THETIDA partners created this video to drive you through the Living Labs methodology.

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 “If you want to reach out about Science and Space topics outside your community, Art is a wonderful place where to do that.”

Andreas Bauer (Ars Electronica)

On the 26^th of January, the first episode of Eurisy’s Member’s Corner of 2024 has been co-organised with the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and Ars Electronica Centre of Linz.

During the webinar, the speakers explored the powerful synergy between Art and Earth Observation, introducing initiatives at the intersection between the cultural creative sector at large, and space. The partners also provided an extensive overview of the current educational activities in Austria poised to inspire and motivate the young generations into STEAM education.

From FFG, Konstanze Fila, Earth Observation Expert and Head of Summer School Alpbach, together with Thomas Geist, Head of Earth Observation Department and Copernicus contact point introduced the Agency, and its role in strengthening research and innovation primarily in the country.

As part of FFG, the Aeronautics and Space Agency (ALR), has the function of the national space agency, represents Austria on international aerospace fora, including ESA, EUMETSAT, etc. and implements the Austrian Space Application Programme (ASAP), among others.

Today, the growth of the Austrian space ecosystem is guided by the Austrian Space Strategy 2030+, developed by the Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology back in 2021. The The strategy, eloquently titled “People, Climate, Economy: Space is for everyone” it addresses six main domains:

• Sustainable development on Earth, aimed at demonstrating the potential of space technologies and their applications to support the global sustainability, UN 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but also sustainability in Space, as the increased use of space on Earth requires a thorough focus also on the space sustainability. Specific attention is thus devoted to space traffic management and collision avoidance, as well as the implementation of UN guidelines for long-term sustainability of Outer Space.
• Competitive Space Sector, another key pillar of the strategy is related to the development of measures to boost the local space value chain creating high-skilled jobs.
• Scientific excellence for Space and Earth exploration. The last three goals, which focus more on the social perspective, are intended to support the universal use of space data and capabilities as an integral part of everyday life.

From the goal Space for all areas of life, an important attention is also given on the Talents and diversity for Space, intended to spark the interest of the younger generation for space and STEM disciplines, and enable a Space dialogue with the population, focusing on the importance to develop a strategy that would lead to a well-informed public on the crucial role space technologies have in the daily lives.

FFG is also the national entity responsible for the management of the ESERO Office Austria. ESERO is the ESA umbrella initiative for the development of science and technology related projects, engaging both students of different grades and level as well as teachers.

ESERO AUSTRIA WEBSITE 

The Climate Detective project allow schools across Europe to identify a climate-related problem and investigate it using satellite images and on-site measurements. Other activities are more focused on technology capacity building like CanSat, where teams are tasked to build a satellite the size of a drinking can, or the AstroPI challenge, where students are given the possibility to run their codes on the ISS.

FFG also presented the Summer School Alpbach, an opportunity for 60 engineering and science students of ESA countries to participate in a ten-day learning experience in the village of Alpbach in the beautiful Austrian Alps.

Participants will be engaged in an in-depth learning experience, attending stimulating lectures on relevant aspects of space science and engineering, and working intensely within four groups to define and design a space mission under the supervision of experts. An exciting opportunity for students to be exposed to a range of space topics, as well as to develop a team-working spirit and to share a unique experience with other young space enthusiasts.

This year’s topic will be Giant Planets and their Moons.

Identified as the first scientific theme in ESA’s new long-term scientific plan (Voyage 2050) for large missions, the moons in the outer Solar System, but also their host gas and ice giant planets are of the highest interest for the understanding of our own planetary system, representing for this reason an exciting and challenging topic for this year’s Summer School.

The application process is now open!

Check out the website to learn about the participation criteria and other relevant information.

With Andreas Bauer, responsible for organizational operations and cooperation with partners and international institutions at Ars Electronica, we explored the Centre’s vision and ambitions for the future, as well as the educational activities it supports.

