In Santa Maria, Azores, EDISOFT is responsible for the management and operation of a dual-mission Station: the ESA Tracking Station and EDISOFT’s Earth Observation Station.
SMA Station
Santa Maria’s Launchers Tracking Station is the first station of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Portuguese Territory and the first of ESA for tracking launchers. It has performed its first mission in March 2008, for the launch of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), by Ariane 5 launcher, to the International Space Station (ISS). The management and operation of the Station of Santa Maria is a responsibility of EDISOFT, leading a consortium involving the regional companies GlobalEda and Segma.
In the last year, EDISOFT invested in expanding the station’s capacity for receiving EO SAR images from Remote Sensing Satellite, thus enabling the Station to combine two missions: launchers tracking and Earth Observation.
This new capability allows EDISOFT to complement its offer in the area of Remote Sensing with applicability in different areas, namely in Ocean Monitoring.
SMA Footprint
Santa Maria accompanies daily (day and night) the trajectories of several remote observation satellites, collecting data for monitoring oil spills and other operational services, including:
Acquisition and processing in NRT of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data
Santa Maria’s Station allows the acquisition of ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1 SAR data in the North Atlantic region in any weather conditions, both day and night.
Identification of oil spills and ships using SAR data
One interesting image acquired by the Santa Maria Station was this image of Cape Verde which identifies the track of a vessel pollution. The length of this spill was over 80-km and the polluter vessel is clearly visible through the bright spot in the far northeast of the spill.
Extraction of winds and sea agitation from SAR data
From the SAR data it is also possible to extract information concerning the wind and the agitation sea conditions.
The maritime monitoring and surveillance services provided by the Station already support the CleanSeaNet project, managed by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), and the MARISS (Maritime Security Service) project, this one an important part of the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program.
As a prime promoter of research and science, EDISOFT addresses synergies with different systems, new (SAR or optical) concepts and techniques, and the integration of data from Remote Sensing with in-situ observations, in order to streamline the creation of new products and value-added services, framed within the future national and European initiatives related to GMES and GMES-Africa.
Contact
| EDISOFT Empresa de Serviços e Desenvolvimento de Software, S. A. Rua Quinta dos Medronheiros – Lazarim- 2820-486 Caparica, Portugal Bárbara Guerra Manso, Head of Business Development & Marketing Tel.:(+351) 212 945 900 /Fax:(+351) 212 945 999 E-mail: barbara.manso – at – edisoft.pt // www.edisoft.pt |
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