The contract will see Telespazio UK continue managing quality control operations and undertaking research and development into cutting-edge calibration and validation techniques used to ratify the vast quantities of mission data returned from Earth Observation satellites. The project will monitor data from ESA and selected Third Party Missions (TPMs). In addition, the project will provide expert scientific and reprocessing support, software, Instrument Processing Facilities (IPF), and tool maintenance and evolution.
Funded by ESA and delivered over the next five years, this extends the programme which began in 2009. The contract will see Telespazio UK continue working with a pan-European team of industrial and scientific partners including Serco, University College London, the National Physical Laboratory, EOSense, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The project will be delivered on and offsite from the ESA’s ESRIN site in Frascati, Italy, and will cover a huge range of satellite missions spanning optical, radar, atmospheric and altimetry domains including ongoing ESA missions such as CryoSat-2, SMOS and Proba-V, and historic ESA missions such as Envisat (AATSR, ASAR, MERIS, SCIAMACHY, GOMOS, RA-2/MWR and MIPAS), ERS 1/2 (ATSR-1/2, SAR, RA/MWR, GOME) and GOCE where Telespazio’s team will analyse the quality of the latest reprocessed data sets. The project will also look at third party missions where ESA has agreed with another nation to make their data available for study. Such datasets include Landsat 1-7, AVHRR, Nimbus-7, Seasat (USA), ALOS, MOS, JERS (Japan) and OceanSat (India).
Notably, Telespazio UK has introduced Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the quality control process, an important evolution which will ensure data quality remains high, even as the volume of data continues to increase.
The project will also have a strong element of metrology research, with the National Physical Laboratory leading development work on inter-satellite calibration coefficients that can draw on data from multiple missions to understand system-level changes on Earth, including looking for signs of climate change. The project will have strong Cal/Val links with the upcoming ESA TRUTHS mission.
Vice President of Business Growth at Telespazio UK, Geoff Busswell, said: “We are delighted to continue our service delivery relationship with ESA. We’re proud to play a core role in ensuring that the Earth Observation data delivery to the global community is of a high quality. The quality provenance of the data is vital to help understand how and where it can be used, helping to draw reliable conclusions for decision making.”
Philippe Goryl, Head of the Sensor Performance, Products and Algorithm department at ESRIN, said: “Data Quality is at the heart of our Earth Observation programme. ESA is committed to providing high quality data that is recognised as such worldwide. In this context, Telespazio UK is a key partner on which we can count to ensure that ESA data remains high quality and to develop and apply new and innovative methods when the challenge evolves. For this new service, Telespazio UK is managing a large team and benefitting from Europe’s leading experts in the field, ensuring quality EO data can be used to study climate science and for a growing number of operational applications.”
UK Space Agency’s CEO, Paul Bate, said: “Earth Observation satellites are vital for monitoring climate change, so we need to have confidence in the information they produce. This significant project led by Telespazio UK will maintain the quality of this data and introduce Artificial Intelligence tools to help manage its increasing volume, as more advanced satellites are launched. This project will not only enhance understanding of climate change, but it will also help strengthen the UK's position as a leader in reliable Earth Observation data, technology and innovation.”