Founded as a festival in 1979, Ars Electronica, is an Austrian cultural, educational, and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, focused on the interlinkages between art, technology, and society, it hosts today roughly 170.000 visitors per year.

ARS ELECTRONICA DEEP SPACE 8K Exhibition

Ars Electronica presented the exhibition “Beyond the Satellite- CORINNA Copernicus for Research and Innovation in Austria”, an interactive exhibit showcasing the beauty of our planet captured by the images of Copernicus.

Developed by Manuela Gruber, art mediator, exhibition developer, and curator, at Ars Electronica, in collaboration with FFG and the European Commission, the exhibition explores innovative ideas to spark curiosity about space in the general public.

The art installation, designed as a multiscreen setup shows different “data windows” and enables the audience to interact with it.

Showcased for the first time in September 2023 during the Ars Electronica festival, and later at the FFG Forum in Vienna, and at the Big Data from Space 2023: BIDS Conference in Vienna.

“The plan was to show the beauty of satellites in a public space […] People don’t know about the aesthetics of satellite imagery: the question was- how can we combine showing the beauty of aesthetics and provide also information?”

 Manuela Gruber

The main ambition is to bring the exhibit into new public spaces, from railways stations to airports, to connect even more people with EO and space.

An example of the cultural initiatives let by ARS Electronica, is KOMETOR.

Originally developed by Manfred and Billa Hebenstreit back in 2010, KOMETOR is a walk-in sculpture made of pentagons hosting exhibitions, events, and an 8m high Sky Dome, build to catapult visitors into an art cosmos of colours and sounds.

Manuela Gruber has been also the curator of “Theme Cosmos – New Worlds” an experience accompanying visitors into a journey from micro to macro cosmos, discovering nature of the universe from different perspectives.

The project showcases microscopic imagery of common objects and create an aesthetics path, juxtaposing macro images of the Cosmos from ESA satellites and telescopes. The similarities are designed to explicit universal interconnections.

Andreas Bauer also presented an example of the education activities supported, and showcased how teachers can engage with their students using EO and satellites. The example was an experiment based on an exposure procedure which uses an ultraviolet sensitive liquid to recreate images on paper using a negative copy of a satellite image.

“At Ars Electronica we believe you have to take a different approach in order to attract a new target which is outside of your group zone.”

Andreas Bauer.

This Member’s Corner aimed to showcase how visual arts and innovative educational activities can unlock the mysteries of data and make complex scientific concepts accessible and engaging for diverse audiences.

As stated by Andreas Bauer, “Art not only educates, but also sparks curiosity, inviting individuals to delve deeper into the variety of topics that Earth Observation can contribute to.”

The multidisciplinary aspect of Space was in the spotlight, emphasizing how this domain, which might look like the realm of scientists from the outside, is inherently present in so many other disciplines and realities. From this viewpoint, the creative sector was presented as a powerful domain where innovative interconnections between Art and Space can be developed, which could be the key to a change in perspectives, helping people understand the importance of Space in their daily lives.

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner!

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At the time, planes could patrol isolated across the sea for hundreds of miles, equipped with traditional navigation systems (maps and a compass) and radio frequencies to guide them back. On their way back from a mission, the American pilots of the B-24 Liberator were unaware that Seville used a frequency very close to the one of their Squadron, which was eventually picked by the aircraft. As a result, the crew of the B-bomber ended up flying towards the Iberian Peninsula instead of the location they were meant to reach in Morocco. Due to bad weather, turbulence and poor visibility, the crew attempted a beach landing and crashed instead into the sea. When the landing gear struck the waves, the aircraft overturned and broke apart, killing five of the eleven crew members. The survivors were found and rescued by three fishermen, Jaime Nunes, Manuel Nunes and José Mascarenhas. Despite the difficult conditions, the 5-meter fishing boat and its seafarers made it to the shore…

Click here to discover more about the B-24 Liberator and the THETIDA project!

