Highly responsive space and ground systems: new opportunities for disasters management

Paper number

IAC-19,B5,2,3,x49858

Author

Mr. Gil Denis, France, Airbus Defence and Space

Coauthor

Mr. Laurent Montoya, France, Airbus Defence and Space

Coauthor

Dr. Giovanni Occhipinti, France, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

Coauthor

Mr. Gunter Schreier, Germany, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)

Coauthor

Dr. Antonio Ciccolella, Italy, European Space Agency (ESA)

Coauthor

Dr. Kazuya Kaku, Japan, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Coauthor

Prof. Koji Suzuki, Japan, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

Year

2019

Abstract

This paper analyses the feasibility of innovative space‐based systems supporting the prevention and
management of disasters, focusing on early warning, alert and emergency response.
The new space systems (current ones or planned in a near future), based on small and large
constellations, high performance communication links and powerful ground segments, enable high
resolution, low latency and real time applications. They can be key components of integrated
applications for risks and disasters management and could drastically improve the performance of
emergency response services and their use in the most critical part of the crisis cycle.
After a presentation of the state of the art in emergency response and early warning, the second part
of the paper reviews the new trends in space systems, technologies and innovative applications:
‐ The evolution of Earth observation, communication and navigation satellites with small and large
constellations, with high revisit or low latency solutions.
‐ The availability of operational missions with new sensors (e.g. ionosphere monitoring,
meteorology, machine to machine, etc.)
‐ The development of new services based on massive data analytics (big data) and artificial
intelligence (e.g. machine learning).
Third part presents the recent research work on the potential use of GNSS‐TEC and airglow cameras:
they could improve the tsunami warning systems by introducing ionospheric observations as new
way to estimate the tsunami risk.
Based on these trends and results, we discuss new opportunities triggered by these developments
focusing on early warning and alert and emergency response. Our perspective is the feasibility of
new integrated applications, combining Earth Observation, meteorology, navigation and
communications, applied to disaster management, from tasking and data acquisition to transmission
of informations to warning centers and decision makers. The importance of the ground systems and
the integration with non space data and solutions is emphasized. A tentative road map is also
proposed. One of the first objectives would be to implement a regional preoperational prototype in
order to confirm the promising scientific results. Capacity gaps and needs for future developments
are also identified.
The last part of the paper addresses the impact on governance, in a context of international or
regional cooperation and increasing role of commercial actors, whereas disaster management is
usually under the responsibility of institutional actors: possible evolutions of existing schemes at
international (e.g. Copernicus or International Charter Space and Major Disasters) or regional level
are discussed.

Abstract document

IAC-19,B5,2,3,x49858.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-19,B5,2,3,x49858.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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