To infinity and beyond

Insuring farmers’ crops is one of the many uses for satellite technology, enabling insurance companies to gauge quickly and accurately from a space observed photo exactly where flood damage has occured

Our intrepid experts look at the next big steps in earth observation and navigation

(Article taken from our customer magazine, Momentum)

Final frontier though it may be, the space sector now offers opportunities beyond traditional areas such as telecommunications. Mott MacDonald’s intrepid experts consider the forthcoming major advances that are set to skyrocket.

“The next big development is in earth observation and navigation.”
Liam Martin

Liam Martin“The next big development is in earth observation and navi-gation,” states Liam Martin from our information, communi-cations and media (ICM) consultancy team. “It’s a push driven by the need to have reliable sources of information. At the moment there are a lot of fragmented sources to draw on for environmental monitoring, security and disaster aware-ness, but earth observation gives a complete picture.”

The application of earth observation is particularly promoted by the European Union, with satellite being the perfect tool as it allows coverage of a wide area, providing a predicted economic advantage of billions of Euros.

“Traditionally space sector projects have been publicly funded,” explains fellow ICM consultant Pier Lion Stoppato, “but afterwards they have to become commercially self sustaining. That’s often where we come in, doing a lot of work advising the lenders. In a sense earth observation is at the stage where people are trying to find applications.”

Insuring farmers’ crops is one of the many uses for this technol-ogy, enabling insurance companies to gauge quickly and accurate-ly from a space observed photo exactly where flood damage has occured. In this sector, Mott MacDonald is working as the lender’s technical consultant for the German based RapidEye satellite system, which consists of five satellites, ground stations, a data processing centre and internet-based information distribution to provide the most current, cost-effective and high quality information about features on the earth’s surface. Despite the emergence of new applications for satellite technology, communications still provides a backbone for the industry. “At the moment we’re working on providing mobile broadband for a major UK train operating company,” reveals Liam. “Mobile television is another new market. There’s currently a number of competing standards, and there’s no reason why satellite shouldn’t be used to deliver content.”

Broadcast currently accounts for the largest slice of satellite traffic and with the advent of High-Definition this is only going to increase. Pier contemplates the effect this might have on the industry. “There is a convergence of different services such as telephony, video and data. These previously separate services, which were often provid-ed by different technologies, are now being considered simply as data and can be delivered by any of the different types of systems, enabling competition between different technologies such as cable and satellite. It will also enable new services, or new options for the services currently available. Having a new way of doing things opens up a whole new world.”