'We used to go to the climate conferences together. We are not anymore': ESA official Simonetta Cheli tells us how the political landscape for Earth observation is changing

FRASCATI, Italy — Observing Earth from space provides a much-needed insight into the evolution of our planet's health.

This is particularly important in the face of climate change , as environmental degradation, food insecurity and extreme weather events can all reveal themselves in stark images taken from high above our planet's surface.

Simonetta Cheli is the director of Earth observation programs at the European Space Agency (ESA) and the head of the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) in Frascati, Italy.

With nearly 40 years of experience in the field, she is one of the world's leading experts on Earth observation.

Live Science spoke with Cheli on a recent visit to ESRIN to talk about why Earth observation is so important, how NASA budget cuts and political changes have altered the picture, and why private space satellites risk our ability to view the planet clearly.

Live Science spoke with Cheli on a recent visit to ESRIN to talk about why Earth observation is so important, how NASA budget cuts and political changes have altered the picture, and why private space satellites risk our ability to view the planet clearly.

She also discussed how new supercomputers, like ESRIN's newly operational Space HPC , are helping to process vast amounts of data like never before — and shared her favorite recent satellite snap of our planet Simonetta Cheli became ESA's director of Earth observation programs and head of ESRIN on Jan.

1, 2022, more than three decades after joining the agency.

She was born in Siena, Italy, and went on to study law and economics at Yale University before gaining a degree in political sciences at the University 'Cesare Alfieri' in Florence, Italy.

She also holds a diploma of advanced studies from the Centre d’Etudes Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris. (Image credit: ESA) Harry Baker: Why is observing Earth from space so important? Simonetta Cheli: It's important because we need to know today what is the state of our planet, if it's healthy or if it's in danger, if it's stressed or not.

It's important to have objective information on many different variables, such as deforestation , the quality of the air that we breathe, the evolution of the oceans or the melting of ice masses.

Basically, we need to be aware of what the situation is on Earth today, so we can preserve it tomorrow.

HB: How has ESA's Earth observation program changed throughout your career? SC: When I started at ESA [in 1988], we were relying on missions from partners, including the Americans and Japanese.

We didn't have our own missions.