# Satellite data for industrial manufacturing Manufacturers use satellite data to assess and monitor plant sites, follow suppliers and supply routes across the world, connect remote assets, and add environmental indicators to their sustainability reporting. With LETO SPACE you identify where satellite data pays off in production, supply chain and reporting, procure the service and test it in a pilot. ## Where satellite data helps manufacturers From the choice of a plant site to the suppliers on the other side of the world and the figures in the sustainability report, satellite data answers questions along the manufacturing value chain. In September 2026, ESA opened a funding contest in which large companies set challenges for space-based services, among them sustainable manufacturing and sustainable logistics and supply chains [3]. **New to the technologies?** - [What is Earth observation?](https://leto.space/knowledge/earth-observation/): How satellites observe sites, land and emissions over time. - [What is GNSS?](https://leto.space/knowledge/gnss/): Satellite positioning and timing, explained. - [Providers on Spacegraph](https://spacegraph.com/en/marketplace): Our discovery platform has a marketplace category for manufacturing and industry. ## Client project: automatic enrichment of CSRD reporting One of our four anonymised client projects sits in reporting, at an industrial company. ### Automatic enrichment of an industrial company's CSRD reporting. - **Sector:** Industrial manufacturing - **Technologies:** Earth observation, AI ## How we help manufacturing companies ### 1. Strategy and use cases We rank the use cases in site planning, procurement, supplier management and reporting by value and feasibility. [More on strategy and use cases](https://leto.space/consulting/strategy/) ### 2. Requirements and procurement Requirements for a monitoring or data service, and a scan of the providers. [More on requirements and procurement](https://leto.space/consulting/procurement/) ### 3. Implementation A pilot with agreed KPIs on one reporting data point or one group of suppliers, then the move into operation. [More on implementation](https://leto.space/consulting/implementation/) ### 4. Skills and workshops Training for the teams in sustainability, procurement and operations who will use the results. [More on skills and workshops](https://leto.space/consulting/workshops/) [Planning a pilot for a plant, a group of suppliers or your reporting? We help you set the KPIs and the criteria for continuing.](https://outlook.office365.com/book/LETOSPACE@leto.space/) ## Plants, supply chains and sustainability reporting ### Plants and Industry 4.0 When a company compares candidate sites for a new plant, Earth observation shows land use, natural hazards and transport corridors around each of them [3]. Inside Industry 4.0 operations, the number of industrial IoT devices is growing, and their data often lack a common time source; GNSS timing can align the clocks of these devices, including low-power ones [2]. [Selecting sites for plants](https://leto.space/use-cases/site-selection/) ### Suppliers and supply chains Satellite imagery can show activity at production sites around the world; ESA names the monitoring of global supply chain production for commodity pricing among its uses in finance [5]. Earth observation can also be used to check whether supplier operations comply with environmental standards, and satellite positioning tracks goods in transit [4]. [Analysing global outdoor storage sites](https://leto.space/use-cases/outdoor-storage-analysis/) ### Industrial emissions and sustainability reporting Satellites already allow actual methane emissions to be compared with the figures reported nationally, and insights of this kind help companies check supply chains against legal or quality standards and assess their carbon footprint [2]. To assess emissions with greater precision and reliability, satellite data is combined with data from sensors on the ground [4]. [Automatically enriching CSRD reporting](https://leto.space/use-cases/csrd-reporting/) ## When satellite data is not the answer in manufacturing **Limits** - **Inside the plant:** Satellites see roofs, yards, land and the atmosphere above a site. What happens on the production line still needs your own sensors and systems. - **Estimates add to metered data:** A satellite estimate of an emission or a land-use change adds evidence. It does not replace the metered and supplier data that a report rests on. - **Requirements come from the regulation:** Which data points a report must contain follows from the regulation and from your materiality assessment. We help with the data, not with legal advice on reporting obligations. ## Frequently asked questions ### How can manufacturing companies use satellite data? 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 [3]. The right starting point is a problem in one of your processes, for example supplier risk or a reporting requirement, not the data source. ### Which problems does Earth observation solve in manufacturing, and which does GNSS solve? 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 [1]. GNSS answers questions about position and time: tracking vehicles and goods in transit [4], and a common time source for industrial sensors, whose data often lack proper synchronisation today [2]. ### Can satellite data support emissions and resource reporting? 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 [1]. Satellite data adds to the metered and supplier data in your report; it does not replace them. Our use case on [enriching CSRD reporting](https://leto.space/use-cases/csrd-reporting/) shows where satellite data can contribute. ### How do we start, and what does a first pilot look like? 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](https://leto.space/consulting/) shows the path from the problem to operation. ### What data do we need to bring? 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. ## Sources 1. [EU Space Market Report 2026, Issue 1, EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2026-05-26](https://www.euspa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/EU_Space_Market_Report_2026.pdf) 2. [EUSPA EO and GNSS Market Report, Issue 2, 2024, EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), 2024](https://www.euspa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/external/publications/euspa_market_report_2024.pdf) 3. [ESA BASS: Space for Sustainable Industry and Digital Business Transformation Contest, European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, 2026-09-22](https://business.esa.int/funding/space-for-sustainable-industry-and-digital-business-transformation-contest) 4. [ESA Space Solutions: Space for land mobility, European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 2026-10-06](https://business.esa.int/mobility-land) 5. [ESA Space Solutions: Space for finance and insurance, European Space Agency (ESA), ESA Space Solutions, accessed 2026-10-06](https://business.esa.int/finance-and-insurance) Page: