CGI awarded ESA-MAAP ASCEND contract

Above: Earth’s surface captured by Earth observation satellite.
Courtesy CGI / ESA

This initiative will enhance access to advanced processing capabilities for Earth observation data, empowering global scientific collaboration.

CGI’s teams in the UK and Italy will play a vital role in the platform’s development, contributing to system engineering, security design and implementation. As part of the ASCEND programme, CGI will support the onboarding of ESA’s BIOMASS and EarthCARE missions, enabling the scientific community to maximise the use of data from these Earth Explorer missions.

CGI’s responsibilities will also include managing service evolution and coordinating change requests, ensuring the platform remains adaptable to emerging scientific and technological advancements.

Jaime Reed, Vice President Consulting Services, Space Data Platforms and Applications at CGI in the UK and Australia, said: “A core element of CGI’s contribution will be the deployment of its proven insula data platform to power ESA-MAAP’s Product Algorithm Laboratory.

"This will serve as the backbone for the processing environment, offering scalable IT resources to meet evolving user needs. In addition, CGI will develop and implement robust security plans to safeguard data integrity and confidentiality, ensuring compliance with ESA’s stringent security requirements.”

Nino Pace, Vice President Consulting Services at CGI in Italy, said: “CGI’s role in ASCEND, alongside our contributions to the Destination Earth programme and EUMETSAT big data initiatives, underscores our leadership in developing cutting-edge Earth observation data processing solutions. By leveraging modern big data technologies, we are helping to create the foundation for future Earth observation platforms.”

Through this work, CGI will also enhance the Biomass mission with bespoke processors and algorithms and promote interoperability between ESA and NASA with the outcome of supporting global data exchange. Additionally, the Geo-Trees community will be onboarded to foster cross-community collaboration and knowledge sharing across Earth observation disciplines.

This latest contract builds on CGI’s longstanding commitment to ESA through its Earth Observation Common Services. It further highlights CGI’s role as a trusted partner in supporting critical international missions that drive scientific and technological progress.