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The International Space Station
is, without question,

the jewel in the crown of low-Earth orbit.

Observation post, research lab,
and classroom all in one.

But many other assets orbiting Earth

are even more important
to our everyday lives...

delivering communications,
weather observation,

global positioning
and resource management.

And the list is growing every year.

Chances are you are watching
this program via satellite

in one way or another,

either transmitted directly or indirectly

to your television, iPad, laptop or phone.

In other words, you're using technology
once considered science fiction.

Pushing the envelope,
technology must keep up with demand.

More data,
more reliability and real time connection.

Space-destined hardware and technology
are on the cutting edge of science,

often introducing new methods
of gathering scientific information.

Demonstrator missions
are regularly sent up,

flying new engineering solutions
to prove the hardware in situ,

even without a specific goal in mind.

Technology goes through
a whole development cycle

which we call
the seamless train of innovation.

We start from the idea
and we work along to develop it

through our work in the labs,

through the work of industry

and especially of small
and medium industries,

which are the vectors of innovation,

but at the end, you need to prove
that it works in the real place, space.

And in order to do that, we use missions

that can take the risk
of flying unproven technology

and demonstrate
to the larger missions that they work.

Research laboratories focusing
on the next generation of space hardware

are dotted around the globe.

The UK's Space Gateway, Harwell Campus,

the ESA-RAL
Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory supports cutting-edge research
and development.

The purpose
of the laboratory

is, basically, to assess and pre-screen
candidate materials and processes

for future space missions.

So this will guide ESA
as well as the space community

in focusing their technology investments
in the right area.

The lab has extensive
on-site testing facilities,

such as the ISIS Neutron Source,
the Diamond Light Source synchrotron

and the UK's Central Laser Facility.

This year will bring the first launch
of a satellite

using the SmallGEO platform,
Hispasat 36W-1.

SmallGEO, a telecommunications platform

accommodating a wide range
of payloads and missions,

has been developed in Germany
in a public-private partnership

between ESA,
OHB and the operator Hispasat.

It’s indeed because
Hispasat and ESA were able to join forces

that we were able to develop a satellite
with such a level of innovation.

On the one hand, a new platform
with a new satellite prime contractor.

On the other hand, a payload embarking,
also, a high level of innovation.

And, all together,
this satellite has been developed.

It's going to be flown
and will provide very innovative services.

So, end to end,
the level of innovation is very high

and, indeed,
separately neither Hispasat nor ESA

would have been able to
undertake such a complex development.

With a SmallGEO,
what we have tried to achieve was, really,

to develop a new product in the low end
of the telecommunication market

and, at the same time, this new product
would allow a new prime contractor

to become a prominent player
of the satellite telecommunication market.

That's the OHB, which is
the prime contractor of this satellite.

This is a class of satellite that
only have electric propulsion on board,

which is a highly efficient system that
allows achieving important mass savings.

So, we are able
to put in space a satellite

with a similar capacity
of a full chemical one,

but with much lower mass,

which means less launcher cost and
compatibility with more launch vehicles.

And, again, this translates
into advantages for the operators

who have at their disposal,

more efficient technical solutions
for the mission.

But is a very flexible,

so it can also be used
for other geo stationary application.

Another scheduled event
in the telecom area

is the launch of EDRS-C. Expected by the end of the year.

EDRS-C is also based
on the SmallGEO platform

and will be the first dedicated satellite
for EDRS, the European Data Relay Service.

It will be the second element
of the laser relay "space data highway".

Low earth satellites encumbered
with line of sight communications

can beam their data upward
to geosynchronous satellites via laser,

which can then transmit the signal
to ground stations at any time.

The SmallGEO program
is just the first step for OHB.

OHB has already sold a number
of other telecommunication satellites

and, indeed,
this is the start of a product line

that will evolve over time
like any other product lines

of the other prime contractors
operating in the satellite telecom market.

Another area of research
has been in cost and time effectiveness

in developing satellites.

This has led to the CubeSat,
several of which have flown in space.

Measuring just 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters,
these small cubes, or nano-satellites,

have become extremely popular,

opening up new possibilities

for a wide range of groups
previously unable to access space.

