28 November 2014
Indra has closed an
agreement with the
European Space Agency to
host the main processing
and archiving centre for
the images of the
Sentinel-2 mission at
its facilities and take
charge of its operation.
This contract will
strengthen the
consultancy and
technology
multinational's position
as an operator of Earth
observation image
processing centres,
consolidating its
portfolio of solutions
and services in the
space sector. The
company is the leader in
the development of
ground segments in Spain
and has vast experience
in Earth observation
systems and
applications.
The Sentinel
satellites form part of
the Copernicus Earth
Observation Programme,
previously known as GMES
(Global Monitoring for
Environment and
Security), which will
equip Europe with its
own Earth observation
capacity to serve the
needs of its users.
The processing and
archiving centre will be
located at Indra's
facilities in San
Fernando de Henares
(Madrid) and will enter
into service in
September 2014,
coinciding with the
launch of the
Sentinel-2. The centre
may be expanded and
accommodate also the
data from another
satellite, Sentinel-2B,
to be launched in 2016
(another 1000TB per
year).
These satellites,
which will follow a
polar orbit, will
capture high resolution
images in 13 bands in
the visible and infrared
part of the spectrum.
They have a design
lifetime of 7 years,
although they have been
prepared to allow the
mission to be extended
for a further 5 years.
Indra's specialist
Earth observation team
will undertake the
complete management and
operation of the centre,
including the processing
of the images and their
distribution to the end
users.
Indra will also be
responsible for the
long-term storage of the
data. Each year up to
1,000 terabytes of new
images will be archived.
The company will store
this information at its
advanced Data Processing
Centre in San Fernando
de Henares, which
currently covers a
surface area of 5,000
square metres and
provides an
uninterrupted service
level of 99.98%.
Additionally, Indra's
role as the manager and
operator of the
Sentinel-2 Processing
and Archiving Centre
will place the company
in an excellent position
to offer new customised
services to its
customers using any of
the European Space
Agency's Sentinel
satellites (Sentinel-1
and Sentinel-3 and in
the future Sentinels 4
and 5). Based on the
information extracted
from the images, it will
be able to offer high
value-added services to
end users in the fields
of the environment,
agriculture, land use,
emergencies, water
management, forestry
activity, etc.
