GIC Mexico organises the webinar: Galileo SAR Service, Copernicus and Emergency Management
The Galileo Information Centre gave an informative talk about the Galileo SAR service, Copernicus and the Emergency Management service with Copernicus.
Yesterday, 21 September 2023, the GIC organised this online webinar in coordination with the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics of Guatemala.
The event started with a brief introduction and welcome by D. Luis Cuervo, responsible for the Galileo Information Centres in Latin America and representing the European Commission and the Directorate-General for Defence, Industry and Space.
Elena Megías, coordinator of the Galileo Information Centre, was in charge of presenting the GIC, its objectives and the interesting activities it carries out. She also gave an introduction to GNSS, focusing on Galileo, the European GNSS and highlighting the benefits of Galileo over other GNSS and the services it offers.
She also presented the Copernicus programme, the European Earth Observation Programme, and the services it offers in the fields of atmospheric, marine and land monitoring, climate change, security and emergencies.
Concerning the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, Óscar Muñoz (Telespazio Ibérica) presented the three types of services provided: Copernicus EMS On Demand Mapping, Copernicus EMS Exposure Mapping and the Copernicus EMS Early Warning ang Monitoring, focusing in detail on the Copernicus EMS On Demand Mapping which provides detailed information on demand for emergency situations arising from natural or man-made disasters anywhere in the world.
Finally, Ernesto Llorente (GSC-GNSS Service Center) dedicated his presentation to explain the Galileo SAR service as a component of Cospas-Sarsat. The SAR/Galileo service, launched on December 15, 2016 as part of Galileo’s initial services, contributes to these life-saving efforts by rapidly transmitting radio beacon distress signals to SAR crews using payloads aboard Galileo satellites.
On January 21, 2020, the SAR/Galileo Return Link Service (RLS) was declared operational. Galileo now not only locates people in distress and makes their position known to the relevant authorities, but SAR/Galileo RLS provides an automatic acknowledgement message to the user informing them that their request for help has been received.
The Webinar was attended by participants from various countries in the Latin American region such as Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela and above all Guatemala. Attendees came from various aviation-related entities, such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Colombia, the Honduran Civil Aviation Agency or the Guatemalan Air Force.
Once again, the organization of this webinar allowed the GIC to promote the European satellite navigation systems (EGNSS) and the European Earth Observation Programme and gave them great visibility to the public in the region who will be aware of the events to come.
