As defense and security needs drive demand for Earth Observation (EO) data, experts from Europe’s leading space and security organizations say challenges remain with integrating EO data into larger systems and finding the right balance with sovereignty.
At the recent EO Summit in London, Marta Krywanis, senior research officer for Frontex, hailed the importance of satellite technologies here. Frontex is a security company that works with EU Member States in the area of border security, and she said the company uses satellite imagery for its operational rooms, explaining how it makes a difference.
“We can detect jamming and spoofing. We are using all the components of space,” Krywanis said. “EO technologies are transforming border management by providing remote, and timely surveillance over vast and inaccessible areas. We have many use cases where we are using satellite imagery. We can use it to monitor migration. We are also using EO data for land data surveillance, cross border crime monitoring, for example.”
However, while describing the technologies as transformational, there are still challenges when using these technologies. She said organizations like Frontex need real-time data to be able not only to react, but to prepare itself to deal with situations. She says this preparedness is key, as companies like Frontex wants to try and prevent situations from developing.
“Adversaries develop technologies fast — we have to act fast,” she said. “This is what we see. We have to be two steps ahead. There is now a lot of data. We need to see better integration and interoperability at the EU level. When the crisis is hitting, it can hit through several Member States. It is about interoperability and data exchange. For example, deepfakes are growing in terms of imagery. This is being done to confuse. The reliability of the data is a key aspect.”
Sergio Albani, head of the R&I Unit at European Union Satellite Centre said when looking at security, it is now an evolving operational environment with more interconnected domains, and growing operational complexity. However, despite this complexity, faster decision making is now paramount and users need faster access to information.
“EO is becoming more important and dynamic. We now have more satellites and information sources. This [defense and security] is a major opportunity for the EO community,” Albani said. “The problem is no longer access to data. The main challenge will not be generating more data. But the real challenge will be transforming this information into trusted and actionable knowledge. We need to connect, data, analytics into an operational environment.”
Albani also spoke about how using AI could make a difference. “You have to look at things like technical trends for EO analysis, AI assisted analytics, etc. AI can help operational users deal with complexity and scale. It can help with detection, change analysis etc. AI’s real value is supporting users,” he said.
Anna Hirsch-Holland, space resilience nodes development coordinator for the European Space Agency (ESA), spoke about the importance of dual-use technologies where civilian systems can be used for defense needs and vice-versa. She said with global instability and conflict, we are seeing more funding around defense and security. Being able to react to situations, have low-latency in real-time is becoming key. Europe now has a European Resilience from Space program, which is kind of like a system of systems approach.
“We are making sure these systems work together. Securing European critical infrastructures and assets is key,” Anna Hirsch-Holland said. “We are developing space resilience nodes to empower people to used advanced space-enabled solutions and generate their own analytics and insights. We are looking at seamless access to institutional and commercial satellite data and space enabled applications without vendor lock-in. Dual use capabilities are a really important opportunity in commercial as well as defense.”
A Changing World
In another discussion on EO for defense and security, experts looked at the role of EO in the security environment.
Sean Wild, CEO of UP42, said there needs to be a shift in how commercial and governments work together, saying that understanding the issues of resilience and sovereignty are key. UP42 is a Berlin-based geospatial solution platform company, now owned by Saudi Arabia’s Neo Space Group.
“You need access to commercial systems. We have built our platform for the commercial domain. The question is how do we take this capability and apply it in a sovereign context? For example, we have deployed our first sovereign cloud to Saudi Arabia.”
Wild talked about the huge new defense budget in Germany and how this could impact EO in the areas of security and defense.
“The things we have heard from Germany is that there is a willingness to accept existing commercial solutions and bring them into the sovereign domain. There are elements of sovereignty that are clear. However, there is still some uncertainty to bring commercial technologies into sovereign use cases,” he said.
Dennis Nicks, director of Payload Engineering for BAE Systems, said the frontier of Earth intelligence for defense is trying to do something with the data being produced. “It can really cause some serious problems. As these systems grow, it is more complex to run them. I really see that where the technology needs to be developed is dealing with the data, processing, cross-platform processing, ground processing capabilities as well,” he said.
Nicks also pointed out the changes in the environment when there is a conflict, and when there isn’t one. He said when there isn’t a conflict, EO data flows freely, but when there is a conflict, the dynamics change.
“The data has to be invisible and transparent to all of that. If a satellite goes down, you need to have something backing it up. You need to make sure your system that you depend on day-to-day has resilience and risk management baked into its approach,” Nicks said. “When the conflict starts, resiliency when things are going really bad is getting more and more important.”
Nicks said there had been an under-investment in sovereign systems. With data becoming more of a commodity, he believes sovereign systems is where there will be significant growth going forward.
