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Cheli (ESA), Earth Observation a driving force for recovery

2022-01-04T15:25:32.166Z


A new major project in Italy unprecedented in Europe, which with the funding of over a billion, promises to be a driving force for the economy, and then new challenges to understand climate change and protect forests and oceans: it is experiencing a moment of d ' Earth Observation, with its satellites and the resulting services. (HANDLE)


A new major project in Italy unprecedented in Europe, which with the funding of over a billion, promises to be a driving force for the economy, and then new challenges to understand climate change and protect forests and oceans: it is experiencing a moment of d ' Earth Observation, with its satellites and the resulting services. "The role that space in general and Earth Observation in particular is assuming is increasingly strategic", Simonetta Cheli, head of the Directorate of the European Space Agency (ESA) for Earth Observation based in Italy, in the ESRIN center located in Frascati (Rome).



"The climate crisis, the COP 26 decisions, the European Green Deal, the Fit to 55 plan, the increase in natural disasters with 170 billion estimated damage for 2021, make us understand how Earth Observation satellites are essential tools ", notes Cheli. From this point of view, collaboration is essential: "ESA is already working with the European Commission on the Copernicus program and this collaboration will have to be even more intensified in the coming years to ensure maximum use of the available data and with new ideas for products and services ". This is how the new generation of Sentinel satellites, called Sentinel Expansion, is being prepared, and the Destiny project is being worked on, aimed at using large volumes of data to create digital models of the planet,cooperation between ESA and the European Commission is expected to be further strengthened, as well as with organizations such as Eumetsat, which manages the European network of meteorological satellites, and the European Center for Medium-Term Meteorological Forecasts (ECMWF). "We will also have to work with industry, promote access to capital for those who have new ideas related to space and marketing", adds Cheli.adds Cheli.adds Cheli.



In Italy, ESA, with Esrin, is also directly involved in the design and construction of a new system for Earth Observation, financed with over one billion euros as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr ). "Italy will be the first, and for now the only, European nation to develop such a system. The Italian government, in the person of the Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition Vittorio Colao, has entrusted its technical support for the implementation at ESA, which - Cheli specifies - will make use of the contribution of the Italian Space Agency and other national institutions. The system will be implemented by Italian companies ". For Cheli, the project "does not only have the objective of developing utility servicespublic, but to stimulate economic recovery by promoting, for example, the creation of jobs and the birth of small businesses ".



Meanwhile, we are also looking to a more distant future, with the next scientific and operational satellites of ESA.

The 16 currently in operation provide very important data on winds, ice, oceans, soil humidity, and in the coming years other scientific missions are being prepared: Biomass (2023), which will collect data on forests, and EarthCare, in collaboration with Japan , to study cloud profiles and get more precise data on the atmosphere.

ESA is also discussing with NASA the project of a mission on gravity, based on the experience of the Goce and GRACE satellites, which will help to understand the climate and the circulation of the oceans.

Source: ansa

All tech articles on 2022-01-04

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