Could we capitalise on the Earth-based digital revolution to make our satellites smarter?

ESA Discovery is funding 12 projects that will explore the potential of applying the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing paradigms to make satellites more reactive, agile and autonomous. This could generate new practical applications that support life on Earth and our exploration of other planets.

Smarter Satellites: ESA Discovery Accelerates AI in Space

Over the last decade, rapid advances in computing techniques, combined with exponential growth in the amount of data being collected, have led to a true revolution of AI feeding on big data on Earth.
ESA <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Ph-sat/Artificial_Intelligence_for_Earth_observation" target="_blank">launched the first artificially intelligent European Earth observation mission</a> in September 2020. The mission consisted of two CubeSats, one of which carried the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Ph-sat" target="_blank">ɸ-sat-1</a> artificial intelligence experiment on board. ɸ-sat-1 enabled the mission to automatically discard cloudy images and send only useful data down to Earth.
Then, in April 2021 <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/Fly_your_software_in_space" target="_blank">ESA Discovery invited business and academic communities</a> to propose innovative ideas to fly <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/OPS-SAT_your_flying_laboratory" target="_blank">onboard ESA's OPS-SAT mission</a>, which is open to the public to experiment with. AI had already been used on OPS-SAT to rapidly process images of Earth in flight and to fully automate the mission; some of the new ideas also involve a variety of AI tools for novel applications.&nbsp;

FSSCat_-sat-1.jpg

The latest step came in October 2021, when the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation" target="_blank">Discovery element</a> of ESA's Basic Activities – working together with <a href="https://philab.phi.esa.int/" target="_blank">Φ-lab</a> and ESA's new commercialisation department – launched a <a href="https://ideas.esa.int/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=45087669058972933&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=7f238b42cad1ff72084f38e6db72e28d" target="_blank">call for ideas</a> on how we can make space systems more powerful using novel computing techniques and AI. The most interesting ideas have now been selected for funding.
"Following the <a href="https://incubed.phi.esa.int/%CF%86-week-2021-looking-back-and-looking-ahead/" target="_blank">announcement of the call during Φ-week</a> by ESA's Director General, industry and academia could propose projects addressing innovative technologies and applications," explains <a href="https://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/team/gabriele_meoni/" target="_blank">Gabriele Meoni</a>, an ESA Φ-lab research fellow focusing on AI. "We received a really interesting suite of ideas, addressing a variety of space domains, showing that there is big interest from European stakeholders on cognitive computing in space."
Applying modern computing techniques – for example, processing data directly on board satellites – could transform space activities and the space economy in the coming decade. The ability to make satellites smarter offers significant benefits for future space missions and business models.
“We intentionally made the scope of the campaign very broad to explore the full potential of this new computing paradigm,” continues Gabriele.

Φ-week 2021.JPG

ESA Director General, Josef Aschbacher, announces the call for ideas at Φ-week 2021

Leopold Summerer, head of ESA's Advanced Concepts and Studies Office adds: "The call for ideas was driven by the vision of <a href="https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publications/Agenda_2025" target="_blank">ESA Agenda 2025</a>, which calls for Europe to step up its role in space, support commercialisation and help create new space markets."
"We think that in-space cognitive computing offers substantial commercial potential for <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/firstmover.asp" target="_blank">first movers</a>, and had planned to fund up to ten teams to develop their ideas in more detail," continues Leopold. "However, European industry and academia proposed so many good ideas that we decided to increase the number of funded projects to 12. We expect these to help Europe take a step further towards fully benefitting from the still-emerging field of cognitive computing in space."
"The selected ideas involve new technologies developed outside the space sector – including blockchain, edge computing, and neuromorphic computing (inspired by the workings of the human brain)," says Gabriele. "The ideas address amazing applications across the space domain including early detection of methane gas and natural disasters, autonomous rovers on the Moon, space surveillance and tracking – all because information could be processed more efficiently."

