The eyes of European satellites on phase 3

Automobiles produced by a factory in Germany and planes in transit at Barcelona airport, up to traffic on the streets and changes in air quality: every aspect of the recovery after the lockdown imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic is followed by eyes of satellites that, with the help of artificial intelligence,

transform data and images into useful information to manage the reopening and have an economic recovery dimension in phase 3. It is possible thanks to the European interactive platform Race (Rapid action coronavirus Earth observation), presented in the online conference organized by the Copernicus program, managed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA).

"Satellites allow us to observe the situation on the ground in real time, feeling the pulse of the Planet," said ESA's Director of Earth Observation programs, Josef Aschbacher, who announced his "intention to intensify the cooperation and data exchange with the space agencies of the United States and Japan, NASA and Jaxa. "

The satellites that are controlling the economic recovery are those of Copernicus, or the Sentinels of the Earth who thanks to their instruments are able to measure the quality of air and water, making the comparison during and after the lockdown; they can monitor the recovery of economic activities by observing the trend of agricultural and industrial production, or by controlling the traffic of goods in airports and ports.

These data are then analyzed thanks to the Race platform, born from the collaboration of 26 countries and 21 industrial partners. There are 127 areas of interest for which the interactive platform guarantees real-time access to environmental, economic and social indicators. "The goal is to measure the impact of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the recovery after the reopening of economic activities," explained Pierre Delsaux, deputy director general for industry, defense and space of the European Commission.

"Race is an example of space as a tool of resilience against the pandemic. The platform - he added - will allow to monitor in real time the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, allowing political decision-makers to establish where and how to intervene".

In the Race platform there is also an Italian contribution thanks to Leonardo, who through e-Geos (Telespazio-Italian Space Agency, ASI) provides access to very high resolution radar images of critical infrastructures. These are the images obtained from the constellation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites born from an agreement between ASI and the Ministry of Defense. The e-GEOS company also provides Race with access to the Cleos platform of satellite data and information, to perform large-scale processing, build and test artificial intelligence models and develop applications.