PRESS RELEASE
Kaitan (ProkaitanSystems OÜ), an Estonian data security solutions provider, has been contracted by the European Space Agency to lead the study and definition phase of the Estonian Space Resilience Node (SRN). The 10-month project, "ERS-EO Space Resilience Node in Estonia – Definition Phase", is part of Element 2 of ESA's European Resilience from Space Earth Observation (ERS-EO) programme. ERS-EO is building a federated network of national and regional nodes across Europe to give civil protection authorities access to space-based capabilities when a crisis hits.
Kaitan (ProkaitanSystems OÜ), an Estonian data security solutions provider, has been contracted by the European Space Agency to lead the study and definition phase of the Estonian Space Resilience Node (SRN). The 10-month project, "ERS-EO Space Resilience Node in Estonia – Definition Phase", is part of Element 2 of ESA's European Resilience from Space Earth Observation (ERS-EO) programme. ERS-EO is building a federated network of national and regional nodes across Europe to give civil protection authorities access to space-based capabilities when a crisis hits.
Kaitan leads an Estonian consortium that includes Kappazeta OÜ and AS Reach-U, supported by Civilguard Systems OÜ.
The Space Resilience Node will serve as Estonia's national access point to space-based capabilities for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) communities: rescue services, police and border guard, emergency response centres, municipalities and national crisis coordination bodies. It will turn Earth observation and other space-based and ground-based data into timely, interpretable and trustworthy information that supports decisions throughout the crisis cycle.
In practice, the Estonian node will explore services such as:
The work builds on a secure situational-awareness platform that Kaitan's team developed under ESA's Civil Security from Space programme and validated with the Estonian Rescue Board. Starting from the needs of Estonian crisis management stakeholders, from preparedness and early warning to event monitoring, response and recovery, the project targets three gaps: information arrives too late, sits scattered across systems and borders, and is too raw to act on. A working prototype of the node will be demonstrated to stakeholders by mid-2027.
Kappazeta OÜ is a science-driven radar remote sensing company, providing operational Earth observation services to Estonian and Danish government agencies. In this project it leads EO service definition, processing and validation.
AS Reach-U is a data-centric software company with over 25 years of experience in privacy-preserving mobile location data platforms for operators worldwide. In this project it leads the mobile positioning data services.
Civilguard Systems OÜ is an Estonian IT and civil security consultancy. It supports requirements elicitation and liaison with the PPDR communities.
kaitan.eu
The Space Resilience Node will serve as Estonia's national access point to space-based capabilities for Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) communities: rescue services, police and border guard, emergency response centres, municipalities and national crisis coordination bodies. It will turn Earth observation and other space-based and ground-based data into timely, interpretable and trustworthy information that supports decisions throughout the crisis cycle.
In practice, the Estonian node will explore services such as:
- Hazard monitoring and early warning: tracking floods, wildfires and storms, combined with anonymised mobile positioning data that shows where people are and how they move. It supports national crisis coordinators and local governments with preparedness and evacuation planning.
- Terrain and road accessibility: GO / SLOW GO / NO GO maps that show where rescue and support vehicles can get through after heavy rain, flooding or during wet season. This builds on a trafficability service Kappazeta developed in an earlier ESA project and tested in Estonia.
Part of a European network from day one
Estonia's node is one of the first wave of SRN activities starting across Europe this autumn. Nodes will not each build every service on their own. Instead, they will pool and share data and services through ESA's SRN Reference Framework. Estonia expects to contribute where its consortium is strongest: verifiable data integrity and security, radar-based Earth observation analytics, and privacy-preserving mobile positioning insights. In return, it will draw on services developed by other nodes. The consortium will align the Estonian node with the Reference Framework from the beginning. It will also work with other national nodes on shared challenges such as flooding and cross-border situational awareness, with a particular focus on cooperation with Estonia's Baltic neighbours. Each node remains fully under national control.The work builds on a secure situational-awareness platform that Kaitan's team developed under ESA's Civil Security from Space programme and validated with the Estonian Rescue Board. Starting from the needs of Estonian crisis management stakeholders, from preparedness and early warning to event monitoring, response and recovery, the project targets three gaps: information arrives too late, sits scattered across systems and borders, and is too raw to act on. A working prototype of the node will be demonstrated to stakeholders by mid-2027.
“Space-based capabilities, and Earth Observation (EO) in particular, play a critical role in enabling timely enhanced situational awareness during disasters and thereby strengthening Europe’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. The Estonian Space Resilience Node (SRN) will explore how these capabilities can be brought closer to the civil protection community, bridging the challenging gap between research and operational services, while connecting national expertise and capabilities through a common reference framework supporting Pooling & Sharing across the SRNs in Europe.”
Pierre-Philippe Mathieu, Lead Ecosystem Innovation Architect (ERS-EO / SRN)
"A crisis does not stop at the border, and neither should the information responders rely on,"
Kaarel Hanson, Co-Founder and VP of Space Solutions at Kaitan.
"Estonia has built a strong foundation for civil protection. What crisis managers need next is space-derived intelligence they can trust and act on, and access to capabilities no single country should have to build alone. With Kappazeta and Reach-U, we bring Earth observation, mobile positioning and verifiable data integrity to the network. We are reaching out to the other Space Resilience Node teams now, starting with our Baltic neighbours, so that a flood map or situation picture produced in one country can be trusted and used in another."
Kaarel Hanson, Co-Founder and VP of Space Solutions at Kaitan.
About the consortium
Kaitan (ProkaitanSystems OÜ) is an Estonian deep-tech company building cryptographic data security solutions for defence, space and critical infrastructure. It gives EO imagery, telemetry, AI models and supply chain records a tamper-evident, independently verifiable proof of origin and integrity, end to end. Kaitan leads the consortium and is responsible for the architecture definition, security layer design, system integration and deployment of the Estonian node.Kappazeta OÜ is a science-driven radar remote sensing company, providing operational Earth observation services to Estonian and Danish government agencies. In this project it leads EO service definition, processing and validation.
AS Reach-U is a data-centric software company with over 25 years of experience in privacy-preserving mobile location data platforms for operators worldwide. In this project it leads the mobile positioning data services.
Civilguard Systems OÜ is an Estonian IT and civil security consultancy. It supports requirements elicitation and liaison with the PPDR communities.
Media contact:
info@kaitan.eukaitan.eu