OSIP_ideas_Cognitive_Cloud_Computing_in_Space.png

The 12 projects are being funded by ESA's Discovery element; each will run for six months with a budget of 100 000 EUR. All are financed using the ESA Initial Support for Innovation (<a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/EISI_-_ESA_Initial_Support_for_Innovation" target="_blank">EISI</a>) scheme, which focuses on knowledge and skill development rather than achieving specific results.
"What is the potential of new computing techniques in space? What are the new applications, or new science to be carried out? What would their business value be? These studies will help ESA further explore how cognitive computing could reshape the future of space missions," concludes Gabriele.

ESA has a new tool for designing space missions.

The Agency’s Concurrent Design Facility – bringing together different experts for the rapid creation and evaluation of virtual spacecraft designs – has adopted an advanced software tool, COMET, which will help extend the use of digital models into further mission development phases. Its open source nature means it is freely available beyond ESA Member States, facilitating international cooperation with wider space agencies, research institutions or companies.&nbsp;&nbsp;

COMET upgrade for ESA’s mission design centre

With networked consoles arranged around a main screen, the <a href="/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/CDF" target="_blank">Concurrent Design Facility, CDF</a> – based at the <a href="https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESTEC" target="_blank">European Space Research and Technology Centre, ESTEC,</a> at Noordwijk in the Netherlands – resembles a spacecraft mission control room – but rather than overseeing missions it is actually set up to design them. Differing subsystem teams gather here to creating new mission blueprints on a ‘concurrent’ basis – meaning they all work together to shape a shared spacecraft model that updates immediately as changes are made, speeding up design times from a matter of months to a few weeks.&nbsp;

Leading_a_CDF_session_article.jpg

In more than two decades of operation the CDF has performed more than 300 studies to date, their subjects ranging from CubeSats to Moon bases, space telescopes to systems of systems, even audacious probes to the outer planets – along with the very first iterations of numerous ESA missions that have gone on to fly, such as the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter" target="_blank">Sun-observing Solar Orbiter</a> or ESA’s flying software lab, <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/OPS-SAT%20" target="_blank">OPS-SAT</a>. “Our previous software, the Open Concurrent Design Tool, has been in use for the last eight years, and applied in more than 150 studies,” explains Ilaria Roma, heading the CDF. “Now we have adopted a brand new replacement, the Concurrent Model-based Engineering Tool, COMET, developed for us by <a href="https://www.rheagroup.com/" target="_blank">RHEA Group</a> through <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Shaping_the_Future/About_the_General_Support_Technology_Programme_GSTP" target="_blank">ESA’s General Support Technology Programme.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;

Solar_Orbiter_article (1).png

AVA-basic

“This new software provides a much better-performing and more contemporary user interface experience, and adds a new dimension to report generation, including mass and power budgets for the missions being designed. At the same time COMET is fully backward compatible with our previous software tool, so all existing models can bereused as needed.”

The CDF’s transition to COMET began last August, and at the start of this year it became the baseline for all future studies. This software upgrade has wider implications beyond the facility itself, because the CDF has inspired the creation of more than 50 concurrent engineering site across Europe, for both space and non-space applications. So COMET was announced a year ago to the European concurrent engineering community, with a user group created to facilitate its adoption. Almost all the software produced for the project are freely available in open source, <a href="http://products.rheagroup.com/comet" target="_blank">for more information go to the website.</a>&nbsp;

Artist_s_impression_of_OPS-SAT_article.jpg

Concurrent_Design_Facility_article.jpg

The adoption of COMET also serves one of the top priorities of <a href="https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publications/Agenda_2025" target="_blank">ESA’s Agenda 2025</a> – Director Gene ral Josef Aschbacher’s vision of transforming the Agency over the next half decade – which includes the goal of moving to ‘Model Based System Engineering’ throughout all phases of mission development, swapping traditional design specifications and blueprints for ‘digital twins’ of the spacecraft being worked on, allowing full ‘digital continuity’ with ESA’s industrial partners.&nbsp;

“An associated Digital Engineering Hub Pathfinder project with the COMET development has delivered domain specific tool adaptors to integrate a variety of Model Based System Engineering solutions into a unified engineering environment centred around COMET.”