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The primary objective of the network is to foster collaboration and coordination among various stakeholders in EO-related capacity building. With the aim to make training and tools more accessible, share knowledge, and promote best practices, the entity strives to increase the use of Earth observation data in decision-making processes related to climate change and disaster management.

Its founding members comprise representatives from key space and weather agencies, along with their respective capacity-building divisions. These include the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Education and Training Programme, the joint WMO-Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) Virtual Laboratory for Training & Education in Satellite Meteorology, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and its Earth Observation-related initiatives, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and its Capacity Development Working Group, as well as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and its Working Group on Capacity Building and Data Democracy.

The idea of cooperation between members emerged from the need to eliminate duplication of efforts, leverage existing resources, and fill gaps in EO capacity building. By working together, the network envisages to increase collective impact and outreach.

In doing so, EOTEC DevNet takes a unique approach: working through a global task team and four regional communities of practice, the network serves as a centralized hub connecting stakeholders from national and regional institutions to global organizations. Such architecture is designed to fill gaps, leverage existing resources, and promote best practices, thereby creating a more efficient and effective ecosystem for Earth observation and capacity building.

The products offered by the network are specifically conceived to address the capacity-building needs in the field of Earth observation related to climate change and disaster management. A range of tools and resources are developed in collaboration with partners and members with the goal of making Earth observation data more accessible and actionable. These include training calendars, use cases, webinar recordings, and specialized tool trackers like the Floods Tool tracker. Each of these products addresses distinct needs, from skill development to decision-making support, thereby contributing to the overall capacity building in Earth observation.

The target audience of the EOTECDevNet includes capacity development managers, trainers, educators, and professionals, as well as subject matter experts with a focus on EO-related capacity building. Additionally, the objective lies in connecting with decision-makers and end-users who stand to benefit from Earth observation data in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals, climate change mitigation, and disaster risk reduction.

Capacity-building tools for Disaster Risk Reduction

A carefully curated suite of capacity-building tools for Disaster Risk Reduction aimed at harnessing the power of Earth observation encompasses Flood Tools Tracker (a comprehensive database of existing flood management tools and associated training materials), use cases, specialized training opportunities, and webinar recordings focused on flood monitoring.

Additionally, the process of establishing a drought working group that will develop capacity-building tools to facilitate easier access to EO tools and resources is in progress. These resources are frequently developed in partnership with EOTEC DevNet members and partners, all with the goal of delivering actionable insights and effective solutions for disaster management.

Benefits of joining the network

By joining EOTEC DevNet, members can connect with global and regional experts, access specialized resources, influence training priorities in their region, and find opportunities for collaboration and partnership.

Interested organizations can easily get in touch with the Secretariat by visiting the official website or reaching out via social media (Twitter or LinkedIn). One of the most direct ways to engage is by joining one of the Communities of Practice, which are organized across four regions (Africa, Americas, Asia&Oceania, and Europe), or by participating in our thematic working groups (Floods or Drought, Climate adaptation in development). This provides a platform for active collaboration, knowledge sharing, and setting regional training priorities.

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Spatial Data for Biodiversity 

“The idea for this hackathon came about through our project on mapping multiple stressors on land and sea (MOLAS) where we were dealing with many data sets representing stress factors for biodiverstity in different ecosystems in the Netherlands”, says Jenny Lazebnik, Researcher at Wageningen Environment Research and one of the organisers of the event. “Data about stressors can often come from on-site or satellite data for example changes in land use, fragmentation, tourism, water levels, temperature and particulate concentrations. These can be paired with species observations to better help us understand how many stressors simultaneously impact biodiversity”.

The Hackathon was intended to use as many available spatial datasets as possible to understand the impact of cumulative stressors in three different case study areas – the North Sea, the Wadden Sea and the Veluwe. In some of these areas the main pressures detected were nitrogen deposition, fragmentation, pollution, as well as tourism.  

“Our goal was to see how professionals can use these data from observation and citizen science in order to share some insights into the risks for biodiversity. The challenge of the Hackathon was to combine three different pillars – map, data and user interface – in one final product”, explains Kim Regnery, one of the Hackathon participants. 

