Civil security from space
ESA is supporting European efforts to monitor, mitigate and resolve civil security and crisis events from space to keep people safe on Earth.
Europe is facing increasingly significant challenges such as humanitarian crises, extreme weather events caused by climate change, cybercrime and geopolitical instability. It needs to act swiftly to further protect European citizens, and support critical infrastructures such as air, land and sea transport, water supplies, gas pipelines and energy grids.
Emergency services need to act quickly – and securely – to natural disasters such as flooding, fires and earthquakes, or to damage caused by pollution or malicious actions, such as cyber attacks or geopolitical instability.
ESA’s civil security from space programme aims to save lives and livelihoods by reinforcing terrestrial systems that can become compromised by natural disasters or malicious actions.
It aims to deliver a faster response than is presently possible by ensuring that real-time data is available anywhere through state-of-the-art space-enabled systems. It will use secure networks and reliable cloud computing to ensure the information is resilient and reliable. And it will enable governments and emergency services to act on an unfolding situation by using smart data gathering and intelligent processing to create a holistic awareness of the situation.
The programme will leverage disruptive technologies, including advanced Earth observation and ground sensors, artificial intelligence, cloud processing, high performance computing, smart and secure networks, and quantum technologies.
The civil security from space programme contributes to space-based crisis management through ESA’s proposed ‘rapid and resilient crisis response accelerator’ – one of three initiatives to accelerate the use of space to respond to societal needs.
The civil security from space programme supports the strategic independence and autonomy of Europe in communications, as well as in data and information handling in a digital world economy, and increases Europe’s lead in Earth observation systems. This enables Europe to bolster its role as a global leader in humanitarian action and to ensure its autonomy in essential resources.
