Telespazio goes to Bonn for the Living Planet Symposium, showcasing how space can serve the cause of sustainability

17 May 2022

Taking the Pulse of Our Planet from Space, to monitor our planet’s health. This is the goal of the 2022 edition of the Living Planet Symposium hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA), taking place at the World Conference Center in Bonn on 23-27 May.

Once again, the event – one of the most important Earth Observation events worldwide – brings together scientists and experts from all over the globe to discuss protection of the environment, climate change and the contribution satellite technologies can make to protection of the Earth and improvement of its inhabitants’ lives.

Always in the front lines of the principal Earth observation programmes, such as COSMO SkyMED and Copernicus, the Telespazio Group will take part in the event with a large delegation of speakers discussing how Group companies are responding to the major environmental challenges of our times.

Above all, e-GEOS CEO Paolo Minciacchi, who will talk about the close relationship between advanced technologies and protection of the Planet on Thursday, May 26.

Big data analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digital twins: ex post action is no longer enough.  The true revolution lies in prevention of catastrophic events before they can take place, saving resources such as soil and water before they are lost, preserving air quality before harmful policies can be implemented. In short: the challenge is to create complex scenarios, analyse their possible consequences, and supply institutions with information of use for making the best possible decisions. 

Telespazio’s participation will continue throughout the week. Starting on May 24 with a presentation by Axel Oddone, Head of COSMO-SkyMed and Satellite Data, on the innovations and new applications made possible by the second-generation Italian radar satellite constellation.

On the same morning, Sharon Gomez, Head of Sustainable Development and Climate Hub at GAF AG, will present the EO4SD Forest Management Project where GAF AG is in the lead; she will discuss how satellite technology can support the Multi-Lateral Development Banks and developing countries with improved tropical forest management.

Events on Wednesday, May 25 will focus on PRISMA. Water quality, detection of specific materials and recovery of areas covered by vegetation will be the topics discussed in sessions conducted by two experts from e-GEOS: Flavia Macina, Remote Sensing; and Alessia Tricomi, Remote Sensing Data Scientist.

Richard Conway, principal Engineer in Telespazio UK, will give a presentation entitled Towards a Common Architecture for EO Exploitation Platforms

Axel Relin, Head of Agricultural Information Systems and Spatial Analytics at GAF AG, will highlight the industry perspective in support of the transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems with space technology.

Domenico Grandoni, Head of the Big Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Competence Centre at e-GEOS, will present CLEOS, a marketplace created by the company presenting enterprises and start-ups with the entire e-GEOS range: from application platforms already in its portfolio to first and second generation COSMO-SkyMed data.

CLEOS will also be the topic of a three-day classroom in which data users explore the platform’s potential, learning how it works and, above all, how it can be of use for their projects and their businesses.

e-GEOS project manager Manuela Ferri will present Pomerium, a project for safeguarding the environmental and cultural heritage of the historic centre of Rome with satellites, drones and the 5G network. 

Peter Navratil, senior project manager in GAF AG’s Agricultural Information Systems Unit, will give a talk on AgroView®, which is GAF’s flagship web-based information system for Agricultural Insurance in India.

In the afternoon, Mario Costantini, Senior Technical Advisor to the CEO in e-GEOS, will analyse the products of the European Ground Motion Service, which supplies highly accurate information on natural and anthropogenic soil movement to the nations participating in the Copernicus programme. On the last day of the Symposium, Friday, May 27, Massimo Zavagli of e-GEOS will talk about use of Earth Observation to support legality, focusing on the shipping industry in particular.

On the same day, three other presentations will focus on monitoring of infrastructure, and particularly subsidence monitoring with focus for railways (Jürgen Langenwalter, advisor in GAF AG), mapping of forest density (Fabian Enssle, Senior Project Manager in GAF AG), and satellite applications serving smart cities (Sharon Gomez, GDA Urban Project where GAF AG is in the lead).