat to identify the hot spots. Based on the analysis of the data, the team proposed measures to cool the air around parking spots, for example by adding natural shadowing and installing solar panels, which potential output is also calculated by using satellite data.

The app wants to use citizen science as a way to actively engage people in data collection and mapping. In this sense, Citythons are not only a means to come up with new solutions, but also an occasion to train the young generation on the potential of satellite imagery to design, implement and monitor policies to make cities more liveable and sustainable.

Finally, Mr Matus Bakon presented some of the products developed by INSAR s.r.o. to monitor urban infrastructure with the support of satellites.

The stability of buildings in urban areas is threatened by events like landslides and earthquakes and collecting in-situ measurements to better prevent and manage damage is often expensive and time-consuming for local authorities.

The app developed by INSAR provides visual alerts on the conditions of roads, rails and infrastructure.

The application relies on satellite INSAR data and provides guidance to urban decision-makers in a number of cities, for example in New Delhi, in India, but also in Slovakia, where the company provides data useful to prevent and understand damage to buildings caused by undermining.

The use of satellite data allows customers to limit ground inspections and to have an historical overview of soil movements over a vast area.

Urban planners, but also companies and citizens can easily identify areas where soil movements could endanger infrastructure and buildings, verify conflicting uses of the urban space, and plan interventions (e.g. renovation works).

The solution is particularly interesting for local governments, providers of smart cities solutions, infrastructure operators, and assets managers.

To know more about the activities of the Slovak Space Office visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

Presentations:

Michal Brichta, Slovak Space Office

Satellite technologies for smart cities and sustainable communities in Slovakia

Alex Kutka, Gospace Tech s.r.o.

Internet of Things: solutions for connecting in-situ measurements and satellites

Miloslav Michalko, University of Presov

From satellite data to smart solutions for cities: Experience with Citythons

Matus Bakon, INSAR s.r.o.

Satellite data as a critical asset for urban infrastructure monitoring

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the World Settlement Footprint initiative on the 4th of November 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET !

To register: https://bit.ly/3eJfuZy

Focusing on concrete needs and empowering local administrations are the foundational elements of the strategy of the Malta Council for Science and Technology to develop a competitive space sector.

Dr Michael Quinton, working on Space Engagement & Programmes at the MCST, opened this new episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series by introducing the Malta Space Research Fund, created with the support of the European Space Agency in 2018. Malta is not yet a PECS (Plan for European Cooperating States) member of  the European Space Agency, but conversations are ongoing to join the Plan, possibly by 2024. In the meanwhile, the country cooperates with ESA though mechanisms such as the Space Research Fund.

The Fund aims at providing economic and technical support for the development of space-based services that tackle societal challenges and encourages cooperation between public, private and academic institutions.

In 2018, the strong Maltese ICT sector was identified as the basis to build upon to develop a space sector in the country and since then 14 space-based services have been financed through the Space Research Fund. These serve as a knowledge base and are meant to encourage more research and investments into the downstream space sector.

Not only the Fund provides financial support, but also offers training to Maltese entities interested in exploiting the potential of Earth observation to apply for European funding.

The ambition of the Space Research Fund is to serve as a catalyst: more research in the use of EO favours the growth of the sector, which encourages the government to invest more and to make more funds available. This results in an increasing number of local entities becoming interested in EO, and in more support being provided by ESA to sustain this virtuous cycle.

In January 2022, the MCST drafted a National Space Strategy based on five pillars: attracting foreign and direct investors that will allow local companies, also not involved in the space sector, to approach this market; boosting the development of innovative uses of EO; implementing trainings for local administrations and local people; developing a legal framework for space activities; and eventually favouring the commercialisation of the space-based products and services developed in Malta.

Projects can be funded up to 150.000 euros with a duration of 20 months. At the end of the first stage of 12 months, a technical and financial reports are evaluated by experts. The second stage of eight months includes local dissemination of deliverables and the showcase of the results of the projects.

Since 2018, 14 projects have been selected through the Space Research Fund. These are related to diverse topics, all relevant to the Maltese economy, environment and society.

