1. ESA Latvia Workshop 2022
The 12th ESA Training Course on Earth Observation (EO) took place in Riga Technical University from June 27 to July 1. Targeting researchers and young professionals from in and around the Baltic area in EO, we participated (remotely and in-person) in theory and practical sessions covering (Interferometric) SAR, and applications of satellite data in Forestry, Agriculture and Marine observations.
It was heart-warming to see our Mowing and Grazing projects featured in different presentations, and exciting to learn more about the implementation (and challenges) of agricultural projects similar to our current portfolio, directly from ESA experts. The sessions were a blend of interactive theory discussions and hands-on data processing or analyses of radar and optical satellite data with old and new GIS tools. These new tools (including ForestryTEP, OpenEO Cloud) are mostly focused on aggregating satellite data sources and easing access to, and processing on this data.
Special thanks to the ESA, Ministry of Education and Science (Latvia), the Institute of Environmental Solutions and Riga Technical University for putting this workshop together. Details on the course outline, and materials used are available here.
Hudson Taylor Lekunze, data analyst
2. Space Festival in Tallinn
On 12th of July KappaZeta took part in the Space Festival “100 km from space” event in Tallinn. Our EO Analyst Jelizaveta Vabištševitš & Geospatial Data Quality Specialist Olga Wold with KappaZeta intern Abdullah Toqeer were talking about the importance of satellites and Copernicus programme in agricultural sector.
Many great meetings with young bright space enthusiasts, who learned a lot about the space sector in Estonia and how could the open-source satellite data be used. Many Estonian companies working in the field of space presented their challenging work and impressive research.
Also, the main guest of the festival was the European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer! He spent 177 days at the International Space Station and returned from space in May this year. His inspiring presentation was about the beauty of our planet and the importance of taking care of it, as it is our only home (for now).
Olga Wold, geospatial data quality specialist
