Global Disaster Management Going Smarter: AI Satellites Take Charge
20th Oct 2024
The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a new satellite project to monitor natural disasters. Officials announced this on 15 October at Milan’s 75th International Astronautical Congress.
New AI Disaster Response Project
The Ciseres mission is part of the Serenity project, a ground-based network of interconnected nodes that provides seamless access to space and ground resources to better respond to crises. These projects are being implemented under ESA’s Civil Security from Space (CSS) programme.

Ciseres is designed to enhance satellites’ ability to alert first responders and government officials within minutes of natural disasters such as floods, fires, and landslides. Significant reductions in crisis response times will be achieved by applying artificial intelligence (AI).
European Partnership to Address Global Climate Crises
To realise Ciseres, ESA has partnered with three European companies to provide their technological capabilities and expertise.
- Spanish technology company Elecnor Deimos, a provider of integrated missions for small satellites, is leading and co-funding the mission. It will offer expertise in peripheral artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- Czech company GINA, a provider of emergency response software-as-a-service, will develop the Earth observation platform.
- Skylabs, a satellite computer company from Slovenia, will provide onboard computers and high-performance computing capabilities.
Space Innovations In the Service of Disaster Control
Today, satellites play a crucial role in disaster management by providing satellite-based monitoring and communications when terrestrial networks are down or inaccessible for affected regions or in remote, hard-to-reach areas.
However, often due to the time-consuming processing of vast amounts of data collected from various satellite sensors, emergency crews and first responders receive critical decision-making information with long delays.
To address this problem, Ciseres is implementing AI-based data processing directly onboard the satellite. The AI system acts as an intelligent filter, analysing continuous satellite data streams and identifying the most relevant information for emergency response.
By rapidly compressing this data, AI facilitates rapid transmission to the appropriate authorities, reducing delays to minutes.
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