CGI is deepening its 12-year partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to enhance scientific access to vital Earth data from space. In a project led by Serco, CGI is contributing engineering and cybersecurity services to ESA’s Advanced Data Access and Processing Services for Collaborative Earth Observation Ground Segment (Ascend) initiative. One notable part of this is their work on the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP), which gives scientists access to critical biomass data from NASA and ESA.
About half of CGI’s Earth observation work supports ESA, backed partly by the UK Space Agency. This includes processing satellite imagery, managed by a team of 400 staff in Leatherhead and Bristol. Jaime Reed, CGI’s vice-president of consulting services for space data platforms, describes the company’s focus on environmental monitoring, handling satellite controls, data reception, and onboard software development.
Reed’s expertise stems from a background in physics and atmospheric studies. Before joining CGI, he developed cryogenic coolers for satellites and worked with Airbus on satellite projects. His experience positions him well to contribute to CGI’s efforts in satellite data processing, especially as weather forecasts increasingly rely on satellite data.
CGI works with a variety of organizations in the space sector, including the Met Office and several smaller entities. While just over half of CGI’s space business revolves around satellite communications, the company’s role includes writing the software to control satellites and providing IT services as part of a broad operational framework centered on data centers.
CGI’s relationship with ESA began in 2012, with the company responsible for software maintenance related to environmental monitoring and research satellites. Since then, the volume of data has surged, driven by the growing number of increasingly complex satellites being launched by ESA.
The rise in data volume is a key factor behind CGI’s current efforts with ESA under the Ascend program. Reed emphasizes that the sheer amount of data is overwhelming, making it challenging to share with researchers. It’s no longer feasible for researchers to simply download files from an FTP site; now, even a single file can reach a terabyte in size.
To tackle this, CGI is transitioning everything to a cloud-based infrastructure that supports scalable environments. They’re creating a collaborative virtual research space where researchers can work directly with the data, rather than transferring massive files. This allows them to utilize their algorithms in a shared environment with other experts, fostering collaboration across the Earth observation landscape, including connections between UK and European researchers and top scientists globally.