Starion Group has won a contract to develop and maintain a database of Earth observation (EO) space missions for the European Space Agency (ESA) to support analysis and planning of current and future EO missions. The mission reference database will contain information about all ESA EO missions, plus others operated by institutional and commercial space agencies.
Three regional offices across the Starion Group are collaborating to design and develop a database that will provide ESA with a holistic view of EO space missions. The Earth Observation Reference System Architecture Database (EORSA-DB) will offer a single point of access to information about the function and coverage of all EO missions, contributing to the planning of future missions. It will also help the Agency to better understand observation gaps and the related impact.
The database will hold key data on ESA and other European EO missions, such as their payloads, the types of measurements made by the onboard instruments and the scientific benefits provided by each one. For example, measuring concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere can help in the development of strategies to reduce air pollution. EO missions from non-European and commercial organisations will be added later.
Dr Armin Löscher, ESA Earth Observation System Architect, said: “The EORSA-DB will be an important tool for the ESA Earth Observation Directorate to map current and future capabilities against user needs for facilitating long-term planning and analysis. This includes helping us minimise the likelihood of gaps in the data we collect, as continuity of data is critical in helping us respond to escalating threats from climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and extreme weather. This aligns with our new Earth Observation Science Strategy, “Earth Science in Action for Tomorrow’s World”, which was published in September.”
The contract includes a 12-month development phase followed by 2 years’ maintenance. Led by Starion Nederland BV, which will build the database, the project includes inputs by Starion España S.L.U. and Starion Italia S.p.A. In addition, Starion will build a web application for users to interrogate the data, including options to generate GANTT charts and undertake “what-if” analyses, and will provide links to external tools.
Behind the scenes
The cross-region Starion team will employ model-based software engineering to develop EORSA-DB, using the Ecore modelling language supported by Starion’s EcoreNetto libraries and tools to generate code. They will also use the ESA SysML Solution – recently developed in a separate project for ESA – to capture requirements and create the software architecture.
Sam Gerené, Starion Competence Area Lead for Concurrent Design and MBSE, explained: “ESA has a broad range of EO missions, including Copernicus Sentinels, Earth Explorers, Scouts and Earth Watch, plus the EUMETSAT meteorological missions. Capturing information about all of these and making it available in a user-friendly format demonstrates the benefits of both our EcoreNetto and uml4net software libraries and the ESA SysML Solution that we have just completed for ESA, and highlights the value of our model-based software and system engineering approach, which is perfect for a project such as this.”
Find out more
- Starion model-based system engineering (MBSE) resources including EcoreNetto and uml4net
- ESA Earth observation missions
Main image credit: ESA