“What this enables in plainlanguage is facilitating the use of spacecraft digital twins beyond solely the design phase to the assembly, integration and test phases of development – ultimately allowing them proceed smoother and faster, allowing early identification of anomalies, letting detailed simulations take the place of costly physical testing, along with the harvesting of data throughout the production cycle to feed back into follow-on design phases.&nbsp;
“Accordingly, COMET is fully compliant with the <a href="https://ecss.nl/hbstms/ecss-e-tm-10-25a-engineering-design-model-data-exchange-cdf-20-october-2010/" target="_blank">ECSS-E-TM-10-25 technical memorandum</a> of the <a href="https://ecss.nl/" target="_blank">European Cooperation for Space Standardization</a>, which is a commonly agreed rulebook for mode l based data exchange in the early phases of engineering design.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Concurrent_Design_Facility_pillars.jpg

The largest antenna ever tested in ESA’s Hertz radio frequency test chamber is this 5-m diameter transponder antenna, which will operate down on the ground to help calibrate the BIOMASS mission, which will chart all the forests on Earth.

Radio Eye on Tree-counting BIOMASS

“This is a particularly challenging test campaign both in terms of the size of the antenna and the very low P-band frequency that <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Biomass" target="_self">BIOMASS </a> will be using, which allows it to pierce through forest canopies to acquire individual trees,” explains ESA Antenna Engineer Luis Rolo, overseeing the test campaign.
“Usually when we test a large satellite here, its antenna is significantly smaller, typically between 0.5 and 2 metres across. But this entire structure is a radiating antenna in its own right, its sides coming near to the chamber walls.

Radio_eye_on_tree-counting_Biomass_medium.jpg

“What this means is that the testing process highlight some aspects of the chamber we’ve never seen before, even after many years of testing. But we’ve come up with a measurement method involving multiple acquisitions from different spots within the chamber, combined carefully to subtract such environmental effects, yielding very accurate results.”
Part of ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands, the metal-walled ‘Hybrid European Radio Frequency and Antenna Test Zone’ chamber is shut off from all external influences. Its internal walls are studded with radio-absorbing ‘anechoic’ foam pyramids, allowing radio-frequency testing without any distorting reflections.
Its name starts with ‘Hybrid’ because the chamber can assess radio signals from antennas both in localised ‘near-field’ terms or else on a ‘far-field’ basis, as if the signal has crossed thousands of kilometres of space.
Due to be launched next year, BIOMASS will deploy a massive 12-m diameter reflector to harness P-band radar signals in order to perform a five-year census of all Earth's trees.
Based in Australia, this transponder will be integrated onto a mobile positioning system inside a protective radome, allowing it to track the BIOMASS satellite moving across the sky. The transponder antenna will reflect radar signals from BIOMASS back to it, to help confirm the mission is operating optimally. The transponder was developed and built by Italian company <a href="https://www.idscorporation.com/" target="_blank">IDS</a> .&nbsp;

Biomass_mission_small.jpg

The joint 15th International Symposium on Materials in the Space Environment (ISMSE) and 13th International Conference for Protection of Materials and Structures from the Space Environment (ICPMSE) represents one of the largest international conferences on materials in the space environment, with a heritage stretching back four decades.

