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INDRA, the value of anticipation

Indra Espacio S.A., subsidiary of Indra responsible of the space related activities, is a leading ground segment specialist with an extensive experience in the last 25 years in a range of activities such as project management, system engineering, system design and development, system integration and test, product assurance, applications development, etc.
Indra is the leading Spanish company in Information Technologies with a workforce of more than 8200 and revenues of 1202 M€ in 2005.
Indra Espacio benefits from the host company infrastructure and advantageous position, in particular for:
• On-demand access to INDRA’s IT specialised departments (competence centres): Software Factory, Network Management, e-Business, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SCM (Supply Chain Management), Internet infrastructure, Consultancy, CRM (Customer Relation Management), etc.
• National and international sales networks and subsidiaries
• Centralised administration including a large size purchase department
• Human resources intranet, corporate image, etc.
Indra Espacio, with a highly skilled staff of 265 employers in 2005, offers turn-key solutions in the areas of Telecommunications, Remote Sensing, Satellite Control and Navigation, besides Logistic Support in live Cycle. Our flexibility allows us to give a personalized service for each customer.
Our Headquarters are in San Fernando de Henares, near Madrid, where it is also located one of the two facilities of the company. The second one is located in Barcelona.
Indra Espacio is AQAP 110 and ISO 9001:2000 and 14001 certified, and is periodically re-certified by the relevant Spanish National Agencies (Spanish MoD for AQAP, and AENOR for ISO standard) by means of complete quality audits on the QA Environmental System.
Indra Espacio Economical – Financial update
In line with Indra’s figures, Indra Espacio has achieved an increase of 14% in its sales in Financial Year 2005. The net operating profit has also increased, confirming a positive result in spite of an environment which doubtless made it difficult to improve.
EARTH OBSERVATION
The growing interest in the monitoring and management of the Earth’s resources has resulted in an emerging Remote Sensing market, requesting data from satellite sensors with higher spatial resolution in different spectral bands.
Since 1984 Indra keeps on demonstrating its excellence in Earth Observation Systems, using data from all kind of satellites and instruments (Landsat, Spot, IRS, IKONOS, ERS, Meteosat, NOAA…), developing projects in several fields such as meteorology, environment, agriculture, hydrology, emergency management (flooding, forest fire…) or territorial planning. Nowadays, the Remote Sensing Department is a multi-task group of skilled engineers and technicians in Remote Sensing, SIG, Digital Image Processing and Software Development.
Technologies
-Engineering of Image Reception Stations
-Digital Image Processing: Optical and SAR
-Algorithms for radiometric and geometric corrections (Spot, Landsat, Helios, IKONOS, Eros, ERS…) -Software for linear objects detection (Optical and SAR)
-Image processing software based on Java technology
-Interferometric SAR data processing software: EPSIE 2000
-Implementation and customisation of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
-Pattern Analysis and Recognition -Digital Cartography at different scales -Computer Aided Graphics and Artificial Vision
-Photo-interpretation of digital images
Systems
-Payload Data Processing Centres
-Multi-band receiving stations
-Image Exploitation Centres based on distributed architecture (Web server)
-Image Archive and Dissemination Systems
-Thematic Processing Centre for emergency situations
-Synthetic Aperture Radar Processor
Applications
-Cadastre
-Land Use
-Hydrology
-Agriculture
-Forest Farming
-Urban Development
-Oceanography
-Meteorology
-Real Scene Simulation (3D) -Volcanology / Seismology -Environmental Studies
-Forest Fire, Flooding
-Water quality
-Oil Spill
-Subsidence
-Risk assessment and mapping
-Change assessment
SMOS Data Processing Ground Segment
The European Space Agency has granted to Indra Espacio a contract for the development of the Data Processing Ground Segment of the SMOS mission, which shall be installed at ESAC (European Space Astronomy Centre).
SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) is the second selected Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission (Cryosat being the first). SMOS is intended to demonstrate the observation of two key variables, namely soil moisture over land and salinity over oceans, to advance the development of climatological, meteorological and hydrological models of the Earth. In addition, the mission should provide new insights into snow and ice structure, so helping to advance the understanding of the cryosphere.
The centre shall receive, process, archive and disseminate the global data acquired by the satellite, offering to the scientific community the salinity and soil moisture products generated (up to level 2).
Indra Espacio is responsible for the project management and system engineering activities as well as the development of the critical elements, from the data acquisition, with a proprietary solution for the 3,5 m. antenna, to the Core SW including processing management, archive, dissemination and monitoring and control.
The launch of the satellite is planned for September 2007, followed by a six month commissioning phase and an operational phase lasting 2.5 years. The operations phase can optionally be extended a further two years period.

JAGUAR – Expanding EO services in the Latin American and Caribbean regions

The European Space Agency has granted to INDRA a study aimed at supporting the expansion of the European EO services in the Latin American and Caribbean regions. This contract is funded within the EO Market Development programme.
Special emphasis shall be put on finding suitable partnerships schemes that allow establishing cooperation actions between companies and institutions of both continents.
During the study the Latin American and Caribbean markets shall be characterized by means of direct contacts and interviews with different local actors: value added companies, space agencies, main private and public customer organizations, etc. In addition, contacts with the main international donor agencies present in the region, as the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank, shall be established
An initial set of service trials shall be implemented in the thematic areas of land cover and land use, forest management, risks management and agriculture. Additional service cases could be included on the basis of the intermediate results achieved during the project.
At a last step, a strategic plan shall be outlined with the needed promotional actions for increasing the demand of the European capabilities, a detailed action plan with associated costing and planned partnerships and joint ventures.