B-LiFE, SES and GovSat Deploy Mobile COVID-19 Testing Laboratory to Italy

“In times of the pandemic, joining forces to save lives and bring life back to normal is critical. Supported by space capabilities, B-LiFE’s missions and joint exercises with partners from across Europe serve exactly that purpose, enabling the medical professionals with the necessary tools to respond to the threat, when it’s needed most,” said Arnaud Runge, medical engineer overseeing the mission at ESA. “We are grateful to everyone involved in the mission in Piedmont for their outstanding support of this effort.”

“In these crucial times, it was important for the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence to support the effort engaged by ESA, SES and GovSat and provide the B-LiFE mission the necessary equipment and secure satellite connectivity on our national GovSat-1 system to ensure safe processing and transmission of data,” said Geoffroy Beaudot, Head of Space and Cyber at the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence.

Nicole Robinson, Senior Vice President, Global Government at SES Networks said, “As countries continue to fight or recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, satellite connectivity again proves to be a key tool in connecting healthcare workers and strengthening telemedicine networks, as well as reinforcing the solidarity between countries. The B-LiFE deployment in Italy underscores the reliability and scalability of the satellite services, enabling governments to respond to the pandemic and protect their nations.”

“Supporting the deployment with secure connectivity is crucial, as it concerns transmission of the sensitive healthcare data. Not only does the service need to be high-performance, reliable and rapidly deployed, it also requires additional layers of security. GovSat-1 is ideally positioned to provide the government-level of security, agility and throughput, and we are humbled it plays a part in this meaningful cause,” said Patrick Biewer, CEO of GovSat.