A consortium of seven European suppliers: T-Systems (leader), CloudFerro, Sinergise, VITO, German Space Agency DLR, ACRI-ST and RHEA will perform a contract for the creation and ongoing provision of services within the largest Earth observation data ecosystem – Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem CloudFerro reported. A new initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission will provide free, open and immediate access to vast amounts of current and historical Earth observation data, which will significantly impact the long-term development of Europe’s science, economy and society. It is also the largest contract with ESA in the Polish space sector.
“The Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem will be a milestone for the Earth observation community, bringing benefits to researchers, companies and institutions in Europe and around the world. We are proud to play a key role in a unique European initiative. We bring both our competences and extensive experience, as well as data storage and processing resources in our own cloud to the new ecosystem. We have built both over the years in other projects carried out for leading institutions in Europe, such as ESA or EUMETSAT,” said CloudFerro CEO Maciej Krzyżanowski, quoted in the release.
The Copernicus program is a key element of the European Union’s space programme. Commissioned by the European Union, ESA has sent into orbit and maintains the Copernicus system, i.e. a constellation of Earth observation satellites, including satellites for optical, radar, meteorological and spectrographic observations.
The total value of the 6-year contract, which can be extended to 10 years, is EUR 150 million. The platform is expected to be fully functional from July 2023.
CloudFerro provides innovative cloud computing services. It provides and supports cloud computing for demanding markets, including for the European space industry, climate research and science. It specializes in the storage and processing of large data sets, including multi-petabyte Earth observation satellite data repositories.