RapidEye, geospatial solutions provider that owns and operates a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announces a frame contract signed with the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide RapidEye satellite imagery for monitoring and change detection in areas prone to natural disasters.

The contract between RapidEye and ESA is based on a list of pre-defined, high-risk areas, for which RapidEye will provide satellite imagery before and after an emergency event has occurred. With its constellation of five satellites, the RapidEye system has the capability to revisit an area daily, which accommodates frequent monitoring intervals and can provide the most up-to-date information on environmental changes.

Michael Prechtel, Head of Sales and Marketing for RapidEye, commented, “We are proud to be a part of this European project that assists in monitoring and managing areas that are likely to be, and have been affected, by natural disasters. To support this project, we offer a special emergency order service to ESA by providing satellite data within 12-24 hours following a request. We look forward to contributing to the success of this project, as it will allow the European Community to be better prepared for critical environmental situations.”

ESA will be using RapidEye's satellite imagery mainly for the project 'Safer', a security and emergency project of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program in Europe. GMES is a European program for implementing a European capacity for Earth Observation, with an objective to monitor and better understand the environment. By contributing to the success of the 'Safer' project, RapidEye will support ESA in reinforcing the European capacity to better respond to emergency situations deriving from storms, fires, floods, earthquakes or landslides.

Aside from offering satellite imagery of high-risk areas, RapidEye provides satellite data of millions more square kilometers of Earth, which can be chosen from the expanding collection of imagery in the RapidEye Library.