Τhe Agricultural University of Athens participates in the "National Microsatellite Program" with the GIS Research Unit and Scientific Responsible Prof. D. Kalivas

The contracts between the European Space Agency (ESA) and five consortia were signed on November 14, 2024 at the Ministry of Digital Governance, within the framework of the "National Microsatellite Program" where the GIS Research Unit of the Agricultural University of Athens participates in the development of digital services for the agricultural sector together with the companies: AgroApps PC, Space Hellas, TotalView, EOFARM, Cloud Signals.  Greece acquires a Government Space Hub as well as services and products for the needs of critical sectors of the State.

                    The signing took place in the presence of the Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou, Deputy Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis, as well as the General Secretary of Telecommunications and Posts Konstantinos Karantzalos. On behalf of ESA, the Head of the National Earth Observation Microsatellite Program, Svein-Jarle Lokas, signed the agreements.

                    The contracts signed include a comprehensive geoinformation system development initiative for geospatial services, designed to meet the national needs of the Greek public sector.

                    More specifically, it includes the development of a Government Space Hub for the processing and distribution of satellite data, as well as a series of specialized services and products in five different sectors: agriculture, forests, water, land and security.

                    In this context, thermal, optical and SAR data from the Microsatellites (which will be launched as part of the Axis 1 and 2 projects) will be used to draw up more effective policies in the aforementioned sectors, while data from European and international satellite missions.

                    The Axis 3 budget, covering the contracts signed, is 17 million euro. It is financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" and implemented in collaboration with ESA. With this investment, Greece becomes stronger in the field of space technology and applications related to civil protection and crisis response.

                    Reliable services will be provided in both the public and private sectors for decision support, resource management and natural disaster response.

                    The Agricultural University of Athens participates in the development of geospatial services for agriculture with the scientific responsible, Professor Dr. Dionissios Kalsvas. Services include accurate mapping of crop types, soil moisture estimation and crop growth monitoring.

                    This information will support agricultural management, contributing to crop yield predictions and the management of irrigation systems. Thus, with the application of microsatellite data processing models, which will be specially developed incorporating artificial intelligence methods, agricultural operators will have the most complete picture of proper crop development and better production management.

                    It is worth noting that the implementation of Axis 3 of the "National Microsatellite Program" is carried out entirely by Greek companies and agencies, supporting the national technological capacity and strengthening the autonomous management of critical information.

ESA - ESA signs contracts advancing Greece’s Earth observation capabilities