World Space Alliance Continues to Strengthen

The ESA–SAP World Space Alliance continues to grow as Airbus Defence and Space, the Environmental Systems Research Institute and GeoVille join the partnership.

Earlier this year, SAP – a German-based multinational software corporation – and ESA created the World Space Alliance (WSA). This was another milestone in the ESA—SAP partnership that was initiated in 2016.

Following a meeting in Toulouse, France, on 27 September, the WSA partnership continues to grow and strengthen with the addition of Airbus Defence and Space, via its product line Intelligence, Environmental Systems Research Institute, an international supplier of geographic information system software, and GeoVille, a satellite-based land-monitoring company.

With a wealth of data coming from satellite missions, which are pertinent to climate and environmental monitoring, this new partnership will identify new ways and means to promote the development of innovative business ideas enriched with Earth observation data.

By integrating satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinels, ESA Earth observation missions and satellite data provided by the WSA partners onto the SAP cloud platform, the partnership allows easy access, networking and commercial distribution of data and products worldwide.

This not only promotes technological advances and data innovation, but also opens up enormous opportunities for the business sector – bridging the gap between Earth observation and the digitalised business world.

Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, “Earth observation is one of the fastest growing domains in space. Today, we have taken the next step to make the World Space Alliance a success story in the dramatically changing field of Earth observation.

“With the addition of Airbus Defence and Space, Environmental Systems Research Institute and GeoVille to the World Space Alliance, the original ESA and SAP initiative is now evolving into a powerful tool to make innovative business and societal solutions available in a digital marketplace, to develop many application services.

“The inclusion of additional parties is a cornerstone of the World Space Alliance agreement. Airbus Defence and Space, Environmental Systems Research Institute and GeoVille will provide complementary capabilities in their respective field of competence, and I look forward to enhancing this collaboration, paving the way for further additions to this alliance."