A deployable laboratory that can test frontline healthcare staff, civil protection volunteers and police forces for the coronavirus has left Belgium and is on its way to Piedmont, Italy.

Italy has been badly affected by the pandemic. In response ESA has been working to identify how space can help.

A transportable diagnostics laboratory developed at the University of Louvain in Belgium with ESA’s support is now being deployed to help with the fight against the coronavirus.

The system first proved its worth during the Ebola outbreak in N’Zerekore, Guinea, from 2014 to 2015.

It will be used to collect nasopharyngeal swabs and analyse them to identify whether or not a person has the coronavirus, as well as to perform the antibody test that can demonstrate whether a person who has been infected has an immune response to the virus.

Administering the tests will enable people in essential roles to return to work if they have a negative swab test or if they have a positive antibody test.

Jean-Luc Gala, director of the Centre for Applied Molecular Technologies at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), leads the team overseeing the deployment and will be operating the deployable laboratory in Piedmont.

“We have developed a smart strategy to diagnose infected patients and to identify those who have protection against the virus. Our second smart strategy is to train people to operate the diagnostic devices and to do the tests. We see this as a golden opportunity to train as many as 20 local biologists,” he says. These biologists will then be able to train other colleagues, thereby scaling-up the screening.

Called B-LiFE, short for “a biological light fieldable laboratory for emergencies”, the system comprises: easy-to-set-up tents both for the laboratory and command and control parts; specialised equipment to rapidly analyse samples; a laboratory information and management system to safely collect and store all the results produced in real time; and dedicated satellite antennas for reliable and secure communication between local staff and remote medical care centres.

It relies on several space-enabled features including satellite communications, Earth observation data and geo-positioning data delivered via satellite.

Together these allow the real-time transmission of analytical results, bidirectional communication with remote experts, broadband links for transferring large datasets through an autonomous telecommunication system, and geolocation of cases enabling real-time epidemiological mapping.

“During the Ebola crisis, real-time telecommunications were crucial to provide the information which could be given by specialist experts. Satellite communications are vital as telecommunications networks can rapidly become saturated in some circumstances and we need our own autonomous system,” says Roland Gueubel of UCLouvain.

“B-LiFE was designed many years ago for epidemics. I must congratulate ESA for its vision and support.”

Arnaud Runge, medical engineer overseeing the mission at ESA, says: “What sets B-LiFE apart from other existing laboratories is that it utilises multiple space assets. This significantly improves the workflow and effectiveness of the laboratory. ESA has been very active with a number of relevant initiatives to support the fight against the COVID-19, and the deployment of B-LiFE is one of them”

B-LiFE is certified under the EU’s civil protection mechanism, which aims to enable national authorities to exchange information to identify best practice and work interchangeably when disaster strikes.

ESA Space Solutions

ESA Space Solutions aims at reaching commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities addressing incubation, proving technical feasibility and business development. This includes the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems, and support in creating viable companies as well as to existing companies.

When SME Hummingbird was created in 2016, it had a clear mission: “Measure sustainability, optimise food production and push the boundaries of science and technology through sophisticated modelling and predictive analytics”. Through ‘Project Hawking’ with its remote sensing platform, Hummingbird is now solving challenges in yield losses, inefficient inputs, unsustainable practices and poor decision making.

Before Project Hawking, Hummingbird Technologies Ltd., an artificial intelligence (AI) business based in London, were identifying crop health issues and forecasting the occurrence of possible diseases and weed pressures in the field by using UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) imagery processed by its AI algorithms. This imagery was also used to produce variable rate fertiliser and other chemical application maps.

Ingenuity struck with Project Hawking, a collaboration funded and supported by ESA Space Solutions, where Hummingbird started adding satellite observation points throughout the growing season to the process. Hummingbird was now able to build an extensive time series of data to apply its proprietary machine learning techniques. 

The added dimension of satellite data 

This deep, new layer of intelligence complemented the existing UAV platform, enabling increased accurately geo-referenced UAV and ground truthed (information gained via direct observation rather than inference) captured imagery during the image acquisition. 

“The first step was for Hummingbird to build the system architecture necessary to process satellite data from ESA as well as other higher resolution commercial imagery,” says Olivier Becu, Technical Officer at ESA. “Next they needed to adapt their existing front-end to display the generated high-value information to customers”. 