Representatives from Deltares, Wageningen Marine, the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) took the floor to illustrate innovative solutions addressing the data needs for biodiversity. “A lot of satellite data is available as open data through the Copernicus programme, we provide insights into where this data can be found. We also demonstrated how the Satellite data portal of the Netherlands can be used and made this data available”,  explains Coco Antonissen, Programme Manager Space Applications at NSO. “One of the goals of NSO is to stimulate the use of satellite data, and we believe that a Hackathon like this really boosts its use”. For NSO, such events help stimulate the use of satellite data for important societal challenges, including biodiversity.

The teams were invited to participate in team building activities: drafting the social contract which would rule their work in the following days. Ice-breaking games were also used to encourage participants to talk regardless the team they were in. A sense of community rose from this exercise, despite the ongoing spirit of competition.

The afternoon was punctuated by work sessions and breaks, snacks and meals that were built into the programme of Akoesticum, a beautiful venue that also provided the participants with their own rooms to sleep. Although it was a short night, the teams were treated with an early breakfast on the final day.

On the second day of the Hackathon, the teams presented their solutions to the jury and the participants during a pitching session. The teams offered different solutions designed to facilitate decision-making processes on monitoring and preserving biodiversity with the help of spatial data and AI. These presented pitches and the teams themselves were very diverse:

1. The Fallowship: Stressors for biodiversity

Fallow, an English synonym for Veluwe region in the Netherland, was taken as a basis for the team name. This team developed a tool to visualise the factors that impact on biodiversity in the Veluwe case study area. The tool provides a visualisation of relationship between biodiversity (species density) and stressors (climate, management, land use…) with an underlying data-driven relationship model. “This information can be used by policymakers and ecologists to make the effect of stressors visible”, pitched Chiel Bakkeren, the spokesperson of the team.

2. HKV NIOS – Team ShellVision

How do you detect mussel beds in the North Sea? The team from engineering firm HKV trained an AI model to detect mussel beds on aerial photographs, which would simplify data collection in the future. The team addressed the challenge of how to map shellfish more efficiently, quantify hydrodynamic stressors and predict sea level rises.  

“Our goal was to make an optimal use of the data, by combining an AI model and a physical model to see the effects of the abiotic stressors on the mussels’ beds in the Wadden Sea. With our solution, we can get the location of the mussels’ beds which economise time for on-site explorations”. 

The team identified 2 stressors: exposure time and waves sizes. The effects of waves, storms and air exposure during low tide were recognised as particularly important factors. Animation produced by ShellVision demonstrated how sea level rise will have a negative impact. This team also developed a way to model the impact of waves and the directions from which most waves come.  

3. Komorebi – XR-based Digital Twin Systems for Biodiversity Enhancement

This team’s name means: “the light flowing through the trees”, developed a product that can visualise changes in the ecosystems with a virtual reality (VR) set and produced a scenario analysis service. The international Komorebi team sees opportunities to develop an extended reality “digital twin” based on everything that is known about an ecosystem. The aim is to model different ecosystems and thus visualise everything an ecosystem provides in terms of services. One can also use such a digital likeness of an ecosystem to test whether interventions will have a positive effect in the real world. In his presentation, Carlota Buznego spoke enthusiastically about the opportunities VR offers to make area development transparent. What does an increase in nitrogen, a decrease in biodiversity look like? With this model, one can generate pictures of different outcomes based on projected stress effects or on proposed interventions on an ecosystem or a landscape.

4. Habitat Hackers – Wadden Sea

The Habitat Hackers team elaborated predictive biodiversity maps based on deep-learning algorithm, made available to everyone through a dedicated website. Their solution demonstrates how AI can help with understanding dynamic areas such as the Wadden Sea. For example, it helps answering the question of what the effects of ferry moving on the route to Ameland would be. The impact of this change can be visualised by the model.  