We are a small group of students
with two professors and two coordinators

and we have 52 students who did
their master's thesis on this project.

It is a great project
for the students because it's the occasion

to apply practical stuff.

And not only the theoretical stuff
they have learned at school.

Our satellite
is a telecommunications satellite.

We use the D-STAR protocol for the radio
amateurs to communicate around the world.

This is really a special moment
when we can see that, finally,

the P-POD is installed on the platform
that will carry it to space

on board the Soyuz launcher.

So it's a great feeling to be
here in Kourou in French Guiana

with the satellites almost
in space and, nominally, ready to work.

Using off-the-shelf technology,

CubeSats have been launched from the ISS

and piggybacked
onto other satellite launches.

They will soon be deployed to Mars,
asteroids and further afield.

GPS is used every day
by people on the ground,

thanks to global positioning satellites
from the United States.

But GPS it is not
the only system in orbit.

Russia has the GLONASS constellation,

China have their own BeiDou system

and Europe is building
the Galileo Network.

The initial services is a stage
in the program

whereby there is sufficient infrastructure
is made available in space,

satellites around the globe,
who circle around.

Plus infrastructure on the ground

which control the satellites,
provides the navigation signals.

Enough of that infrastructure is ready
so that the systems can be used.

The use is still
not fully hundred percent,

hence the word "initial" services.

These constellations
are not exclusive.

Galileo will also use the GPS system
for even more accuracy

and the U.S. is tying in
with the Russian GLONASS

for extra-terrestrial services.

In other words,
they will enable spacecraft

to utilize the positioning system
in almost any orbit around the Earth.

Some of the signals

are available only
during a certain percentage of the day

the satellites move around
and not all of the day

you have sufficient satellites in sight.

But there is enough to start,

and this is a very important moment
in the program,

an excessively important moment,
because this actually shows to the world

that the system is really going well,

the performance we actually can provide
we know is excellent

and, of course, we will continue
building out the full constellation,

but the users can actually now
start using the satellite system.

The European Galileo
navigation system is nearing completion.

More satellites
will be launched this year,

adding to a constellation
which will eventually number 22.

Under initial services
there will be three services provided.

One is the so-called open service.

This is for the mass market.

This is where people will use
their smart phones,

their navigation devices in cars

which will have
Galileo-enabled chips inside

which will receive
both Galileo and GPS in combination.

And it is the combination
of the two systems

which will be used
to determine the position of the user.

Before ESA and the European Commission
when we started with satellite navigation

it was, of course, not quite clear

how really important
satellite navigation was going to be.

And we had studies,
we had our insights in it,

and we knew
that it would be important,

but now we really see how important it is,

particularly looking
in the future where we're gonna have...

we're gonna need to have

a sufficiently developed
satellite navigation infrastructure

to support autonomous driving
and all sorts of other applications.

NASA has already developed
specialized GPS receivers

for space application.

The Navigator Receiver
from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

first flew in 2009
and proved to be very successful.

A number of future missions
in HEO, GEO and MEO

plan to work with this receiver,

using its high sensitivity signal
acquisition and tracking capabilities.

NASA's JPL has also
developed the BlackJack flight GPS,

now being flown aboard
an Argentine satellite

the system looks at how the GPS radio
signal is distorted or delayed

along its path.

A typical GPS signal can plot a position
to within around 22 yards.

BlackJack can pinpoint
its host satellite continuously

to an accuracy of about one inch.

Eighteen receivers are on orbit,

while another system under development,
called the Triple GNSS, or Tri-G,

will be able
to track GPS and GNSS signals

including the Russian GNSS and European
Galileo navigation constellations.

All of our spacefaring nations
continue their Earth observation work

in collaboration
with a number of organizations.

The refinement of orbital positioning
and unhindered high speed communications

mean more new technologies craft

are being added
to the armada of observation satellites.

They include Europe's Copernicus Programme

with no fewer
than three Sentinel satellite launches.

In March, Sentinel-2B will be launched

carrying a wide-swath,
high-definition multispectral imager.

With Sentinel-2A already on orbit,

both Sentinel-2 satellites
will monitor land cover, vegetation

and water pollution.

Now that we get Sentinel-2B
to fly together with Sentinel-2A

there's a couple
of improvements that we get.