Hummingbird started to train AI algorithms with the thousands of satellite images they collected and matched with existing datasets. The aim was to develop a processing chain delivering satellite-derived vegetation index maps. Data and imagery were collected from the various satellite providers and processed using the platform, with analysis of crop health, yield and rate of change provided. This included vital data such as the identification of disease and disease prevalence as well as soil type mapping by reflectance data.

“Project Hawking cuts farm costs and improves yields by using satellite data to provide predictions in macro analytics and targeted agro-chemical applications, with the aim of reducing blanket agrochemical input. This reduces the negative environmental effects of agrochemical overuse, promotes responsible stewardship, and reduces the natural resistance build-up in crop diseases,” Alexander Jevons, Hummingbird Technologies Ltd. 

In a matter of months, Hummingbird was set up with multiple satellite data sources delivering timely optical measurements and radar data at various geographical resolutions. Over the course of 2019, Hummingbird made its AI/satellite derived maps available to a set of trial users as part of a pilot project. This project involved large farm management company Velcourt and Cranfield University for scientific support. 

The fruit of this pilot was a freemium satellite offering that gives users access to basic satellite analysis with the ability to upsell higher resolution analysis where needed.  By the end of 2019, more than 5000 farmers across the world had requested access to the data. Many of these farmers have now subscribed to the commercially available Hawking service.

For almost all of the stages of crop development, Hummingbird can support the farmers to achieve more with less: seeding, fertilising, treating and forecasting yield for all major crops. Hummingbird has now launched commercial operations in Ukraine and Russia, Australia, Brazil and North America. 

“As a result of Project Hawking and ESA funding Hummingbird has conducted a successful raise of £8.2m and grown the company to over 60 people globally with three international subsidiaries,” Alexander Jevons, Hummingbird Technologies Ltd.

ESA Space Solutions

ESA Space Solutions aims at reaching commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities addressing incubation, proving technical feasibility and business development. This includes the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems, and support in creating viable companies as well as to existing companies.

In a breakthrough collaboration, Social impact organization Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) has partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide a unique opportunity for developing innovative space utilisation applications and services to support empowerment of rural communities and uplift them through sustainable tourism and other holistic development interventions. 

Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) is working towards the empowerment of the remote Himalayan communities through leveraging clean technology and promotion of sustainable tourism. GHE over the last 8 years have provided solar energy access to over 110 villages and impacted the lives of 55000 people living in the remote regions of the Indian Himalayas. To enable economic empowerment of the marginalized communities, GHE also creates village homestays for travellers in Its electrified villages to bring income to the doorstep of the villages through responsible tourism. This enables cultural preservation of the fragile ecosystem and creates opportunities for the youth to earn meaningful livelihood in their own backyard. 

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. ESA Space Solutions aims at reaching commercial exploitation of space assets, data and capabilities addressing incubation, proving technical feasibility and business development. This includes the development of operational services for a wide range of users through the combination of different systems, and support in creating viable companies as well as to existing companies.

The tourism sector plays an important role as a driving force of economic development. Activities related to the tourism sector contribute to the generation of income and employment. Recent technological advances in the space technologies have opened big opportunities particularly interesting for the sustainable tourism. The combination of space and terrestrial technologies can provide, for instances, always updated and reliable maps, weather report, timetable and other useful information, according to the geographic position of the tourist.

The collaboration between GHE and ESA will bring together GHE’s commitment to leverage innovative technologies and enablers to support rural communities in its socio-economic development. Use of space technology in the on-ground activities can play a big role in fostering the development of these rural and remote communities. 

The common objectives of the collaboration will focus on fostering the development of innovative space-utilising applications to support local communities’ development through sustainable tourism. This will involve services such as tourism logistics and mobility services, homestays booking, emergency services, as well as electrification, tele-education, and tele-medicine for hard-to- reach rural communities. 

As first step of this cooperation, GHE will join forces with ESA on the ESA’s “Path to Post-COVID Recovery” feasibility study, by voicing the requirements of the remote Himalayan Communities with economies based on responsible tourism, heavily affected by COVID-19.

Similarly, GHE will support the ESA’s “Connected Rural Communities” initiative by providing their views on most needed applications for rural community upliftment  in India,  including mobility and sustainable use of natural resources.