1st blockchain workshop at the 2018 ESA Ф-Week

What is the impact of the blockchain technology on the future of Earth Observation?

This overarching question has propelled extensive consultations that were held at community-led Blockchain Workshop organized at ESA/ESRIN during the first Ф-Week (phi-Week) on 15 November 2018.

ESA explores the role of blockchain and Distributed Ledgers already since 2017 to understand better this enabling technology in the context of the Space 4.0 and digital engineering.

The 2019 Ф-Week workshop developed important insights into the opportunities and challenges of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) and blockchain-based applications for Earth Observations across the entire value chain: upstream, downstream and midstream segment, including:

Mission planning and operations i.e. concerning security in distributed space inter-networks and trust among multiple operators/control centers, distributed mission operations, including implementation of observation plans in multi-sensor satellite architectures by i.e. automated management of tasking requests, logging and tracking of command and control events,
Digital supply chains in data distribution systems, at Ground Segment level to ensure integrity and traceability of EO data, and development of information services in decentralised data and cloud architectures,
Physical supply chain in space missions manufacturing (system engineering) to improve overall transparency and effectiveness of the flow of goods (parts, components, subcomponents) and financial services.

Europe is a leading global powerhouse in EO and emerging as an important player when it comes to blockchain innovation as well. The Ф-Week meeting has gathered over 30 professionals from Earth Observation and blokchain domains who met to informally assess the state of play when it comes to adopting DLT in the EO sector. It allowed to explore the potential value of a high-level Research and Innovation (R&I) effort on this topic, both at the ESA and European level, and define the steps necessary to develop pilot projects and partnerships across existing networks and initiatives on the DLT/EO crossover.

Agenda and participants in the Workshop are available below:

Blockchain Workshop

15 Nov, 2018, ESA ESRIN (Frascati, Italy)

Venue: ESRIN, Φ-Lab Facility

09:00 – 09:15

Welcome & introductions – Sveinung Loekken (ESA), Anna Burzykowska (ESA), Andreas Vollrath (ESA)

09:15 – 09:35

Space-based ‘digital twin’ of earth brings affordable EO insights to the other seven billion of us, Carsten Stöcker, Spherity

09:35 – 09:50

Evolving EO data trading by means of the blockChain technology, Cristoforo Abbattista, Planetek

09:50 – 10:05

NGOs and satellite imagery: blockchain use case, Robert Keenan, Consensys