Among such projects, SIPOBED “Satellite Investigation to study POcket BEach Dynamics”, uses EO to study the dynamics of pocket beaches, i.e. small beaches that are isolated between two headlands.

The project, presented by Sebastiano D’Amico from the University of Malta, looks at the overall beach dynamics, both underwater and inland.

Malta is characterised by rocky and sandy beaches. In this project, satellite imagery is used to study the bathymetry (i.e. to measure the depth of the water) of sandy beaches, while drones and other techniques are used to validate the information provided by satellites. The goal of such project is to measure the volume of the sediments, to define a sediment transport model, and to eventually design planning tools to be used by coastal managers.

The system will be used on all pocket beaches in Malta, allowing for the monitoring of sediment transportation with centimetre accuracy. Furthermore, it will enable scientists to also spot other geological features that could influence the stability of the coast, such as soil displacements and earthquakes.

The project, that started over a year ago now, will provide Maltese authorities with information that they can use to proactively protect pocket beaches against coastal erosion.

Indeed, during the second year, the project will implement trainings for the coastal authorities to get acquainted with the GIS (Geographic Information System) produced, and will present a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to public authorities and other stakeholders.

Mr D’Amico also presented the Coastal SAGE project “Coastal Satellite-Assisted Governance (tools, techniques, models) for Erosion”, implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital projects of Malta.

This project focuses on coastal erosion on rocky beaches. EO is used in combination with Artificial Intelligence to monitor with millimetric precision ground motion that could cause rocks to fall near the beaches. The final goal of the project is to deliver to coastal authorities the information they need to prevent damage to people and properties.

On the six testbeds, SAR data from Sentinel-1 satellites allow scientists to know exactly how the ground moves. By combining satellite data with in-situ observations and socio-economic data, the project will produce a risk assessment and monitoring tool to develop a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to be presented to public authorities and stakeholders. After completion of the project, the Ministry of Transport will be immediately able to use the plan to prevent the risks associated with coastal erosion around rocky beaches.

On another topic, the “Satellite4Health” project aims at forecasting the number of hospital admissions and the length of patients’ stay in hospitals, and at understanding the impact of weather and air pollution on the spread of diseases.

The project, implemented by a multidisciplinary team, was presented by Dr Lalit Garg from the University of Malta.

Satellite imagery is analysed to measure and monitor weather variables influencing public health, to assess the impacts of such variables on hospitals, and to finally develop a tool to forecast the number of admissions in the hospitals and the length of patients’ stay.

Weather data are collected through satellites (mainly Sentinel-3) and weather ground stations, while hospital data are collected directly from the Mater Dei Hospital and the Directorate for Health Information & Research (DHIR).

The system will allow to foresee the number of hospitals’ admissions and the length of patients’ stay based on weather data. This information will be disseminated through a mobile app that will alert users of events that can impact public health, such as sandstorms.

To know more about the activities of the MCST visit: https://mcst.gov.mt/

The presentations of the webinar are below:

SIPOBED Tha Malta Space Research Fund Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

SIPOBED

Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

Satellite4Health – Eurisy Presentation

The recordings can be accessed here.

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Slovak Space Office (SSO) on the 21th of October 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET. To register: https://bit.ly/3dc3Aa8

Space applications can transform the maritime domains, by providing data and information that will foster a sustainable blue economy, and help protecting the ocean and preserving its resources. CNES wants to be at the forefront of the creation of a global “Sea & Space” strategy that federates public and private stakeholders to put science at the service of society.

The 4^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was animated by Ariel Fucks, heading the maritime strategy of the Connect by CNES programme.

Mr Fucks virtually participated from Lisbon, on the last day of the UN Ocean Conference, this year dedicated to the theme “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions.”

Following the directions of the French government, CNES works with public and private actors to implement innovation strategies in some key sectors of the national economy. These include the monitoring and protection of the environment, the promotion of smart mobility and of a sustainable agriculture, and the strengthening of maritime activities that preserve the natural environment, among others.

To reach out to organisations outside the space sector, CNES has launched the Connect-by-CNES programme, which aims to open up the potential of space technologies and solutions to the entire national economy.

Targeted stakeholders represent a varied ecosystem, including ministries, public administrations at the national, regional and local levels, start-ups and SMEs, large industrial groups, research centres, innovation hubs, and civil society organisations.