“We are using sentinel data, but also data from the field, gathered by researchers who make measurements and combine all this in one dataset to answer different questions. The end product that we are making is the website that has a tool embedded in it, based on an AI model that generates biodiversity maps depending on the user’s enquiry”.  

5. The Pack – Multiple biodiversity stressors in the Veluwe

Land use, climate change and nitrogen emissions impact biodiversity in the Veluwe. How do these three problems affect different target species? The team combined data on different species and their preferences with a deep-learning algorithm that goes to work with the input and creates a map of where to expect these target species under the preset variables.  

By the time jury retired to deliberate, participants were invited to take part in an artistic and interactive performance based on the sounds of nature and biodiversity, and the disruption caused by stressors. This was an excellent way for the teams to relax after stressful hours, while still connect with biodiversity, just from another point of view.  

For the awarding ceremony, StartHub organised and sponsored a Public Award, allowing participants to vote for their favourite solution. The results of the ceremony were as follows:  

• Public Award was granted to ShellVision, who presented a solution developed to preserve oysters and seashells in the Waddensea.  

• 2nd Prize went to Komorebi, with their solution to visualise changes in the ecosystems and provide for a scenario analysis service in the Veluwe.  

• 1st Prize was granted to the Habitat Hackers team who produced predictive biodiversity maps based on deep-learning algorithm for the Waddensea. 

In the aftermath of the Hackathon, both the organizers and the participants noted that it was a perfect opportunity for networking, connecting people in an innovative environment with a spirit of healthy competition. Many of them took inspiration to organize and participate in similar events in the future, perceiving a hackathon as an incubator for new ideas.  

About the organisers 

The Hackathon was a result of collaboration between several partners. Wageningen University and Research, with its mission to realize high quality and sustainable green living environment; StartHub Wageningen, an incubator and educator for students, PhD and recent graduates of Wageningen University and Research; Deltares, an independent knowledge institute, working on innovative solutions in the fields of water and subsurface; and the Netherlands Space Office, the space agency of the government of Netherlands. The organization of the event was supported by Eurisy.

Dive into the atmosphere of innovation yourself by watching the video from the Hackathon:

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What is GEO?

The Group on Earth observations (GEO) is a global partnership of organisations from the public and private sectors, academia, civil society, citizens, and the UN system, who work together to realise a single vision, a vision where information about the Earth powers decisions for the benefit of humankind and the Planet.

What does GEO do for Civil society?

Civil society is a key link in the value chain that brings information about the Earth to decision makers, especially local communities. 

Earth intelligence integrates information about the Earth with information on the human, social and cultural contexts of places to deliver actionable information to decision makers. Today, we have an abundance of data and new technologies to quickly generate analytics. Civil society is one of the key stakeholders that need that intelligence to improve their programmes inside local communities.

What is the Global Atlas?

The new GEO strategy that is under development and will be presented in November 2023, aims to deliver Earth intelligence to local communities.

New programmes are also under development to enable GEO’s future strategy. The Global Ecosystems Atlas is a new collaborative initiative of GEO to create a living map of the Planet’s ecosystems that can be consulted by everyone to support all kind of activities and decisions to enhance the sustainability of our nature and livelihoods.

GEO and the Space Agencies

Space agencies are an integral part of the work and success of GEO since its creation, providing critical data to enable the solutions GEO work on.

Over the years, the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites has worked with GEO to look at how space technologies can power more timely and detailed applications to ensure the sustainability of our Planet.

Today, the partnership between GEO and space agencies is particularly relevant, as new data, sensors and capabilities are enabling unprecedented opportunities to offer insights about the complex systems of the Earth.

Yana’s story

To conclude the interview, we asked Yana to tell us more about herself. Born and raised in Armenia, in the early years of her career Yana worked in humanitarian aid in her own country.

To be part of the effort to give a new beginning to those who had gone through suffering and despair, made her realise she wanted to work with people, especially people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Yana engaged in GEO motivated by the strong belief that we shall use  information about the Earth to power decisions.

