Four new initiatives to boost Spain’s Earth observation sector

As the result of an ESA-dedicated commercialisation campaign for Spain, the InCubed Programme signed four new contracts with IVSEN, HAPSEYE, CrossBandInsights, and DVSTAI. From energy infrastructure monitoring to security and geospatial object detection, these projects reflect the growing impact of Earth observation data across key sectors.

Following the success of the last dedicated call for Spain, four initiatives signed a contract with the ESA InCubed programme. This call, launched in collaboration with the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), offered different levels of co-funding to develop innovative and commercially viable Earth observation products and services, while benefitting from the European Space Agency’s technical, commercial and financial guidance.

IVSEN is an advanced satellite-based monitoring solution tailored for energy infrastructure operators. It integrates a very-high-resolution payload (< 50 cm) with reduced mass and volume, along with agile observation modes for flexible operations. An on-board pre-processing algorithm works in tandem with the ground-based processing chain to generate specialised data products and analytics. This project is being developed by a consortium – SATLANTIS, Alén Space, DHV Technology, and GeoAI – with direct contributions from users such as Iberdrola to ensure the system meets real operational needs.

“IVSEN represents a strategic milestone for SATLANTIS, as it strengthens our capabilities in very high-resolution Earth observation — a core technology for the company’s future. We are grateful to ESA for their trust and support in driving this project forward, and for enabling us to deliver an agile solution that will help energy operators and other users monitor and safeguard their critical infrastructures,” stated Juan Tomas Hernani, CEO of SATLANTIS.

ICEYE delivers synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data worldwide through its fleet of satellites, supporting applications such as land use monitoring, border surveillance and environmental monitoring. To expand this capability, the company is developing HAPSEYE, a solar-powered, fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate at altitudes above 20 km for extended periods.

Equipped with a SAR payload, HAPSEYE will complement ICEYE’s satellite constellation by providing persistent, high-resolution imaging that overcomes current limitations in coverage and resolution. This next-generation platform will improve disaster response, security and environmental monitoring. The activity is planned to begin after the test campaign of HAPS Prototype-1, scheduled for late 2025.

“As a pioneer in SAR imaging radar satellite innovation, we are delighted to have been chosen for ESA’s InCubed programme in Spain. Initiatives like this are crucial for accelerating technological advancement and strengthening European competitiveness in the Earth Observation sector – objectives that resonate strongly with our mission at ICEYE. This commitment is underlined by the high-altitude platform station project we are taking on as part of the programme, designed to aid European natural disaster response and Earth Observation capabilities,” stated Lauri Väin, VP of High-Altitude Platforms at ICEYE.

TRE ALTAMIRA delivers satellite radar (SAR) displacement measurements and mapping solutions for sectors such as civil engineering, mining, oil, and gas. Its product, CrossBandInsights, enhances current single-frequency band interferometric SAR (InSAR) products, by combining X- and C-band observations with higher spatial and temporal observations to improve ground movement monitoring. This allows for engineering firms and authorities to detect subtle changes, supporting smarter infrastructure maintenance decisions and strengthening risk management with enhanced spatial and temporal coverage.

“InCubed Spain has given us the unique opportunity to turn our vision into a concrete product that will bring tangible benefits to the Earth observation market. CrossBandInsights addresses a critical need by merging multi-mission C-band and X-band InSAR data to provide more accurate and timely insights on ground deformation,” commented Roberto Montalti, Project Manager at TRE ALTAMIRA.  

“This innovation will support civil engineering companies and public authorities in ensuring infrastructure safety and resilience. We see this project as a clear example of how public funding can be effectively invested to foster innovation, create market-ready solutions, and strengthen Europe’s position in the space sector,” Roberto added.

Thales Alenia Space, a global leader in space manufacturing, has been delivering advanced solutions in telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation, environmental management, science and orbital infrastructures for over 40 years. Among its innovations is DVSTAI (Deeper Vision Self-Trained AI), an evolution of the SatHound project, designed to overcome the limitations of current geospatial object detection methods: traditional approaches often require expert intervention for model design, training, and deployment, making the process slow, costly, and vulnerable to risks such as unauthorised access or data leakage.

DVSTAI addresses these challenges by leveraging deep learning techniques, allowing even non-AI or non-Earth observation specialists to autonomously train and use models through a user-friendly software solution. These models can be tailored to specific applications, including object detection, change detection, and semantic segmentation.

“DVSTAI is a user-centric AI solution that empowers non-technical users to autonomously create, train, and deploy AI models for object detection and vision tasks over satellite imagery. It simplifies the process, reduces costs, and enhances security by eliminating the need for dedicated AI engineers to develop high performing vision models, making it an invaluable tool for EO analysts and service providers,” commented Julian Cobos, Product Line Manager at Thales Alenia Space Spain.

“Thanks to the ESA InCubed programme, Thales Alenia Space will develop new key capabilities for object detection in Very High Resolution (VHR) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and bring DVSTAI solution to the public Cloud in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, making it accessible for any user to set-up object detection campaigns over open and commercial data sources,” Julian added.

To know more: ESA InCubed, Spanish Space Agency (AEE)

Photo courtesy of Unsplash/Chris Boland