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European technologies in security and space
Commissioner Andrius Kubilius' visit to CloudFerro highlights the importance of European technologies for Europe's security and operational readiness
Payload Data Ground Segment
Ground infrastructure behind European EO missions
A cloud-native end-to-end platform that turns raw satellite data into ready-to-use EO products and gets them to your users.
- Automated L0–L2 processing
- Scales with the constellation
- EU-owned infrastructure
Solution Overview
One pipeline from antenna to end user
While most missions stitch their ground segment together from separate systems, PDGS handles the whole data lifecycle in one platform, on sovereign European infrastructure.
Payload Data Ground Segment:
- Ingest payload and auxiliary data from ground stations and mission control
- It processes it into L0–L2 products through configurable workflows
- Catalogues and archives every product
- Serves users through portals, APIs and OGC services
Automated workflows carry data from downlink to dissemination
Modular structure allows to start with the core and add only the modules you need
Standard interfaces (S3, STAC, OData, OGC) plug into data space ecosystems
Full provenance for every product, from raw input to delivered file
Your benefits
Run missions, not infrastructure
Fewer systems to run, faster products, and mission data that keeps its value for decades.
Faster time to data
Data lifecycle automation cuts how long raw telemetry takes to become a ready product — vital in disaster response, environmental monitoring, and defence.
Built to scale, evolve, and innovate
Cloud-native and scalable, PDGS lets you add satellites, sensors and data volume — and integrate new algorithms or AI models — without redesigning the ground segment you already run.
Minimum operational overhead
Ingestion, processing, catalogue, archive and access in one platform means fewer systems, fewer handoffs and fewer manual steps for your ops team.
Products you can trust
Built-in traceability records provenance, processing history and integrity for every product — evidence ready for quality assurance and compliance reviews.
Data that keeps paying back
The archive preserves mission data for reprocessing with better algorithms years later, extending the return on every satellite you fly.
Built to connect, not to lock in
Built on industry standards — STAC, OData, OGC — PDGS integrates with external platforms and EO ecosystems. Intuitive UI and APIs make data easy to discover, access and use.
Use Cases
Critical missions PDGS can support
PDGS runs as national ground infrastructure, as the delivery backbone of a commercial constellation, or as a multi-mission archive for research.
National EO programmes
A space agency replaces fragmented, manual systems with one platform — giving multiple institutions shared catalogue access and interoperability with international ecosystems, and enabling faster crisis response, border monitoring, and long-term preservation and reuse of national mission data.
Commercial satellite operators
A NewSpace operator meets strict customer SLAs with one cloud-native platform that ingests, processes and delivers constellation data automatically — scaling with every new satellite, and letting the business launch products faster and monetise data via APIs, subscriptions and on-demand processing.
Climate and environmental research
A research agency tracking climate and land use trades complex multi-mission data wrangling for one platform that aggregates harmonised EO data — searchable via catalogue APIs, with on-demand processing and reprocessing of decades of archived data, and no local infrastructure to run.
Architecture
How data moves through PDGS
Six components cover the product lifecycle. Each can run on its own; together they form one pipeline from ground station to end user.
Ingestion
Payload data arrives from ground stations, auxiliary data from mission control. The platform validates completeness and stages everything for processing.
Payload processing
Configurable workflows generate L0–L2 products: calibration, quality control, metadata extraction, plus your own algorithms or ML models where the mission needs them.
Catalogue & traceability
Every product is indexed for search by footprint, time and attributes, with a trace record of where it came from and how it changed.
Long-term archive (optional)
Durable, redundant storage keeps full mission datasets available for reprocessing campaigns and multi-mission continuity.
User segment
Users search, visualise, order and download through web portals, APIs and OGC services — with tasking requests for new acquisitions where the mission enables them.
The components behind PDGS
Building blocks for the infrastructure
EO Products & Services
Earth Observation Data
Access and manage large-scale EO datasets from multiple satellite missions through a unified, scalable repository built for analytics, AI, and operational workflows.
EO Products & Services
Exos
Unify access to distributed EO data across multiple storage sites with scalable, resilient S3-compatible infrastructure built for large repositories.
EO Products & Services
Data Ingestion
Manage metadata and share EO data via catalogues, APIs, S3, HTTP and OGC services without unnecessary data downloads.
EO Products & Services
Earth Observation data catalogue
Access and process extensive EO datasets directly in the cloud, with fast discovery, flexible interfaces and no need to download.
EO Products & Services
EO Data Transfer
Transfer large EO datasets quickly and securely between CloudFerro EOData and your own infrastructure via scalable S3 access.
case Studies
Critical missions powered by CloudFerro
Every function PDGS delivers already runs in production for European space programmes, at scales most missions will never need to test.
Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
One of the biggest repositories of open and free Earth observation data immediately available for downloading, streamlining and on-demand processing.
Destination Earth Data Lake
A cloud based massive repository of data that provides the foundation for Destination Earth – a European Union’s flagship initiative to develop a highly accurate digital model of Earth, contributing to the European digital and green transformation.
CREODIAS
A cloud computing environment with an integrated multi-petabyte repository of Earth observation satellite data. It is the first commercial element of Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.
Compliance
Certified at every level
ISO/IEC 27001/27017/27018
Standards for security, privacy and data protection in cloud environments.
Attestation C5
Independently audited cloud security aligned with BSI requirements.
BSI-200-1
Information security based on the established German BSI IT-Grundschutz standard.
EU Facility Security Clearance – Level III
Authorisation to protect EU classified information up to EU SECRET level.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Didn’t find the answer you were looking for? Get in touch if you need more information or would like to speak with our team.
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