Earth Observation

Coper­ni­cus is the Euro­pean Union’s flag­ship Earth obser­va­tion pro­gram coor­di­nat­ed and man­aged by the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion in part­ner­ship with the Euro­pean Space Agency (ESA), the EU Mem­ber States and EU agen­cies. It pro­vides accu­rate, time­ly and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble data for envi­ron­men­tal mon­i­tor­ing, cli­mate analy­sis and civ­il secu­ri­ty.

The Coper­ni­cus pro­gram evolved from the GMES (Glob­al Mon­i­tor­ing for Envi­ron­ment and Secu­ri­ty) ini­tia­tive, orig­i­nal­ly estab­lished in 1998, and involves sev­en mis­sions under the Sen­tinel pro­gram includ­ing radar and super-spec­tral imag­ing for land, ocean and atmos­pher­ic mon­i­tor­ing. Addi­tion­al so called con­tribut­ing mis­sions also pro­vide data to Coper­ni­cus.

DSI is involved in sev­er­al mis­sions of the sec­ond gen­er­a­tion of the Coper­ni­cus Pro­gram:

• Coper­ni­cus Anthro­pogenic Car­bon Diox­ide Mon­i­tor­ing (CO2M): Data Han­dling Board (DHB) for the CLoud IMager (CLIM)
  
• Coper­ni­cus Land Sur­face Tem­per­a­ture Mon­i­tor­ing (LSTM):
  Mass Mem­o­ry and For­mat­ting Unit (MMFU)
• Coper­ni­cus Polar Ice and Snow Topog­ra­phy Altime­ter (CRISTAL): Mass Mem­o­ry and For­mat­ting Unit (MMFU)
• Coper­ni­cus Imag­ing Microwave Radiome­ter (CIMR): 
  Pay­load Data Han­dling Unit (PDHU)
• Coper­ni­cus Hyper­spec­tral Imag­ing Mis­sion for the Envi­ron­ment (CHIME): Instru­ment Con­trol Unit (ICU)

The Bio­mass mis­sion by the Euro­pean Space Agency (ESA) focus­es on glob­al for­est bio­mass mea­sure­ments using a space­borne radar instru­ment. It aims to pro­vide accu­rate data on the Earth’s for­est bio­mass, which is cru­cial for under­stand­ing car­bon cycles and cli­mate change. The mis­sion will employ a P‑band syn­thet­ic aper­ture radar (SAR) to pen­e­trate for­est canopies and esti­mate bio­mass with high pre­ci­sion. By map­ping and mon­i­tor­ing for­est bio­mass on a glob­al scale, the Bio­mass mis­sion will con­tribute to efforts in sus­tain­able for­est man­age­ment, car­bon account­ing, and cli­mate mod­el­ing.

DSI designed, devel­oped, man­u­fac­tured and qual­i­fied the PDHU which will be respon­si­ble for data acqui­si­tion and data stor­age from the instru­ment and from the on-board com­put­er. The PDHU is also respon­si­ble for data for­mat­ting, reten­tion and play­back to the X‑band trans­mit­ter.

ESA’s FLEX (Flu­o­res­cence Explor­er) mis­sion aims to study veg­e­ta­tion flu­o­res­cence to mon­i­tor plant health and pho­to­syn­the­sis activ­i­ty. By pro­vid­ing glob­al maps of flu­o­res­cence, FLEX improves the under­stand­ing of plant stress, drought con­di­tions and ecosys­tem dynam­ics. The mis­sion con­tributes to agri­cul­tur­al man­age­ment, cli­mate mod­el­ing and stud­ies of the glob­al car­bon cycle.

DSI designed, devel­oped, man­u­fac­tured and qual­i­fied the PDHU which will be respon­si­ble for data acqui­si­tion and data stor­age from the instru­ment and from the on-board com­put­er.

Kompsat‑7 is a South Kore­an earth obser­va­tion mis­sion that will pro­vide high-res­o­lu­tion opti­cal imagery. Equipped with advanced sen­sors, it offers improved spa­tial and spec­tral res­o­lu­tion for pre­cise analy­sis of land, water, and atmos­pher­ic con­di­tions. Oper­at­ing in a sun-syn­chro­nous orbit, Kompsat‑7 enables sys­tem­at­ic mon­i­tor­ing and will con­tribute to sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, resource man­age­ment, and dis­as­ter mit­i­ga­tion. Its data will be acces­si­ble to both domes­tic and inter­na­tion­al users for var­i­ous appli­ca­tions.

DSI designed, devel­oped, man­u­fac­tured and qual­i­fied the data stor­age and com­pres­sion equip­ment of the image data han­dling sub­sys­tem.