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It was recently announced that UKDMCii is leading the new European Space Agency (ESA) project ‘Integrating Space Assets for UK Civil Resilience’ to design and build a system that will put space-based systems at the ‘UK civil resilience community’s’ disposal. The project is to run for approximately 14 months.

The UK civil resilience community is tasked with responding to and recovering from disasters and emergencies listed in the UK National Risk Register. The project’s main focus will be flood scenarios due to the serious flooding in summer 2007 which cost the UK an estimated £3 billion, with more than 55,000 homes and businesses inundated and hundreds of thousands of homes losing power or water.

The project is part of ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme and will be integrating space assets such as:

• Earth observation
• Satellite communications
• Satellite navigation

Adina Gillespie of DMCii said, “The IAP is intended to engage directly with users who are not necessarily familiar with the benefits of space systems; our project definitely follows that lead”. “It will be a bespoke tool to include in the tool-kit available to emergency responders and decision makers. It can’t be too complicated – in the midst of a disaster there will be no time for picking up new skills such as interpreting satellite imagery”.

The system’s final shape will be determined based on user requirements, but it will give responders strong situational awareness using the following services in combination:

• Rapid mapping of affected areas using satellite imagery
• Bolstering resilience of communication networks using satellite communications
• Enhancing traffic management for evacuations and other activities
• Coordinating intelligence for asset management, with everything from ambulances and trucks to flood barriers tagged with GPS

The UK Space Agency is taking a close interest in the project, having made integrated applications of space assets a national priority. The Agency also supports related programmes such as the International Charter for space and major disasters and the Global monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) through the work with ESA and the European Union.

(UK Space Agency, 15 September 2010)