Invitation to Tender: ESA DTE Digital Twin Components (DTCs) Development Actions

The latest advances in Earth Observation (EO) science and R&D activities are opening the door to a new generation of EO data products, novel applications and scientific breakthroughs, offering an advanced and holistic view of the Earth system, its processes, and its interactions with human activities and ecosystems. These emerging capabilities offer unique opportunities for an enhanced and extensive use of EO technology in the development of digital twins of the Earth system.

In particular, those EO developments together with new advances in sectorial modelling, computing capabilities, Artificial IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence is the capacity of an algorithm to a More (AI) and digital technologies offer excellent building blocks to realise novel EO-based Digital Twin Components (EO DTCs) that may contribute and maximise the impact of EO satellite technology in the design and implementation of future operational Digital Twins.

This new Invitation to Tender (ITT) from ESA aims to develop and demonstrate, to a pre-operational level, a set of EO-based Digital Twin Components (DTCs) as advanced digital replicas of key components of the Earth system including their interactions with human activities and ecosystems. DTCs shall be designed to serve a wide variety of users and provide advanced scientific and decision support tools with a strong focus on valorising the role of EO capabilities.

This ITT includes two distinct types of activities (Development Actions):

Lead DTCs Development Actions: aimed at developing and demonstrating, in a pre-operational environment, a set of EO-based Digital Twin Components addressing 8 priority Themes (see Appendix A). Each project will deliver an independent thematic pre-operational end-to-end system implementation, validation and demonstration. The priority themes are: Terrestrial biosphere and carbon cycle, Agriculture, Forests, Hydrology and hydro-hazards, Ice Sheets and regional/global impacts, Coastal processes and extremes, Data-driven Ocean, Land Biodiversity.

Early DTCs Development Actions: focused on secondary Themes aimed at advancing their maturity and readiness levels, engage stakeholders in the development process and implement a feasibility study and prototype and demonstration. The secondary themes are: Air quality & health, Arctic (land and ocean), Energy sector, Geo-hazards, Mountain glaciers, Solid Earth, Urban areas and smart cities, Transport and regional spatial and infrastructures planning and Wildfires.

Learn more about this Invitation To Tender on the esa-star Publication page.