“Our survival depends on our ability to make decisions about how we go with our days, with an understanding and appreciation of the environment in which we live”.

To know more about GEO, visit: https://earthobservations.org/index.php

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Climate change results in increasingly frequent water scarcity and drought. The protection of water resources is one of the cornerstones of Europe’s environmental policy. The European space data stream provides multiple opportunities to make our water use more efficient. This fourth thematic session of “Space 4 Critical Infrastructures”, held on November 24th, showcased examples such as mapping water infrastructure and detecting underground leakages.

Managing the access to public water resources

Andrea Aliscioni, Director of Metropolitana Milanese, an Italian public entity managing access to public water and handling the treatment and disposal of waste water, highlighted how Sentinel-1 data are used to support the management and maintenance of the public sewerage network in Milano.

MM it is not new to the integration of cutting-edge technologies to optimise to increase the performance of the services delivered to their partners. Already in 2018 the company through satellite based solutions could provide accurate data to the Municipality of Milano to address more efficiently disturbances in the water distribution grid. The original service is better described in a video realised under the Copernicus4regions Initiative. Mr Aliscioni, during the session referred to the complex underground infrastructure of the sewerage network in Milan with large sewer pipes with an extent of approximately 1560km. The company to deliver an effective service would need a continuous and hence permanent monitoring of water and wastewater networks and other structural issues. Rheticus® the digital platform developed by Planetek Italia, and enabled by Sentinel-1 data, detects monthly subsidence over the city including roads and pipes. Mr. Aliscioni pointed out that this has been a pioneering solution and attracted the attention of other regions, such as Emilia Romagna. The solution has been updated to a higher UML 5.

Protection of water resources

Representatives of the private sector shared their use cases on drinking water and wastewater explaining why satellite solutions reinforce the protection of water resources. Mr Enrico Schiesaro, the market development manager of Neptune Srl-Cosmic Water Leaks, presented its space-based solution for identifying water leakages on any type of pipeline and distribution networks. Mr Schiesaro showed some figures on the yearly water losses in Europe accounting for 32% of the total. In Italy alone on a total amount of about 9.5M m3 of water introduced in the system, only 4.5M m3 is the final amount reaching our taps, with a 52.6% of losses on the distribution grid. Nonetheless, the replacement of the whole system would be extremely expensive, thus unsustainable for small municipalities and not always effective. Therefore, specialised operators used traditional solutions, such as the acoustic method to check the network. However, this method presented several limitations especially on the allocation of resources both economic and human. By combining nuclear physics applied to soil moisture with new methods including satellite data and analysis, it is possible to detect leakages with high accuracy. Installing a cosmic rays detector on a moving vehicle enabled to dynamically map the water leaks. Discussing with the panel, he outlined that commercialisation of innovative space technologies is today the frontier and the challenges at the same time. However, int his specific case, the company being a Cosmic’s spin-off, could benefit from an established network of interested parties, smoothing the way towards a viable and profitable service.

Monitoring water facilities

Remote sensing specialists, Mr. Damien Barache from L3Harris Geospatial solutions and Ms Giulia Tessari from SARMAP SA.Water_Infrastructures, presented an operational Sentinel-1 monitoring system for a water facility in Hungary. Continuous monitoring of a country’s aging water distribution infrastructure became a crucial issue in the last years. Mr. Barache highlighted that the ENVI SARscape solution developed by SARMAP supports Sentinel-1 products by taking the data from hard-to-interpret numbers and turning it into meaningful, contextual information. Ms Tessari described the time-effective service outlining that InSAR applications allow retrieving small displacements and the temporal evolution of the deformation rates over sensitive infrastructures, such as pipelines. Regarding the uptake of this technical solution addressed to organisations, such as ministries, Ms Tessari responded that the solution is tailor-made to the customer’s needs including the provision of software and training sessions. In conclusion, all agreed that the final user should be part of the solution.

Watch the full recordings here.

