Earth Observation

Information generated from Earth Observation (EO) programmes has become increasingly essential for decision making, defining policies, and implementing management strategies to ensure mankind has a sustainable future on Earth.

VEGA has been involved in Earth Observation (EO) programmes worldwide for both institutional and commercial programmes, from feasibility studies to the operations of
remote sensing satellites. With over 30 years’ heritage working on Earth Observation (EO) programmes, we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help provide innovative technologies to monitor the ongoing effects of weather patterns, population growth, security, biological and geological variation.

Earth Observation Studies

Clients often require advisory services to help them identify and translate strategy into workable programmes that help them achieve planned benefits while minimising risk. This
requires a foundation based on sound business, management and technical principles. VEGA has been involved in several analysis and market studies for ESRIN, ESTEC, EUMETSAT and other Space organisations, including:

ESA’s Earth Observation (EO) market development industry studies
ESA’s GMES ground segment architecture studies
EUMETSAT’s Phase A study to define a reference architecture for the Meteosat Third Generation Ground Segment programme.

Instrumentation Design and Development

Some organisations operate at the limits of science and technology in order to deliver their mandate. This requires them to stimulate innovation and lead research into new
techniques and technologies that will yield important benefits for the future.

VEGA’s highly qualified staff support clients’ early phase science and technology research programmes that help instrumentation development, calibration and science, including:

Calibration and analysis of satellite instruments
Development of distribution and archiving
Systems for scientific data including virtual observatory

Launch and Operations

The Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) of a satellite is one of the most critical aspects of a satellite’s lifespan. Once launched, the operations team is the only means of
communicating with the satellite. VEGA’s staff are embedded within ESA’s Operations Centre (ESOC), providing pre-launch and LEOP services for ESA satellites, as well as for
EUMETSAT, DLR and other commercial organisations. For the past 30 years, VEGA has been involved in every ESA launch, as well as MSG-1, MSG-2 and METOP. Our involvement includes:

30 years of operations engineering services
Satellite operations preparation, validation, execution and support
Satellite operations team training

Support and Maintenance

The support and maintenance requirement for a satellite is dependent on its mission and lifespan. VEGA can provide total ground segment support for any EO mission, from developing the mission control and mission planning systems, through to providing the ground segment infrastructure maintenance and support.

VEGA provides a comprehensive service for ESA to manage the data quality aspects of all their Earth Observation (EO) missions. This service is operated according to strict service level agreements, providing all data users with robust and reliable Earth Observation (EO) data. The service supports the following ESA missions: ERS-2, ENVISAT, GOCE and the following Third Party Missions: Landsat, SPOT, Orbview-2, Terra/Aqua and ALOS. In 2010, the service is further evolving to accommodate Cryosat-2, SWARM and SMOS.

Downstream Data Delivery

End-users of Space data are typically interested in a product that suits their needs, so there is much to be done to convert satellite data into information services. The skills needed to perform such a balancing act are many and varied. VEGA has gathered a unique combination of experience and skills in all these areas and can help organisations bridge the gap between satellite data and a providing usable data to the customer. Our experience includes:

Development of Space data communication tools
Payload data ground segments
Development of ESA’s core visualisation tool for data imaging including Catalogue, Metadata, Browse and Online Ordering system capability

Contact VEGA for more information about our Earth Observation capabilities