The SAFEPLACE Crisis Assistant: Bridging Space Data Services & AI for Faster Crisis & Emergency Decision Support

The SAFEPLACE project is a space-enabled innovation initiative, developed within the European Space Agency’s Civil Security from Space (CSS) programme, aimed at improving crisis management and emergency response by facilitating the operational use of Earth Observation (EO), satellite communications, and advanced digital technologies. SAFEPLACE focuses on bridging the gap between complex space assets and the practical needs of public authorities, civil protection agencies, and first responders, enabling faster, more informed, and more coordinated decision-making in emergency situations.

Within this framework, the SAFEPLACE Crisis Assistant is an AI-enabled decision-support tool developed and demonstrated in 2025 to support wildfire crisis management through the operational use of advanced artificial intelligence and space-based information services. The assistant is built on Large Language Model (LLM) technology and exploits Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques combined with advanced prompt engineering to deliver reliable, contextualized, and explainable information to emergency responders operating in time- and resource-critical environments.

The Crisis Assistant acts as a unified conversational interface that allows users to interact naturally with complex crisis-management services and datasets. Through dialogue, users can request situational summaries, follow the evolution of wildfire alerts, access relevant operational knowledge, and obtain tailored recommendations of Earth Observation (EO) data and space-based services. The use of RAG ensures that AI-generated responses are grounded in authoritative sources, historical records, and near-real-time data, significantly reducing uncertainty and enhancing trust in AI-assisted decision-making.

The SAFEPLACE Crisis Assistant was validated in a live operational demonstration in November 2025 during SAFEPLACE Demo 2, organized by Starion together with its partners Vodafone Business and Wireless DNA in Valencia's Emergencies Management Centre, Spain. The demonstration involved around 50 in-person participants and an additional online session attended by more than 30 users, including emergency response organizations, public institutions such as European Space Agency (ESA) and the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), and industry stakeholders. The assistant was tested using real historical wildfire events, demonstrating its ability to support realistic operational workflows through interactive AI-driven exchanges.

A core feature of the Crisis Assistant is its EO Marketplace Space Data Recommender, which enables users to identify, request, and retrieve appropriate satellite imagery and derived products directly through conversational interaction. Building on the successful 2025 demonstrations, the SAFEPLACE Crisis Assistant will be further evolved in 2026 to extend its capabilities to flood crisis management, while also introducing enhanced AI-driven functionalities for wildfires, consolidating SAFEPLACE as a scalable, multi-hazard crisis assistant for emergency management.