Over the last decade, rapid developments in digital technologies and in our capability to monitor our home planet from space with Earth Observation (EO) satellites have led to new and huge opportunities for science and businesses. There is an increasing need to mine the large amount of data generated by the new generation of satellites coming online, including for example the Copernicus system and New Space. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is certainly one important part of the full solution, enabling exploration of big data and bringing new insight and predictive capabilities. However, it is important to note that AI remains just a tool that need to be used together with physical principles and scientific interpretation.
In order to better understand how AI can impact the world of EO, ESA has convened a community workshop at ESRIN (Frascati) with experts in the domain.
This document summarises their recommendations.