At the international level, CNES collaborates on programmes aimed at enhancing the use of space applications with a number of organisations, including European institutions, other national governments (such as the USA, Singapore, India, and Australia), and international organisations.

The Space Climate Observatory is an international initiative proposed by France in 2019 to support the emergence of operational tools for climate monitoring, mitigation and adaptation, addressed to decision-makers and the wide public. CNES is the entity in charge of implementing the SCO in France and of inspiring the implementation of similar models in other countries.

The SCO France is managed by a committee made up of 22 French public entities operating in the field of climate action, including the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.

To use scientific advancements to monitor and protect the seas and the ocean, CNES has a strategy based on four pillars: smart routing, maritime surveillance, port management, and ecosystem surveillance.

Smart routing is today flourishing, with a lot of efforts being put into the development of next generation automated navigation systems. These not only rely on satellite navigation for positioning, but also on satellite remote sensing for data on sea currents, weather, and winds, to allow sailors to choose the routes that will require the least amount of energy.

Watch the video by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data made by a French SME to reduce the carbon footprint of ships:

Maritime surveillance is profiting from scientific advancements to better monitor protected areas and fight illegal fishing, which represents a major threat to biodiversity and to the economic sustainability of fishery. Images from satellites and data collected through in-situ observations (geolocated thanks to satellite navigation) provide a big amount of reliable information on the status of our seas and environments. Coastal authorities rely on satellite navigation to monitor illegal fishery, while new apps are being created that use data from satellite imagery to know where to fish and satellite navigation signals to track the position of fishermen at sea.

Port management concerns the monitoring of vessels’ movements, for which satellite navigation systems are already widely used, and the monitoring of pollution.

Interactions between the environment and human activities can also be assessed and monitored by using satellite data. As an example, satellites provide data useful to capture and monitor environmental parameters within and around ports, which can be particularly useful during port infrastructure works.

Watch the video realised by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data during the enlargement works in the harbour of Port-la-Nouvelle, in southern France:

CNES has a continuous dialogue with public and private organisations in the maritime domains on ways to foster the development and use of services based on satellite data and signals.

Collaboration with external entities is key for CNES to decide on its strategic orientations, to understand the needs of public and private organisations operating in the maritime sector that could benefit from satellite-based data and signals, and to create common endeavours for the development of services more and more adapted to the operational needs of those working in sectors linked to the seas and the oceans.

The Copernicus Earth observation programme plays a major role in enabling such collaborations, providing a huge amount of free and open data that we can use to monitor the oceans.

Mercator Ocean, the entity currently in charge of implementing the Copernicus Marine Monitoring Service has recently become international, to better serve the needs of the EC for data providing and data processing, also in view of the implementation of the digital twin of the ocean, a scientific tool that is really meant to meet concrete needs of actors operating in the maritime domains.

In this context, Eurisy participates to the consortium implementing the Iliad project (Integrated digital framework for comprehensive maritime data and information services), that aims to establish an interoperable, data-intensive, and cost-effective Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO).

Freshly returned from the Euromaritime congress held in Marseille on 28-30 June, where Eurisy and CNES coorganised a roundtable on space solutions for a sustainable Blue Economy, Alessandra Vernile, from the Eurisy secretariat, confirmed the clear interest of the French space community to activate scientific discoveries to the profit of the maritime sector, and of the great interest of the maritime community towards satellite applications tracking ships and containers.

Several examples of how satellite data can sustain the blue economy while contributing to safeguarding the oceans can be found in the new edition of the Eurisy periodical publication Satellites Going Local dedicated to the maritime domains.

If you are in Paris, you might be interested in attending the 1ʳᵉ edition of the “Assises du NewSpace”, taking place on July 7 and 8 at Station F. The event has the dual objective of establishing a state of the art of the NewSpace market in France, and of drawing together growth prospects to structure and consolidate a French NewSpace, in view of promoting it internationally within five years.

To know more about the activities of CNES visit: https://cnes.fr/en

The presentation of the webinar is available here: Presentation-ConnectbyCNES eurisy

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) on the 16th of September 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET.