Inspiring Luxembourg Earth Observation and integrated applications Day 2018 

On 19 April 2018, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) organised the 4th Luxembourg Earth Observation and Integrated Applications Day (LEO Day 2018) in Mondorf-les-Bains (LU), with the support of Copernicus Relays and DARES Technology S.L.

More than 160 participants took part in the conference that aimed at increasing awareness among users and service providers within the Greater Region of the potential that space technologies and Earth Observation (EO) offer in the domain of environmental monitoring and management.

Luxembourg aerospace industry – a rising star

For the Grand Duchy, the aerospace sector is an essential component of its high-tech sector. The country's 'stellar' ambitions reach back to the beginning of the 1980s, with the creation of SES Astra, which provided the stimulus for the setting up of a number of dynamic businesses in the aerospace sector. The Grand Duchy seeks to attract small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies active in this area by providing a committed support and specialised structures. LIST is one of them, detecting the best ideas and support for the sector. 

Today, Luxembourg has over 30 companies in the space industry located across its territory covering a wide range of activities. In this context, Luxembourg has been a member of the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2005, and is one of the largest financial contributors per capita, evidence of the government’s willingness to invest strategically in the development of the space industry. The Luxembourg space sector must remain more innovative in terms of new materials, new products and new services. 

LIST seizes the opportunity offered by space data for developing its offering. The Smart Space’s programme of the institute involves precision agriculture, resource management and natural risks monitoring, high performance material and space instrumentation.

LEO Day 2018 – Status of space applications

This year's edition addressed the current and future status of EO applications, for instance in the areas of crisis management, precision agriculture and environmental monitoring and management. A particular focus was put on the integration of satellite, airborne, UAV drones and in-situ data together with global navigation satellite systems and satellite-based communication systems.

Representatives from the private and public sectors, institutional entities and academia had the opportunity to present their activities in the EO domain. The conference was composed by 19 oral invited presentations and 30 posters. The opening session of the conference had representatives from the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy, in particular the Head of Space Affaires, the Luxemburg National Research Fund (FNR), ESA and the European Commission (EC). Additionally, the Luxembourg Collaborative Ground Segment, whose mission is the distribution of Sentinel data, was first presented. Finally, this session was concluded with a round table whose participants analysed the business opportunities in the field of EO. Then the rest of the conference was organised in three main themes:

• Crisis Management: Earth observation techniques to prevent, monitor and manage natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, earthquakes and volcanic crises.

• Precision Agriculture: Development of Earth observation data-processing methodologies and tools for the classification and retrieval of the geo- and bio-physical properties of crops and soils. 

• Environmental monitoring and management: Earth observation techniques and solutions for environment monitoring and management. 

This 2018 edition of LEO Day was a source of inspiration for many participants and speakers. The third step taken recently by the Luxembourg government has been to position the country as a pioneer in the development of the space resources economy, which has been announced in February 2016 and promoted under the branding SpaceResources.lu. LIST goes on working closely with the government as well as companies and other support institutions. 

This conference has given LIST the opportunity to show and to demonstrate its competences in Earth observation, and how LIST could contribute and support the Luxemburgish economy, as well as its society.

A look back at LEO Day 2018 in pictures

Visit photogallery.list.lu to see LIST's photo reportage of LEO Day 2018.

> For any question on this topic, please contact Dr. Lucien Hoffmann, Director of LIST’s Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) department, or Carlos Lopez-Martinez, Head of LIST’s Remote sensing group and LEO Day 2018 Chair.