N° 10–2020: Call for Media: ESA, NASA and JAXA to unveil COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard

Joint Earth observation data-driven dashboard

International collaboration among space agencies is central to the success of satellite Earth observation and data analysis. ESA, NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have worked closely together to produce the ‘COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard’.

The dashboard will allow users to explore the environmental and economic indicators based on unique satellite data from the three agencies, and investigate how regional lockdowns and social distancing measures have affected Earth’s air, land and water. The platform will provide the possibility for users to explore individual countries and regions across the world and see how these indicators in specific locations have changed over time.

The dashboard will track key indicators of changes in air and water quality, climate, economic activity and agriculture. The dashboard will use data from NASA's Aura and OCO-2 satellites, JAXA’s GOSAT and ALOS-2 satellites, the Sentinel missions from the European Copernicus programme led by the European Commission, as well as nightlight maps using data acquired by the US Suomi NPP satellite.

Key speakers include ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes Josef Aschbacher, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen and JAXA’s Vice President and Director General Space Technology Directorate Koji Terada, as well as several subject experts.

Event programme (15:00-16:00 CEST)

Opening Remarks from Agency Leaders

Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes
Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
Koji Terada, Vice President and Director General Space Technology Directorate at JAXA

Briefing of Analysis Results from Indicator Experts

Economic Activity: Shin-ichi Sobue, Project manager for JAXA’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2
Climate and Air Quality: Ken Jucks, Upper Atmosphere Research Program Manager at NASA’s Earth Science Division
Agricultural Production: Anca Anghelea, Open Data Scientist at ESRIN, ESA’s centre for Earth observation

Livestream Information
Follow the live webstream: esawebtv.esa.int
Ask your questions to the speakers by using the hashtag #askESA on Twitter.
A link to the COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard along with additional information will be available on 25 June.

Media registration
To participate in the media conference, media must email their name and affiliation to Grey Hautaluoma, grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov, no later than 17:00 EDT (23:00 CEST) on 24 June.
The public can also submit questions during the briefing via Twitter with the hashtag #askESA.

Further information
More information about ESA Earth observation: www.esa.int/eo

More information about ESA: www.esa.int

More information about NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/

More information about JAXA: https://global.jaxa.jp/

Social media

Follow us on Twitter at @ESA_EO @esa @NASAEarth @NASA @JAXA_en @JAXA_jp
Follow the live webstream and ask your questions on Twitter by using the hashtag #askESA.

About the European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.
ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Slovenia is an Associate Member.
ESA has established formal cooperation with seven Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For further information:

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – Ninja Menning

Email: media@esa.int

Tel: +31 71 565 6409