So far, we have a revisit of ten days
with Sentinal-2B

we will have a revisit of five days,

that means we see every spot
on the Earth every five days.

That will help, of course, also,
to avoid the clouds,

or to have the chances higher
to have no clouds,

in the various regions of the world.

Both together Sentinal-2A and 2B

will also improve the performance
of the services that are using the data.

Sentinel-2B is contributing
to a constellation of Sentinel satellites

which really provides data
over decades in different domains

and with different instruments onboard.

So, therefore, we're building up
a fully operational system

which is enough incentive for industry

to invest and to rely on
this information in the future.

Sentinel-2A is already
supporting a lot of applications.

They are ranging from,
for example, agricultural applications

where we can do yield forecast,

to forest monitoring where we,
for example, see deforestation.

And besides that,
there is plenty of other applications

like inland water where
we can look at the quality of the water.

We can support river monitoring,

but also coastal areas where we
look at changes in the coastal regions.

On top of that, we recently changed, also,
to acquire the Antarctic regions,

where we are, also,
now looking at ice and glaciers.

Later in the year
two more Sentinels,

Sentinel-5P and Sentinel-3B, will follow.

The Sentinel-5 Precursor mission

is a satellite dedicated
to monitoring our atmosphere

at a high temporal
and spectral resolution.

It also offers
increased cloud-free observation.

The second satellite,
which is a replica of the first one,

is, of course,
shorter to develop and to test.

The main thought when we developed
a new system,

is put on the first spacecraft

where you discover, basically, all
the early problems in equipment production

software validation,
integration and test.

All the specifications,
plans, test procedures are ready

whenever you start building
the second spacecraft

is, of course, a large benefit.

The second spacecraft, let's say,
was realized in one and half year time.

The cost, of course,
of a recurring spacecraft

is much cheaper
than protoflight spacecraft.

You could say, basically,
is 50% of the price of the first one.

Sentinel-3B
is a multi-instrument mission

to measure sea-surface topography,

sea and land-surface temperature
and ocean and land color.

We are addressing a number of issues that
relate to the development of new science

but also operation missions.

For example, the Earth Explorer missions,

the scientific missions, but also
we are preparing the next generation

of Sentinel missions for Copernicus.

In the next five to ten years
in Earth observation,

we will face a number of challenges,
some of them coming from outside.

Dictator, constellations,

commercial companies
entering our domain.

And I think there we really have to see,
as ESA, as European Space Agency,

a public institution, how we can
best react to these external challenges

and position ourselves with our programs

to really address these challenges
from our perspective.

Demonstrating new laser
technology,

ESA is launching
the ADM-Aeolus satellite.

ADM stands
for Atmospheric Dynamics Mission.

It will provide global observation
of wind profiles.

With this mission,
ESA hopes to further our knowledge

of the Earth’s atmosphere
and weather systems.

Space is a hazardous place.

A key part
of maintaining reliable satellite services

is keeping a weather eye out.

The Earth is constantly being bombarded
by damaging solar storms

and charged particles
ejected from the Sun.

This could knock out satellites

and even communications systems
and power grids on the ground.

Geomagnetic storms,

solar x-ray and proton flux,

coronal mass ejections,

and sunspots...

all are monitored continuously.

The Earth is also surrounded
by a cloud of debris

from sixty years
of human space activities.

Space junk
which could also damage satellites.

Near-Earth objects also threaten the Earth
and could collide with our planet.

All these threats are monitored

under ESA’s
Space Situational Awareness program,

which the Operations Directorate
hopes to see continuing to evolve.

We want to protect our assets
in orbit and on Earth

against impacts from space.

Maybe from space weather
or risks from near-Earth objects

and we also want
to protect our spacecraft in orbit

from risks, for example,
coming from space debris.

The Inter-Agency Space Debris
Coordination Committee, or IADC,

is a forum of 14 nations
brought together to exchange information

and to research various aspects
of this problem.

Numerous working groups
are studying methods of protection

and threat mitigation.

No matter what hardware
is orbiting Earth it can only make scientific observations.

Only our human perception
of the beauty that lies below

can help us fully appreciate
the planet we call home.