Belspo programmes and initiatives
Most of the activities supported by BELSPO in the field of remote sensing are carried out within the framework of ESA and EUMETSAT programmes in which Belgium participates. Alongside these activities, BELSPO has been managing complementary national programmes for more than 3 decades, implemented in particular on the basis of interfederal cooperation agreements.
These deal with:
- dedicated scientific remote sensing research, with the emphasis on the capacity building, development of applications and scientific use of remote sensing data. The on-going programme is called STEREO (Support To Exploitation and Research in Earth Observation);
- development and exploitation of infrastructure for processing, distribution and archiving of remote sensing data. Following initiatives are currently part of this activity: Centre of Image Processing, Terrascope, Pléiades4Belgium portal.
- The Belgian programme supporting research in Earth observation STEREO (Support To Exploitation and Research in Earth Observation) provides Belgian universities and research centres with opportunities and tools for the development of an expertise in Earth observation and a maximized scientific use of satellite and airborne data.
- Created in 1998 within the framework of the SPOT programme, the Belgian Image Processing Centre CvB has become a global data processing and distribution facility of multi-sensor data mainly dedicated to vegetation monitoring. The centre also hosts the TERRASCOPE platform offering access to Sentinel mission data.
- TERRASCOPE is the Belgian contribution to the Copernicus Collaborative Ground Segment. It provides Belgian citizens with free and open Earth observation data from Sentinel missions.
- In return for its participation in the Pléiades Earth observation programme, Belgium can offer sub-metric resolution images at a reduced price to Belgian institutional users via the Pléiades 4 Belgium platform, developed by BELSPO.
