Aistech Space, Actua Innovation and CENMA are working together on new satellite and geospatial systems applied to natural risks in Andorra

The Secretary of State for Economic diversification and Innovation, Marc Galabert, the director of Actua Innovation, Marc Pons, and the co-founder of Aistech Space, Carles Franques, signed a collaboration agreement between the two entities on Thursday, in the Casa de la Muntanya in Ordino, to explore the development of new geospatial techniques and satellite imagery related to mountains in Andorra.

Aistech Space is a private entity in the space sector with the support of the European Space Agency. They specialize in the monitoring of Earth via their own constellation of satellites and the generating of geospatial intelligence from analyzing land data captured from space. Galabert highlighted the importance of the agreement and stated that “the main efforts will center around predicting and analyzing avalanches in Andorra. Furthermore, we will work on the development of snow coverage models and monitoring snowmelt, which will allow us to evaluate the levels of snowmelt and its effect on water levels in rivers. With this data we will be able to develop predictive models to determine volume and water levels in the country´s rivers”.

In addition, the director of Actua Innovation, Marc Pons, commented on the various tasks they have been working on for the last few months such as “developing systems and models which will facilitate the measuring and following of forest density or determine possible reductions in tree density”, adding that “work will also be carried out on systems to detect natural risks via satellite imagery”. In fact, the work has already started this week by installing some sensors in Sorteny which will connect to Aistech´s satellites, and will allow continuous and recurring monitoring of critical variables.

The co-founder of Aistech Space, Carles Franques, pointed out that “we consider Andorra and the initiatives undertaken by Actua Innovation to be a suitable and favorable environment for us to work alongside Andorra´s different agents with the aim of sharing knowledge, experiences and technology so as to generate a real impact in the field of mountains”. Carles Franquesa added that “our objective is to provide a new vision on the impact of human and economic activities on the planet and contribute to improving the level and quality of life through more sustainable development”.

The agreement between Actua Innovation and Aistech Space will have an initial duration of 6 months, prolongable by periods of 6 months at a time. The epicenter of most of the studies will be at Casa de la Muntanya.