2023-07-18 16:45:13
Half a year after its takeoff, the Menut nanosatellite, the second satellite mission and the first Earth observation mission of the Catalonia NewSpace Strategy promoted by the Generalitat of Catalonia, already collects data to help improve land management and help control and combat the effects of the climate crisis by regularly sending images of Catalonia. After successfully passing the different stages of the start-up, Menut has already started operations and is ready to fulfill its main objective: from now on, images of Catalonia will be received weekly.
Developed by the company Open Cosmos under the supervision of the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and with the advice and technical support of the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC), the Menut nanosatellite has been orbiting since January 3 around the Earth at a speed of about 8 kilometers per second and passes over Catalonia every 5 days approximately. It embarks a state-of-the-art camera that allows it to record images with a resolution of approximately 5 meters of any point on the planet, although it prioritizes obtaining images of the Catalan territory. After being calibrated, processed and analyzed, these images will allow the territory to be monitored, especially considering the impacts of global climate change.
Since its launch into space, Menut has successfully completed the initial configuration, calibration tests and start-up stages of all its subsystems before entering service. Since the beginning of February, with the arrival of the first images, the technical teams have used the data captured by Menut on a regular basis to fine-tune the instruments on board.
The many images that Menut has been taking since February have been improving in quality and definition thanks to the work of the ICGC, Open Cosmos and IEEC teams within the framework of the Catalonia NewSpace Strategy. In addition to those acquired during its passage over Catalonia, the nanosatellite has taken images of many other parts of the world that, on the one hand, will help combat climate change on a global scale and, on the other, place Menut in the observation scenario of Earth on a global scale.
Image acquisition and processing
Open Cosmos manages the operations of Menut from its headquarters in Barcelona, where the flight team, from the Mission Control Center, is in charge of the daily operations of the satellite, ensuring fluid communication with Menut, the detection and correction of anomalies and flight software updates.
Subsequently, within the framework of the mission of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, the images are sent to the ICGC, which is in charge of applying the corrections and specific processes (geometric and atmospheric), essential to be able to transform them into useful information.
In addition, the ICGC is working to feed Menut data into its regular processing of Earth observation data obtained from other sources, to generate specific or dedicated products. These products meet the needs of the territory, such as areas especially vulnerable to the effects of global climate change. The Ebro delta, the Muga basin, the Maresme coast or Pla d’Urgell are some of these areas, especially chosen for their diversity when representing challenges in areas such as biodiversity, resource management or socioeconomic effects.
Menut will also allow applications in areas related to forest masses and their management, such as forest fires; planning and monitoring of urban and natural ecosystems; water management and monitoring, control and protection of the environment and activity in coastal areas.
Soon, the corrected data from Menut will be available to the public, the research fabric and industry, in an open access discovery and download platform that the ICGC is building within the framework of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia.
In parallel, under the supervision and coordination of the Generalitat, the IEEC, ICGC and Open Cosmos teams continue to work together to refine the quality of the Menut data, with tasks of coordination and maintenance of data quality that will be repeated periodically throughout the entire life in orbit of the nanosatellite.
Part of a photo taken by Menut showing the area of Palafrugell, in the province of Gerona, Catalonia, last June 25. (Photo: IEEC / Open Cosmos / Generalitat de Catalunya)
About the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia
Menut’s is the second satellite mission of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia promoted by the Government of the Generalitat through the Department of Business and Labor, and the first whose mission is to observe the Earth to help improve land management and help control and combat the effects of the climate crisis.
The Strategy, conceived to take advantage of the opportunities of this new economic field based on the use of small satellites and the exploitation of their data, has the collaboration of the IEEC, the ICGC and the Fundació i2CAT as promoting entities and aims to Lastly, to project and connect the Catalan space ecosystem with other poles of innovation in the rest of the world, to place it on the international game board linked to this new emerging field. (Source: IEEC)
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