Earth Observation Services

Starion's Earth observation (EO) experts work on services and programmes that exploit satellite EO data, supporting the full lifecycle from creation to data archiving and end-of-life. Starion combines software engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning with more than three decades of space-sector experience to provide scientific, technical and system engineering support to national and international organisations, including critical infrastructures.

Key capabilities:

• Copernicus services for ESA: As the Copernicus Space Component Integrator Service, Starion identifies evolving user needs and turns them into technical requirements. It plans the onboarding of new Copernicus Contributing Missions and data suppliers, and monitors Sentinel mission quality and day-to-day operations. Starion also operates NEXUS, an OData-standard catalogue for discovering and retrieving EO data, and integrates Contributing Mission datasets into the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.
• EO projects and R&D: Starion supports ESA and EUMETSAT on Destination Earth (DestinE), the digital twin of the Earth. Its projects include MIDAS, which develops synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing methods to reveal failures in critical infrastructure such as roads, railway bridges and high-voltage powerlines. ORCS provides AI-based object recognition and classification from satellite imagery for the RACE (Rapid Action for Citizens with EO) platform. AlignSAR provides open, FAIR SAR datasets and tools.
• Crisis response (SAFEPLACE): Since 2024, Starion has led the design and development of SAFEPLACE, a platform under ESA's Civil Security from Space programme for wildfires, floods, toxic chemical spills and earthquakes. SAFEPLACE fuses satellite and drone imagery, IoT sensor networks and weather data with AI, including a chatbot-style Crisis Assistant, to give responders near real-time situational awareness. It was demonstrated in Belgium and Spain in 2025, and extensions for Luxembourg, Belgium and Spain began in 2026. The platform is due to be pre-operational in 2027 and fully operational in 2028.
• Mission engineering and operations support: Starion has provided spacecraft operations support at ESA's ESOC for EO missions including EarthCARE, CryoSat-2, Aeolus, Sentinel-1 and Swarm. It provides satellite engineering support to ESA's Earth Observation Programmes Directorate. For EUMETSAT, it supports requirements, architecture and operations for Metop/EPS-SG, Meteosat and Copernicus Sentinel-3, -4, -5 and -6.
• ESA Φ-lab and platform support (PLES): Starion defines procurement and spin-in opportunities, carries out independent validation and verification, and monitors platform performance and metrics.