Posidonia already orbits the Earth: this is the first satellite developed by the Balearic Islands

PalmaThe first satellite powered by the Balearic Islands is already in space. The device was launched around 9 a.m. aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as part of the mission called Transporter-17, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The project has been developed and will be operated by Open Cosmos, a company specialized in space infrastructure, which has also co-financed it together with the European Union through the Recovery and Resilience Facility-Next Generation EU. The Greek satellite Hyperion GR-1 was also placed into orbit in the same launch.

A satellite that aims to improve land management

Posidònia joins Open Constellation 1.0, a new international constellation of Earth observation satellites aiming to revolutionize access to environmental and territorial data. One of the main innovations is the speed at which information will be available. While traditional systems can take up to 48 hours or several days to provide operational data, the new infrastructure will allow it to be obtained in less than four hours and, in emergency cases, in just 30 minutes.

This capability will facilitate a much faster response to phenomena such as forest fires, floods, or other natural emergencies, which are increasingly frequent in the Mediterranean basin. Likewise, the data will be used to optimize the management of territory and critical infrastructures. The project also aims to contribute to a more sustainable economic model, especially in the tourism sector, thanks to tools that will allow better monitoring of tourist pressure on certain areas of the Balearic Islands.

"A historic milestone"

The CEO and founder of Open Cosmos, Rafel Jordà, has described the launch as a "key milestone", both because it represents the first satellite from the Balearic Islands and because it constitutes one of the first steps of Open Constellation 1.0. According to Jordà, this infrastructure will allow critical information to be available much more quickly to tackle challenges linked to climate change and improve territorial management, tourist pressure, and emergency response.

For her part, the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, has assured that the launch of Posidònia is "a historic milestone" that demonstrates the commitment of the Balearic Islands to innovation, sustainability, and public-private collaboration. Prohens has highlighted that the project places the Archipelago "on the map of research, technological development, and the international space sector", and has argued that the data provided by the satellite will be a fundamental tool for anticipating risks, better managing the territory, and advancing towards a more sustainable development model.

Artificial intelligence from space

Open Constellation 1.0 incorporates satellites equipped with artificial intelligence, IoT sensors and inter-satellite communications, capable of detecting, analyzing and transmitting information directly from space.

The constellation will combine high-resolution multispectral and hyperspectral images and, when fully deployed, will be able to capture up to three million square kilometers of Earth observation data every day, with multiple daily passes over the same territory. The development of Posidònia has included the participation of various entities from the Balearic Islands, including Wireless DNA, the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and Garden Hotels, and has also received the support of the Federation of Hotel Companies of Mallorca (FEHM), in a collaboration between administrations, companies and the academic world.