Surviving Space: Major Conference Focuses on Materials in the Space Environment

“It is hard to imagine a more hostile environment for materials than space,” remarks Adrian Tighe, Materials Engineer in ESA’s Materials Physics and Chemistry Section and one of the co-chairs on the conference organising committee.&nbsp;
“Unfiltered ultraviolet sunlight degrades materials remorselessly, along with particle radiation, erosive atomic oxygen in low orbits and a growing population of space debris heightening the impact risk, starting from the microscopic scale on up.”&nbsp;
“Those are some of the traditional topics we’re looking at, but we’re also encouraging contributions on newer areas. Space is not one destination but many; future missions will take us to new environments such as very low Earth orbit, terrestrial reentry, the high-pressure atmosphere of Venus and the dusty surfaces of the Moon, Mars and asteroids.”&nbsp;
Riccardo Rampini, Head of ESA’s Materials Physics and Chemistry Section, adds: “Meanwhile the required performance of mission instruments grows increasingly stringent – which means in practice larger telescopes or greater instrument sensitivity – with follow-on requirements in terms of the need for higher performance materials on the one hand, or more stringent cleanliness and contamination control requirements on the other.”&nbsp;
“We also want to reflect the ways that the space business is evolving, with ‘New Space’ commercialisation leading to the increased use of commercial-off-the-shelf materials and parts, which need to be tested and characterized for space, including 3D printed parts, plus new high-volume manufacturing and digital testing approaches. Finally the space sector’s need to meet sustainability and environmental regulations means novel materials need to be developed and tested.”&nbsp;
The conference will include looking forward to some of ESA’s most challenging future missions from a materials point of view: the Athena X-ray telescope requiring a large-scale optical module based on novel ‘silicon pore optics’ technology, the gravitational-wave detecting LISA constellation which will have to be the stillest spacecraft ever flown, the EnVision mission to Venus orbit, ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter contribution to the international Mars Sample Return endeavour, the Lunar Gateway around the Moon and the proposed Comet Sample Return mission.&nbsp;

More information about the conference

ISMSE15 Banner.jpg

Lunar_regolith_testing.png

Ultraviolet_exposure_testing.png

How can you accurately test a space antenna down here on Earth when it has been scaled up to penetrate the subterranean depths of another planet?

Aerial Antenna Test for Venus Mission

This was the question faced by <a href="https://www.group.sener/" target="_blank">SENER</a> in Spain, currently designing a candidate antenna for ESA’s <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/ESA_selects_revolutionary_Venus_mission_EnVision" target="_blank">EnVision mission</a> , which will explore Venus from its inner core to outermost cloud layers. To solve it they lifted their prototype skyward with a balloon. 
"To develop key technologies for future missions, <a href="https://technology.esa.int/" target="_blank">ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality</a> often explores multiple approaches,” explains ESA antenna engineer Paul Moseley. “This includes parallel prototypes for EnVision’s Subsurface Radar Sounder (SRS), which will transmit and receive radio signals to chart the Venusian subsurface. It will achieve this using very low frequencies – 9 Mhz – which in turn means its antenna has to be very large, 16 m across. 
“To accurately characterise the performance of SENER’s current prototype it needs to be tested free of any interaction with its environment, but it is simply too big to fit dedicated test facilities such as <a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2017/10/Inside_Hertz_Chamber" target="_blank">ESA’s Hertz chamber</a> – which in any case is not equipped to work with such low frequencies.” The only option left was going outdoors, but the ground would still have interfered with the antenna, distorting the results. So the antenna team decided to suspend the SRS antenna and a full-sized mockup of the EnVision spacecraft from a balloon, lifting it more than 200 m above the ground. 
“To further reduce interference from the ground, it was angled to point to the horizon,” adds Paul. “Results from the test campaign show the antenna design is working as expected.” This testing will help guide the final selection of a source for EnVision’s sounder instrument. The mission, targeting launch in the early 2030s, will also carry spectrometers for atmospheric and surface sounding, a radio science experiment to chart the Venusian gravity field and a NASA-sourced imaging radar.

Antenna Balloon Test for EnVision

How to test an extendible spacecraft boom designed to work in weightlessness down here on the ground? This is when helium balloons come in handy.

