The European Space Agency (ESA) is moving toward a new technology infrastructure designed to store and process the enormous amount of Earth-observation data generated by satellites.
ESA has selected European cloud provider OVHcloud and IT services company CGI to develop the system under a 30-month contract. The platform, known as Digital EO, will bring together large-scale storage, computing capacity and artificial intelligence tools for organisations working with Earth-observation data.
A New Approach to Satellite Data
Earth-observation satellites continuously collect information about the planet, producing massive quantities of imagery and other data. ESA expects its Earth-observation holdings to exceed 500 petabytes by 2035, increasing the need for powerful infrastructure capable of storing and analysing that information.
Digital EO is intended to connect with existing national and European facilities rather than operate as an isolated system. Researchers, government agencies and businesses will be able to use its computing and data-processing capabilities.
Cloud Computing Meets AI
OVHcloud will provide the system’s computing, storage and network infrastructure, while CGI will be responsible for architecture and integration.
The inclusion of AI tools is particularly significant because modern Earth-observation datasets can be too large and complex to analyse efficiently using conventional methods alone. AI-assisted processing can help users work with large collections of satellite information and extract useful patterns from them.
Supporting Europe’s Digital Infrastructure
The project also reflects Europe’s broader push to develop and maintain strategic digital infrastructure within the region. The system will be deployed across Italy, France and Germany, with support operations based in Poland.
Digital EO is expected to support major European initiatives, including Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth-observation programme, and Destination Earth (DestinE), which is developing a digital representation of Earth’s systems.
Why the Project Matters
The growing volume of satellite information is creating a technology challenge as much as a space challenge. Collecting data is only one part of the process; storing it securely, moving it efficiently and turning it into usable information requires increasingly advanced computing infrastructure.
ESA’s new project shows how cloud technology and AI are becoming closely connected with modern space and Earth-observation programmes. As satellite datasets continue to expand, such infrastructure could become increasingly important for scientific research, environmental monitoring and public-sector applications.
