Satellite data for industrial manufacturing

Earth observation gives wide-area, repeatable and independent information on land use, infrastructure condition, natural hazards, access to facilities and transport corridors. Combined with your own data, AI and change detection, it becomes a service that supports decisions. Satellite navigation adds the position and time of vehicles and assets, and satellite communication connects remote or mobile sensors where terrestrial networks are limited Source: ESAEuropean Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, 22 September 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA BASS: Space for Sustainable Industry and Digital Business Transformation Contest22 September 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int). The right starting point is a problem in one of your processes, for example supplier risk or a reporting requirement, not the data source.

Earth observation answers questions about what is on the ground and how it changes: land use and natural hazards around a plant, deforestation risks in the supply chain, or changes in vegetation and land cover that matter for environmental reporting Source: EUSPAEU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). GNSS answers questions about position and time: tracking vehicles and goods in transit Source: ESAEuropean Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 6 October 2026European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space SolutionsESA Space Solutions: Space for land mobilityaccessed 6 October 2026Open source (opens business.esa.int), and a common time source for industrial sensors, whose data often lack proper synchronisation today Source: EUSPAEU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 20242024Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu).

It can add evidence to some data points. EUSPA names the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) as an important driver of demand for measurable environmental data and notes that companies in agriculture, mining, energy, finance and consumer goods increasingly use Earth observation to measure environmental impacts and comply with stricter reporting requirements: Copernicus data covers land use, pollution, emissions, water and soil quality and ecosystem health, and habitat monitoring supports deforestation-free sourcing Source: EUSPAEU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 26 May 2026EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA)EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 126 May 2026Open source (opens euspa.europa.eu). Satellite data adds to the metered and supplier data in your report; it does not replace them. Our use case on enriching CSRD reporting shows where satellite data can contribute.

Start with one problem that has an owner, for example a group of critical suppliers whose sites you cannot see, or a reporting data point that takes weeks to collect by hand. A first pilot is measurable and time-boxed: its KPIs are agreed before it starts, and the person responsible for the problem decides at the end whether it goes into operation. Our consulting overview shows the path from the problem to operation.

The locations of your plants, warehouses and key suppliers, the records you already keep, such as reporting templates, energy and resource data or supplier audits, and a description of the decision the data should support.