EOcafe: Destination Earth

Thursday 30th June 2022

16:00-17:00 CEST

Join us in the EOcafe to understand what is planned under the Destination Earth initiative and what role industry can potentially play.

What is Destination Earth?

The EU has launched an initiative called Destination Earth (DestinE) which aims to develop – on a global scale – a highly accurate digital model of the Earth to monitor and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities. As part of the European Commission’s Green Deal and Digital Strategy, DestinE will contribute to achieving the objectives of the twin transition, green and digital.

Destination Earth will help scientists and policymakers to understand the complex interactions that the environment and humans will play in shaping Earth’s future. Destination Earth will also form the baseline for effective European adaptation strategies in support of the green transition, helping the EU reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and the implementation of the European Commission’s Green Deal and Digital Strategy.

Users of DestinE, including non-scientific experts, will be able to access and interact with vast amounts of Earth system and socio-economic data in order to:

• Perform highly accurate, interactive and dynamic simulations of the Earth system,
• Improve prediction capabilities
• Support EU policymaking and implementation
• Exploit the potential of distributed and high-performance computing (HPC) and data handling at extreme scale

Europe’s industrial and technological capabilities will be reinforced through, for example, the simulation and observation of the entire Earth system and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for data analytics and predictive modelling.

Key Elements and Roles:

The initiative is led by the EC with 3 designated partners playing key roles. The main components of the DestinE system are:

• The Core Service Platform is a user-friendly platform that will rely on the most comprehensive and sophisticated space-based observation data, including data from ESA’s Earth Explorers, the Copernicus Sentinel series, data from ECMWF and, over time, other major data holdings in Europe. DestinE service operations will be the responsibility of the European Space Agency (ESA).
• The Data Lake underpinning DestinE, will provide access to the data needed for the Digital Twins and the Core Service Platform operations and it will host user data, shared with the DestinE user community The Data Lake will be operated by EUMETSAT.
• The Digital Twins – digital replicas of the highly complex Earth systems will provide users with tailored access to high-quality knowledge for user-specific scenario development for decision support. The Digital Twins will be developed by the ECMWF.

EOcafe:

It is very early in the life of the programme, but industry is naturally curious about the DestinE initiative and what role(s) companies can play: as suppliers of data, as providers of resources, as users able to exploit the results in business etc. Come and learn more about it from one of the key partners, ESA, to hear more about the core service platform together with their perspective on how this fits within a more general overview of the programme.

Join us in the EOCafe where our host Geoff Sawyer (EARSC Strategic Advisor and former Secretary General) will be in conversation with Nicolaus Hanowski (Head of ESA Mission Management & Ground Segment Department).

Some of the key topics are:

• What are the goals of the DestinE initiative?
• How is the development being organised?
• What are the key roles of each of the partners?
• What data will be integrated and available from the DestinE?
• How can industry be involved?
• What should industry do to be able to exploit the results of the project in a commercial environment? – and when?

Registration: The webinar is open to ALL but priority will be given to EARSC members. Registration is free but compulsory. Please click on the following link to register.

Registration link

Please note this is a virtual event!

EOcafe is part of a series of EARSC meetings that offer timely, relevant, and practical information on a broad variety of topics related to the EO sector. Join us every two weeks to discuss and network while enjoying a cup of coffee with friends.

IMPORTANT NOTES!!!

• The use of a video camera is not mandatory but encouraged to facilitate better interaction among the attendees and the guest speaker(s).
• The EOcafe will stay open after 17:00 in case our guests want to continue the discussion.
• By registering for this event, you accept the terms and conditions (https://earsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/EARSC_Events_GDPR.pdf).

If you have any questions, and/or you want to know more about the EOcafe, and/or you want to share an idea about a future EOcafe, please contact Natassa (natassa.antoniou@earsc.org).

Author: EARSC