Space for Safe Life and Infrastructure

A feasibility study on the protection of coastal infrastructures

The project “Space for Safe Life and Infrastructure along coasts and estuaries” will assess the technical and economic viability of satellite based services for reducing the vulnerability and negative environmental impact of critical coastal infrastructures such as ports, dams, dikes and flood defense systems.

IMDC and VITO have experience in using satellite images to prepare comprehensive numerical modelling that has been used in protecting the critical infrastructures. IMDC has worked closely together with VITO  in previous projects.

IMDC together with VITO aim to jointly develop a web based “ECOSPACE” tool with the capacity to integrate Earth observation (EO) data with field observations to protect critical infrastructure to natural events and reduce vulnerability of local economies and valuable ecosystems.

ECOSPACE tool will be web based and accessible to all interested users via the Internet. The tool will process satellite images which will be validated by local data and images taken by drone technology.

ECOSPACE will be capable of detecting changes of the asset at risk and allow our customers to better understand the risk exposure. The tool combined with drone validated data will be also able to support damage. An early warning mechanism will be an integral part of the tool.

Our customers will benefit from downloadable high-resolution 3D models and shoreline change maps for detecting morphological changes and erosion occurrence along specific coastal and river sites that have critical infrastructure.

The project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and led by IMDC.