The Vendée Globe watched over from space with CLS

Satellites at the service of skippers

From space, three types of satellites continuously monitor icebergs which could threaten skippers and their boats. At an altitude of 700 km, they detect, analyze and track the ice using advanced technologies.

• Cloud-piercing radar satellites: to detect icebergs day and night.
• Optical satellites: space cameras.
• Altimetric satellites: normally used to measure the average sea level, their use has been diverted here to detect icebergs.

An innovative space collaboration

This monitoring would not be possible without the cooperation of the ESA (European Space Agency) and the CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales), parent company of CLS. For this 10th edition of the Vendée Globe, CLS is relying on:

• Sentinel-1A, a radar satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA).
• SWOT, an altimetric satellite launched in 2022, an innovation from CNES, which maps risk areas and predicts the movements of icebergs.

With these tools, each iceberg is integrated into forecast models that simulate its trajectory and evolution, allowing real-time adjustments to the Antarctic Exclusion Zone (AEZ).

Exceptional human and technological resources

Nearly 100 CLS experts, in Toulouse and around the world, are mobilizing satellites and artificial intelligence to analyze the data. Their mission? Anticipate risks so that each skipper completes the loop in optimal safety conditions.

More information about CLS

CLS, a subsidiary of CNES (34%) and CNP2 (66%), is a company with an international mission, a pioneer in providing Earth observation and monitoring solutions since 1986. Its vision is to imagine and deploy innovative solutions to understand, protect our Planet and sustainably manage its resources. CLS employs nearly 950 people, at its headquarters in Toulouse and at its 34 other sites around the world.

The company operates in 5 strategic business sectors:

• sustainable fisheries management,
• environmental monitoring & climate,
• maritime safety,
• mobility,
• energy & infrastructure.

The company provides satellite services based on the location and collection of environmental data (100,000 tags are processed each month, drifting buoys, tags equipping animals, fishing or commercial fleets, etc.), the observation of oceans and continental waters (more than 20 instruments, embarked on board satellites, deliver daily information to CLS on the seas and oceans of the globe), and the monitoring of terrestrial and maritime activities (nearly 20,000 radar and optical images are processed and analyzed each year). The CLS Group achieved a turnover of nearly 180 million in 2023.

Committed to a sustainable planet, the company works daily for the Earth, from Space.