The ORIGINAL (OpeRatIonal Ground motion INsar ALliance) consortium led by e-GEOS has been awarded a Framework Service Contract by the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the implementation of the latest Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) portfolio component, the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS).
The contract will last for 4 years at a volume of approximately 6 million Euros.
The EGMS will provide nearly pan-European detailed information on ground motion, based on interferometric analyses of radar observations acquired by the Sentinel-1 satellites of the European Earth Observation programme Copernicus.
It will be capable of identifying and monitoring short- and long-term ground motions caused by natural phenomena such as tectonics, soil subsidence and landslides or by human activity such as underground mining, as well as to detect critical infrastructure motion (e.g. bridges).
The data and products generated by the EGMS will be made available and accessible through an easy-to-handle user interface to citizens and organisations worldwide – just as is already the case for most Copernicus products – providing crucial information for a better understanding of ground motion related risks on a local, regional and European scale.
ORIGINAL is a consortium combining interferometric radar expertise of the main partners e-GEOS, the Norwegian Research Centre (NORCE), the Italian company TRE Altamira and the German service provider company GAF, supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Geological Survey of Norway, the Dutch company PPO.labs, the Hungarian Satellite Geodetic Observatory (SGO), the British Earth Metrics and by the Italian company Nhazca, a spin-off of the Sapienza University of Rome.
“ORIGINAL brings together unique expertise, experience and excellence in the European geo-information scene. It is a know-how that has been acknowledged by EEA through the high score assigned to us at the tender stage. The EGMS service is going to be integrated into the Land Monitoring Service of Copernicus, confirming the essential role of that programme in the provision of services to the advantage of all the European citizens”
Paolo Minciacchi, CEO of e-GEOS and Head of the Telespazio Geo-information Business Line.
Leonardo is one of the historical partners of the Copernicus programme both for the development of some infrastructures and payloads, as well as for management of several application services.
Since 2012, e-GEOS has led the European consortium, also including GAF and Telespazio Ibérica, which operates the Rapid Mapping of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), a service providing worldwide satellite maps and information of essential importance in case of emergencies or disasters. Recently, e-GEOS has signed an additional agreement with ESA for the continuation, throughout the year 2021, of the activities involving the acquisition of the data of the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions through the Matera Space Centre.