The Regional Director for Science and Technology stated today in Vila do Porto that the Azores are part of "a small group of regions and countries that perceive space technologies as technologies of the future," highlighting the role of the Government in this area.
 
Nelson Simões spoke during the workshop "Sentinel Activities in Santa Maria," which aimed to disseminate the importance of the use of Sentinel data and activities on this island under the Edisoft Ground Station.
 
In his speech, the Regional Director noted that this event taking place on Santa Maria is the result of "the Regional Government's strategy to provide the Region with infrastructures to support space-related activities," more specifically Earth observation from space, such as the Sentinel.
 
This project is carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA), operated with two satellites that provide data to Copernicus. Developed by the European Commission, the programme covers areas such as atmosphere, climate change, emergency management and safety, environmental protection, management of urban areas, regional and local planning, agriculture, tourism, fisheries, health and maritime transport, among others.
 
The meeting held today addressed the skills of the Azores in space technology and their applications which, according to Nelson Simões, "are far-reaching, especially in the areas of land management, environmental protection, resource exploration and sea control."
 
"It was the investment in ESA's tracking station on Santa Maria that started the race for aerospace in the Azores, initially directed to the monitoring of satellites launched from French Guiana and then extended to ESTRACK functions," recalled Nelson Simões. According to him, this platform "attracted companies in this field and increased the island's skills, notably with the installation of the Galileo station."
 
The Regional Director also noted the emergence of RAEGE project, a partnership between the Azorean Government and the Geological Institute of Spain that consisted in the installation of a VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) antenna on Santa Maria. It will be followed by the installation of another identical antenna on the island of Flores in 2017.
 
Organised by the company EDISOFT, in partnership with the Government of the Azores, through the Regional Directorate for Science and Technology, this workshop is part of a series of events about Space that will take place on Santa Maria. They include the "Space Girls, Space Women" exhibition, which opened today, and the second edition of CanSat Açores, taking place on May 21 and 22, among other actions directed to students and the public in general.