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The webinar on energy and transport, organised on the 27^th October 2022, showcased that both sectors are inherently linked to critical infrastructure. Moreover, satellite solutions for the maintenance and monitoring of road and railway infrastructure, as well as for the safe transport and distribution of energy, support the green and digital transition endorsed by the EU political agenda.

Enhancing the protection of critical infrastructure

Lukas Mandl, Member of the European Parliament, shadow rapporteur for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), and rapporteur for the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the European Parliament, reported on behalf of the Committee of Foreign Affairs for LIBE on the proposed EU Directive on the resilience of critical entities. In this respect, he identified the scope  of the Directive by referring to both physical and digital infrastructure, which are interconnected. Following his amendments, the Directive  also includes the protection of food supply chains, a crucial topic for Europe, especially in light of the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

MEP Mandl underlined that the need to enhance  the protection and security of critical entities is made more pressing by global challenges such as the pandemic hybrid warfare, and the growing number of cyberattacks in businesses and administrations both at regional and local levels. These challenges make it imperative to grow  trust towards our state systems and the structure of the European Union.

Energy and railroad monitoring

Representatives of the private sector shared their experience of use of satellite data to enhance the protection and resilience of critical entities in the energy and transport sectors.  Antoine Half is the co-founder of Kayrros, a leading energy and environmental geo-analytics company that helps traders, investors, operators and governments to take better decisions.

The company uses satellite imagery (including Copernicus data), artificial intelligence and geolocation devices to shed light on the status and the dynamics of the energy market and its impacts on climate. In addition, it relies on satellite imagery to assess prices and stocks of liquefied natural gas.

To improve railroad monitoring, the company developed a platform that uses satellite data to track the wildfire risk around the world. Currently, Kayrros is partnering with the French railroad network to monitor and identify wildfire risks nearby the railroad.

Securing distributed renewable energy sources

Albert David Lewandowski is the CEO of Magellanic Space, a cybersecurity startup which provides a zero-trust blockchain-based platform to secure communication within Internet of Things and build trusted Earth Observation data to provide safe, autonomous systems. The company mainly works in the fields of space assets, energy, defence, and automotive.

Mr Lewandowski identifies cybersecurity as a critical challenge for the energy sector, the two main weaknesses being the software ecosystem in which many companies operate and the possible connection gaps, and social engineering attacks. To help companies face such challenges, Magellanic Space detects and prevents malicious behaviours by using satellite data.

Indeed, Space technology (Copernicus and Galileo services in particular) can provide solutions to major threats, including software complex supply chain, access management, systems interoperability, and the existence of large-scale dynamic infrastructure. Earth observation data can be used for providing a high-level overview of infrastructure, while the Galileo geolocation system can be used for running drones to monitor the area. Mr. Lewandowski also showed how satellite data enables them to secure the distribution of oil and energy on a large scale.

The threat of cybersecurity

During the debate, the challenge of cybersecurity in energy and transport was particularly highlighted. Mr Lewandowski mentioned that Europe is prepared to face this challenge, but that we need to keep in mind that this is a constant fight, requiring the fast implementation of solutions and applications. Mr Halff emphasised that, despite the significant steps taken by the industry to prepare for cyberattacks, these continue to happen at both the European and global levels, and it is therefore crucial to have real-time information on infrastructure.

MEP Mandl added that the European approach to security is valid, given the creation of many standards. However, regarding security and business opportunities there is a need for raising awareness and strengthening confidence in governments, especially in light of the current geopolitical situation and the increasing influence of new global players, such as China.

The webinar was moderated by Margarita Chrysaki, NEREUS Communication and Project officer, and it had more than 100 registered participants.

Don’t forget to register for our next Space 4 Critical Infrastructure webinar on the 24^th of November, this with a focus on Drinking Water & Wastewater.

Watch the full recordings here.

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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.

The post Eurisy Members’ Corner: Focus on the German Aerospace Center appeared first on Eurisy.

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

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