Inflated Activity

The 3 m-long magnetometer boom of a ‘structural and thermal model’ prototype of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) was deployed with balloons attached during its test campaign at the <a href="https://technology.esa.int/lab/test-centre" target="_blank">ESTEC Test Centre</a> in the Netherlands, the largest satellite test establishment in Europe.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/03/The_Smile_mission" target="_blank">Smile</a> is a joint mission between ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (<a href="https://english.cas.cn/" target="_blank">CAS</a>) will aim to build a more complete understanding of the Sun-Earth connection by measuring the solar wind and its dynamic interaction with the magnetosphere.&nbsp;
Find out more <a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2022/02/Balloon_boom" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

ESA’s Navigation Laboratory has a new recruit: this drone can carry different types of satellite navigation receivers to collect data for follow-on analysis.

The drone has landed

The <a href="https://technology.esa.int/lab/navigation-laboratory" target="_blank">NavLab</a> , based at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is focused on the testing, analysis and characterisation of navigation systems for both ESA and external customers.&nbsp;
With drones representing a rapidly-expanding user base, this is a timely addition to the NavLab’s suite of platforms for the testing of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies and techniques – also including static, mobile and pedestrian platforms and a pair of test vans.&nbsp;
Along with receivers and antennas, the drone can also host radio-frequency spectrum samplers and support equipment such as inertial sensors and stereo cameras, allowing the assessment of performance in specific dynamics and environments related to specific 'Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle' applications, such as approach, landing, flying beside buildings or indoors.
See it in action <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK-zPZ2gQlU" target="_blank">here</a> . 

(C) ESA &amp; Remedia 
&nbsp;

Drone in NavLab

A small forest of antennas sprouts from the roof of ESA’s Navigation Laboratory, based at the ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands, which is among the most frequently satnav-fixed locations on Earth.

Roof of the Satnav World

This is also the site of the very first <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Navigation/Galileo_fixes_Europe_s_position_in_history" target="_blank">Galileo positioning fix</a> positioning fix, acquired back in 2014 using the first quartet of Galileo satellites.&nbsp;
“The antenna is a critical component of any Global Navigation <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Navigation/Galileo_fixes_Europe_s_position_in_history" target="_blank">Global Navigation Satellite </a> System user segment, capturing power from the electromagnetic waves it receives, then converting it into electrical current to be processed by the rest of the receiver chain,” explains Radio Navigation Engineer Michelangelo Albertazzi.&nbsp;
“Up here we have a variety of antenna designs in place – such as omnidirectional, high gain and arrays – from leading world receiver manufacturers, which acquire signals from all major global GNSS constellations, including Galileo, GPS, the Russian Glonass and China’s Beidou, as well as regional systems such as Europe’s EGNOS.”&nbsp;
The <a href="https://technology.esa.int/lab/navigation-laboratory" target="_blank">NavLab </a> is also equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to record, replay and analyze the RF signals picked up by these antennas, to help with its main goal of performing tests, analyses and characterisation of navigation systems for both ESA and external customers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Roof of the satnav world.jpg

The <a href="https://technology.esa.int/program/general-support-technology-programme" target="_blank">GENERAL SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME</a> (GSTP) Annual Report is available <a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/fb37fecf-5ab6-4cd1-868d-a0679e7432c7" target="_blank">here</a> .

