By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
The European Space Agency
(ESA) has signed two new contracts with ICEYE and Leonardo to drive studies
into the architecture of Europe’s future Earth Observation Governmental Service
(EOGS).
The contracts were signed by
Simonetta Cheli, Director of ESA Earth Observation Programmes and Head of
ESRIN, during the World Space Business Week in Paris. ICEYE and Leonardo will
lead two European industrial consortia undertaking parallel studies to define
options for the future EOGS architecture.
The studies form part of
ESA’s new Earth Observation Responsive Services for Europe (ERS-EO) programme,
which is funded by the European Commission and is focused on developing
capabilities that can respond to evolving European needs.
The two consortia will
examine the full EOGS value chain, covering the space segment, ground
infrastructure, data processing and distribution.
EOGS is being developed to
provide secure, reliable and timely Earth Observation information to support
European security, defence and crisis response, while also strengthening
resilience and strategic autonomy.
According to ESA, the two
contracts represent an early milestone in determining the architecture and
technological foundations of the future service and are expected to contribute
to the development of independent European capabilities.
The parallel studies will
provide options for how the future EOGS system could be structured and how its
various technological and operational components could work together.
Cheli said she looked
forward to the outcomes of the studies next year, as ESA and its European
partners continue efforts to establish the foundations for the future Earth
Observation governmental capability.
