Europe is currently working on an ambitious tech project called Destination Earth, or “DestinE.” The goal is to create highly accurate digital twins of our planet. These digital models can simulate how natural events and human actions interact, helping us predict what might happen next.
While the project involves several organizations, EUMETSAT is the group building the “Data Lake.” This is essentially the backbone of the whole operation. It connects the massive digital twins with the high-performance computers needed to run them. Instead of moving giant piles of data around, this setup lets researchers process information right where it lives.
Next Phase of Earth’s Digital Twin
The project is now entering its second phase. EUMETSAT is working with a group of tech companies to get the Data Lake fully operational. So far, the results are looking good. The services have been up and running since early 2025, and they’ve stayed online over 99% of the time.
“With the confirmation from the EUMETSAT Council of our continuing participation in Destination Earth, we stand ready to build on our successes from the first two phases and work with our fellow entrusted entities to progress the system’s operational maturity,” said EUMETSAT Director-General Phil Evans.
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“The Data Lake is the essential binding layer between the Digital Twins, the DestinE Platform and users, and the infrastructure and services that EUMETSAT has engineered, based on industrial standards, are already operational and placing an enormous wealth of data and computing resources at the fingertips of European institutional users, scientists and analysts,” Evans added.
Right now, more than 50 different groups, from small businesses to universities, are already using these tools. Looking ahead to the third phase, the focus will shift toward making the system even more reliable and preparing for new AI developments.
Lothar Wolf, the program manager for the project, noted that the next steps involve keeping things running smoothly while looking at what comes next.
“After having delivered the full operational capabilities of the Destination Earth Data Lake by the end of Phase Two, the three top priorities for EUMETSAT in Phase Three are the continuation and maturing of Data Lake operations, reassessing and preparing for the future, and focusing on fostering institutional user uptake of DestinE,” Wolf explained.
This work will also help support “AI factories” in Europe, making sure the data is ready for the next wave of artificial intelligence research.
