GEOSAT is one of ESA’s suppliers of commercial Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery for rapid-response disaster monitoring and mitigation. Through its well-established membership of ESA’s Third Party Mission (TPM) programme, GEOSAT contributes the GEOSAT-1 and GEOSAT-2 satellites to the programme. Its imagery are freely accessible to the remote sensing science community for application development, upon acceptance of a project proposal by ESA.

GEOSAT-1 was launched in July 2009, and remains operational. The mission is fully dedicated to Earth observation and captures images all around the world. GEOSAT-1 provides mid-resolution, very-wide swath imagery.

GEOSAT-2 was launched in June 2014, and also remains operational. The mission provides very high-resolution imagery (at 0.75 m).

Let’s take a look at GEOSAT and its contribution to the TPM programme, by meeting one of its key team members: Mónica Diez Garcia, Director of Products and Services.

Born in Burgos (Spain) and now based in Valladolid, Mónica Díez holds an MSc in Telecommunications Engineering, and has over 15 years of international experience in the Space market, with technical, managerial and strategic responsibilities. She has a long expertise in leading international projects on remote sensing and information technology, including TPM and Copernicus projects.

ESA: What is GEOSAT?

Mónica: GEOSAT is one of the key European suppliers of Earth observation services, providing very high-resolution imagery and geospatial data through customer tailored services. Our mission is to provide reliable and accurate data that support a wide range of applications, including environmental monitoring, agriculture, urban planning and disaster management. With a focus on innovation and user satisfaction, GEOSAT aims to make Earth observation data more accessible and useful for diverse stakeholders worldwide.

ESA: What is your role in GEOSAT?

Mónica: As the Director of Products and Services at GEOSAT, I lead the team responsible for satellite operations and the provision of our products and services. My objectives are focused on maximising the value of our Earth observation products and services, through the coordination of our top-level engineering teams to keep up with the innovation and optimisation of procedures, so users can leverage our value-added information for their purposes.

ESA: How does GEOSAT support ESA’s Third Party Mission programme?

Mónica: GEOSAT has supported ESA’s Third Party Mission (TPM) programme since 2016, by providing high-quality Earth observation data that complement the datasets from ESA's own missions. Making our capacity and services accessible to public and research entities through TPM has supported the development of a number of applications built on top of our carpet-mapping coverages of significantly large regions, such as Spain and Portugal, enabling an easy and efficient access to information based on Earth observation data: it is considered as an “Earth observation  data democratisation”, which would foster the integration of the use of this kind of data for the benefit of  humankind. 

ESA: What benefits does the TPM programme provide to GEOSAT?

Mónica: The TPM programme offers significant benefits to GEOSAT, including enhanced visibility and credibility within the Earth observation user community. Being part of the programme allows us to reach a wider audience and demonstrate the value and reliability of our datasets. Additionally, the collaboration with ESA and research institutions fosters the internal innovation and continuous improvement, as we work together to meet the evolving needs of the scientific and operational communities.

ESA: What are the most exciting applications of this partnership between GEOSAT and ESA?

Mónica: It would be difficult to choose from, since we have collected data for such diverse applications throughout these years: from hydrological to desertification modelling, including quantification of carbon sequestration in pastures. But there would be one project that would have a special place in my heart, for the challenges and innovative procedures that triggered internally, which was the first Iberian Peninsula coverage performed in 2021.

This publicly available dataset addresses critical global challenges such as the environmental modelling, and urban mapping criteria, to be resilient to climate change, through a harmonised method. This approach seamlessly covers diverse ecosystems through a short period of time, and complements other Copernicus datasets with accurate sub-metric multispectral data.

But at this point, the most exciting applications are the ones that would be built upon by the next generation of GEOSAT satellites, providing even more detailed and timely datasets, and analytics capabilities based on AI (artificial intelligence), enabling more sophisticated analysis and actionable insights.

ESA: How did your studies shape your career and any last thoughts on your overall experience?

Mónica: I have always aspired to do my bit for a better future through my daily work. My career started with the analysis of medical imagery for improved diagnosis, and it eventually evolved into a deeper understanding of the world through Earth observation. TPM activities have allowed me and the rest of the GEOSAT team to connect with a wider set of applications that use our data to make a better world for everyone, and we are really excited to work along with ESA on this process.