The Italian Assets For The Closeye Eu Project: Cosmo-Skymed And Athena-Fidus Satellite Systems

The European Commission has identified the enhancement of integrated border management as one of the most important areas of interest. The 7th Framework Programme for research and development has been used since 2008 to improve the performance of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) and to test technical capabilities to curtail the flow of illegal immigrants reaching European coasts. In this sense, several initiatives have been fostered, CLOSEYE being one of them. In this paper a comprehensive description of the CLOSEYE project will be provided, highlighting the preliminary results obtained in this context by the synergic use of the two main Italian assets providing services in Satellite Earth Observation and Communications: COSMO-SkyMed constellation and Athena-Fidus satellite.