GSTP Annual Report 2020

cover_GSTP-2020_2.png

Funding available for ideas to boost Europe's green future using space

Boost Europe's green future using space

Space could be crucial in our transition towards a sustainable future. But how? We can help you turn your novel ideas into concrete action.
Following decisions made at the COP26 climate talks and ESA's Intermediate Ministerial Meeting, we have decided to extend the deadline for the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP) call for '<a href="https://ideas.esa.int/servlet/hype/IMT?documentTableId=45087648409565164&userAction=Browse&templateName=&documentId=24ea54cc9f205a0874ff45212b4d57dd" target="_blank">New ideas for how space can boost Europe's green future</a>' to 14 December. Anybody interested in submitting an idea is invited to ask questions during a public webinar on 29 November.
For more information about this OSIP call, please see <a href="https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/From_ideas_to_action_how_to_tackle_climate_change_with_space" target="_blank">our article</a> announcing its launch.
From ideas to action
Perhaps you work in energy, construction, or another sector closely linked to the environment. Or maybe you are a space company with an idea for applying your latest technology. Whoever you are, we invite you to tell us how space could contribute to making Europe carbon neutral.
Successful ideas will be implemented either under the <a href="https://technology.esa.int/program/discovery" target="_self">Discovery</a> programme of ESA’s Basic Activities, or under ESA’s <a href="https://technology.esa.int/program/general-support-technology-programme" target="_self">GSTP</a>, <a href="https://incubed.phi.esa.int" target="_blank">InCubed</a>, <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/ARTES/About_ARTES" target="_blank">ARTES</a> or <a href="https://navisp.esa.int" target="_blank">NAVISP</a> programmes – we will support you to find the right implementation path. With our support, you could explore options for commercially viable solutions using space to slow down climate change and help make Europe climate neutral.
Space for a green future
The climate crisis is the most urgent challenge faced by humanity. In its 2021 'code red' report, the IPCC stated that humanity can no longer escape from anthropogenic climate change. Yet fast action could help us avoid the worst damage.
Space is uniquely positioned to make a difference in tackling the climate crisis; satellites watch over Earth continuously and the space sector has plenty of experience in developing technologies that are adapted to challenging environments – think highly insulating materials, non-carbon power systems and regenerative life support systems for astronauts, for example.
On 19 November, government ministers in charge of space activities in ESA's Member States met at an <a href="https://www.esa.int/Newsroom/Press_Releases/Decisions_from_the_Intermediate_Ministerial_Meeting_2021" target="_blank">Intermediate Ministerial Meeting</a> in Matosinhos, Portugal. The Co uncil of Ministers unanimously adopted a resolution to accelerate the use of space in Europe (the 'Matosinhos manifesto') to tackle the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens.
As a first priority, ESA will work towards enabling people to better understand the current state of the planet and to develop scenarios and solutions for sustainable life on Earth. One way to achieve this is through a <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Working_towards_a_Digital_Twin_of_Earth" target="_blank">digital twin of our planet</a> – the 'Digital Twin Earth ' will be able to monitor the health of the planet, perform simulations of Earth's interconnected system with human behaviour, and help support European environmental policies.
"Space offers a vast untapped potential to ramp up the fight for a green future and tackle global climate change," says ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. "It is now time to translate great ideas into concrete actions and leverage their economic potential."
This OSIP call for ideas aims to provide a significant contribution to ESA's plans for a greener Europe as well as to one of the five goals of ESA <a href="https://technology.esa.int/page/agenda-2025" target="_self">Agenda 2025</a> – boosting commercialisation in Europe's space sector for a green and digital Europe.
The call is open to anybody, but we are particularly looking to trigger the creativity of entrepreneurs and businesses.
How is ESA already contributing to a greener future?
There are myriad ways that space is already helping tackle climate change. For example, ESA's Space and Energy initiative aims to strengthen technological synergies with the terrestrial energy sector, recognising that the space sector has decades of experience in non-carbon power systems, energy storage and efficient thermal control. Furthermore, satellites can assist with the effective running of renewable energy infrastructure by monitoring wind and sunshine.
ESA's research into non-carbon energy supplies has also supported the construction sector. The need for eco-friendly housing solutions is growing, and homes could make use of solar cells and batteries developed for space. Strong-but-lightweight materials and high-end manufacturing techniques developed for space are already being used for terrestrial construction – one example is 3D printing using carbon fibre reinforced plastic.
In the transport sector, satellite-enabled smart traffic management solutions for planes, ships, lorries and cars will help to save energy and cut carbon emissions.
But we believe that there are many more unexplored ways that space technologies, applications and services could support a greener future. Your ideas could make a difference to our planet.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2021/11/Space_for_a_Green_Future" target="_blank">Watch the video</a> to discover more