The ICGC contributes its experience, assets and skills throughout the value chain of the new space economy (NewSpace), from the definition of requirements for small satellite platforms, to the definition of functional data processing architectures, their cataloguing and accessibility for potential users.

Small satellites currently represent a mature and quality technology for observing the territory from space on a repetitive and stable basis. Catalonia must be able to position itself in the new scenario of access to space and utility that the new Earth observation satellite systems offer and thus continue to generate excellence and critical mass in the entire value chain in the Earth Observation sector and new geoinformation technologies.

A value chain that goes from infrastructure in space (satellite), through ground infrastructure for control and exploitation, to the generation of knowledge and momentum in the research fabric, technological valorization, industry and exploitation of new technologies and added value and utility from data, in the form of products and services and their commercialization.

The knowledge at the ICGC, on the state of the art, in the transformation from data capture to the generation of added value allows us to affirm that there is a space or “window” of opportunity for innovation and potential generation of products and services in the new scenario posed by small satellites and especially in constellation mode.

Small satellites, even more so when deployed as a constellation, are a “new” vector of Earth observation sensors, and therefore exposed, like any other data capture approach, to advantages and disadvantages:

• Lower costs allow constellation architectures to be more viable and potentially involve better revisit times.
• New actors in the Earth observation community can develop new capabilities and assets at the strategic frontier of space, with lower risks than large missions subject to large agencies.
• The viability of new technological visions and/or scientific demonstrators can be demonstrated with less risk.

Taking into account the ICGC's background in the knowledge of these platforms and the skills and assets in the transformation of satellite data into products and services, it actively participates within the framework of the NEWSPACE Catalunya initiative. The skills that the ICGC can contribute to Earth observation initiatives and programs on small satellites, based on its background and current assets, can be summarized in the following areas:

• Study, analyze and evaluate initiatives based on small satellites from the point of view of the usability of Earth Observation.
• Simulate images based on airborne or satellite datasets, adapted to the payload specifications of satellite mission statements and Earth observation initiatives.
• Analyze and complement the technical requirements and specifications of the different subsystems in order to establish recommendations regarding possible candidates for payloads or Earth observation sensors.
• Develop spatial data infrastructures according to international mission data standards.
• Design and configure the metadata chains of the processed data for the correct cataloguing and discovery and use of the data and derived products.
• Promote in Catalonia the scientific and economic advantages based on space assets in the geoinformation sector.
• Provide, produce and analyze the additional necessary geoinformation to complete the value chain of data to knowledge in the form of useful products and services to the different departments of the Generalitat de Catalunya and to the citizens, as priority actors.