I527-290 ESRIF Final Report (WEB).indd - European Commission

all around the globe near real-time data delivery and data continuity. The combination of diff erent data gathering assets and
advanced techniques for data exploitation and exchange together with international cooperation between stakeholders (civil
and military) present enormous potential to improve missions 3 effi ciency.
European fl agship programmes such as Galileo and GMES will prove crucial in this respect. The Global Monitoring for
Environment and Security (GMES) will thereby provide a fi rst set of initial services for land monitoring, atmosphere and
maritime data, deriving data from both national (contributing missions) and European-level space assets, i.e. the GMES Sentinels
(dedicated missions). Over time emergency-response related services will complete the picture. The overall GMES architecture
thereby includes the Space Component, the Service and in-situ Component and the key Data Integration and Information
Management component. Synergies and interaction with other European space programmes such as the European Data
Relay Satellite System (EDRS) will further enhance the availability and quality of GMES services.
The development of Galileo and the use of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), greatly
contribute to the quantity and quality of the satellite measurements. In particular Galileo will increase the integrity of the
GNSS measurements, key factor for the applications aff ecting Safety of Life (SoL). EGNOS and Galileo are very valuable tools
to support the prevention and mitigation phase. Positioning and timing capabilities together with continuous and low-cost
monitoring of infrastructures and natural phenomena (such as Volcanism, land-sliding or fl oods) by other means (aerial or in
situ), will provide a much needed service to users requiring accurate information to improve the effi ciency of Search and
Rescue (SaR) teams.
Despite the importance of satellite technology in emergency management, to further enhance related capabilities, future
work needs to be performed in the areas of Space System Concepts and Data Exploitation techniques. While the former
includes more study of mission architectures (e.g. microsatellite clusters, satellite constellations combining civil and defencerelated
satellites) the latter aims at developing techniques such as the fusion of GEOINT information derived from satellites
with other sources or 3D modelling of objects among others.
Figure 3 helps visualising required capabilities in the space domain and the required research at technology development
(green) level and product development (blue)
Figure 3: Roadmap for required capabilities and research needs in the space domain
3 OECD Report Space 2030: Exploring the Future of Space Applications, 2004, at pages 117, 119, 121.
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