Declassification of Intelligence Satellite Imagery Stalled

The eagerly awaited declassification of vast amounts of historical intelligence satellite imagery that was supposed to occur this year did not take place, and it is unknown when or if it might go forward.

Earlier this year, government officials had all but promised that the declassification and release of miles of satellite imagery film was imminent.

“The NGA [National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency] is anticipating the potential declassification of significant amounts of film-based imagery… in 2011,” the Agency stated in a solicitation that was published in Federal Business Opportunities on February 14, 2011.  (“Large Release of Intelligence Imagery Foreseen,” Secrecy News, February 28, 2011).

“Almost all” of the historical intelligence imagery from the KH-9 satellite (1971-1986) should be declassified within a few months, said Douglas G. Richards of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff at an August 23, 2011 public forum of the National Declassification Center.

But it didn’t happen.  Why not?

“I have no additional information to provide you concerning the status of this declassification effort,” said Mr. Richards by email this week.  “The Joint Staff completed its participation with the action a few months ago, consequently, I don’t know its current status.  Recommend contacting NGA for additional information.”

An NGA spokesman said that the Agency is still weighing the issue and that it will eventually make a recommendation to the Director of National Intelligence on how to proceed.  But it has not yet done so, and there is no particular deadline for it to reach a conclusion on the issue.

“The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has requested that NGA review the KH-8 GAMBIT and KH-9 HEXAGON imagery holdings for the purpose of making a recommendation to the DNI for possible declassification,” said NGA public release officer Paul R. Polk in a November 10 email message to Prof. Chris Simpson of American University.

Indra Leads Development And Provision Of The Ground Segment Of Satellite Paz

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Nov 29, 2011

The significance and the demanding nature of the PAZ programme's technology will prove the company's capacity to lead the most rigorous teledetection projects and will increase the company's competitiveness in other markets.

Indra will lead the development and supply of the whole ground segment of the Earth Observation satellite Paz. The contracts awarded to Indra by INTA, an organ of the Ministry of Defence, amount to 9M euros. The execution period of the project is 24 months and once delivered the segment will be ready to enter service.

The company will integrate all subsystems which will manage from the ground of what will be Spain's most complex satellite ever built. This project will help boost Indra's possibilities for future similar projects in Europe or in the rest of the countries.

The ground segment will control the satellite and the radar sensor of Paz. Besides this, it will generate, validate, calibrate, store and disseminate the rendered images. Indra will integrate all the systems to be installed at INTA, Torrejon and Maspalomas and at the Defence Data Center located at the Aerospace Observation Systems Centre (CESAEROB), Torrejon air base.

In addition to this, the company will be in charge of the management,system engineering, validation and verification of the ground system for the success of the mission. It will also deliver training so that operators can get familiar with the technology.

NASA Releases Visual Tour of Earth's Fires

by Staff WritersWashington DC (SPX) Oct 25, 2011

Fire observations from around the world taken over nearly 10 years are shown in this visualization of NASA satellite data. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center). Download the visualization from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio.

NASA has released a series of new satellite data visualizations that show tens of millions of fires detected worldwide from space since 2002. The visualizations show fire observations made by the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instruments onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

NASA maintains a comprehensive researchprogram using satellites, aircraft and ground resources to observe and analyze fires around the world. The research helps scientists understand how fire affects our environment on local, regional and global scales.

"What you see here is a very good representation of the satellite data scientists use to understand the global distribution of fires and to determine where and how fire distribution is responding to climate change and population growth," said Chris Justice of the University of Maryland, College Park, a scientist who leads NASA's effort to use MODIS data to study the world's fires.

One of the new visualizations takes viewers on a narrated global tour of fires detected between July 2002 and July 2011. The fire data is combined with satellite views of vegetation and snow cover to show how fires relate to seasonal changes. The Terra and Aqua satellites were launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively.

Better use of Global Geospatial Information for Solving Development Challenges

New York NY (SPX) Oct 24, 2011

Some 350 participants in Seoul will aim to bring countries together to share their experiences in how they organize their geospatial information infrastructure; what are their policy priorities; and how do they deal with crowd-sourced information versus those produced by national authorities.

Representatives from 90 United Nations Member States and more than 50 international and civil society organizations and private sector entities will gather in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 23 to 27 October for a series of high-profile meetings to improve the global management and coordination of geospatial information and in the application of geospatial technology to solve global socio-economic challenges.

The use of geospatial information (location-based information) goes beyond national borders. Many natural disasters and pandemicdiseases are cross-border in their impact and tackling them requires information located and displayed globally.

There is a need therefore for common frameworks and standards for national data to be used regionally and internationally and to harmonize definitions and methods that will enhance the use, accessibility and application of geospatial information globally.

"Over the last decade, new technologies have deeply transformed the availability and accessibility of geospatial information and its potential uses," said Mr. Sha Zukang, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

"After recent earthquakes in several countries, there was great demand for quick and comprehensive geospatial information, from all sources. There is still much fragmentation in national institutional arrangements, as geospatial information entities are often scattered across ministries. The same could also be said for the UN. Thus there is a great need for a thorough discussion on the geospatial policies and institutional arrangements," he said.

The power of pooling high-resolution satellite imagery, geospatial information, and particularly census and statistical information for decision making and policy formulation has now been fully recognized; while accessibility to such information is seen as an important development tool.

STRATCOM urges for single GEOINT processing authority

US: The US Air Force General C. Robert Kehler, Commander of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), called for a single authority to help intelligence processing capacity. “To help, close the growing gap between the nation’s ability to collect intelligence data and the capacity to use it effectively, creation of a single focal point of authority over the processing, exploitation and dissemination (PED) of intelligence information is needed,” said Kehler during GEOINT 2011 Symposium. The new PED authority—which Kehler said could but did not have to be located within STRATCOM—also needs to be combined with greater use of automation in managing intelligence information, he added. Kehler noted that the volume of data collected has grown by some 1500 percent in the past five years, while the nation’s PED capacity has increased by only 30 percent. “How we process, exploit and disseminate the massive amounts of data we generate and the resulting information is where the real challenge lies,” Kehler said. “We need to think hard about how we sort through the growing volume of raw data we collect to find the critical information—not just the information we seek, but the information that indicates an unanticipated event or strategic event that could take us by surprise. How do we turn collection into focused knowledge, and eventually into action?” The dilemma is especially pressing at a time when the nation is grappling with difficult fiscal issues, Kehler stressed. “Automated capabilities may be able to reduce the data to a manageable level for exploitation, but we need to remember that we will always require a human being to make sense of the data and convey its relevance,” he continued. “The gap between collection and PED capacity is a reflection of strength, not weakness. Instead of reducing collection, we need to grow our PED capacity. First, in the long term, we have to pursue innovative methods of automation that will generate unprecedented levels of effectiveness. In the short term, we should take steps to reduce the gap through globally integrated, locally focused integration, and by managing the PED the way we manage the collection platforms—in short, in a unified structure.” In order to achieve a unified structure, however, there needs to be a unified authority, he argued. “A key question is who would have the authority to quickly direct a shift in PED capacity in the interests of the nation? What command or agency exists to manage PED, the way we manage platforms? That unifying authority does not exist, but it should and must. We should be able to synchronise under such an authority, and do so in the interests of all.” “The PED needs a single focal point, which has the authority to allocate resources and drive the effort from a global perspective— not ignoring local needs, but massing all the capability to do what’s needed. Our PED synchronisation must include both service and agency assets. In addition, where such assets exist, they should include PED capabilities in other parts of government,” Kehler stated. Such a global PED synchronisation capability could be located in STRATCOM’s Joint Functional Component Command for ISR, he suggested, while acknowledging that there could be other solutions. Source:

http://geospatialworld.net

Future belongs to GEOINT: Defence Undersecretary

US: In a keynote address during GEOINT 2011, Michael Vickers, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, US, said, “GEOINT is a critical, critical strength.” At the same time, he acknowledged budget realities and the need to be smart in meeting them. Looking at the future, Vickers believed the country’s GEOINT capabilities are much more aligned with America’s strategic needs than they have been in the past. According to Vickers, GEOINT played a key role in the elimination or capture of senior and mid-level operatives in Al-Qaeda and those organisations that support or collaborate with it. This has been especially true this year, with a string of high-profile successes. The recent progress has been so good that Vickers issued a statement that the complete defeat of Al-Qaeda is now on the horizon. He added that full motion video has proven to be the basis for the counter-terrorism (CT) effort. “GEOINT has been absolutely essential to our CT success,” Vickers stressed. As for other strategic objectives, the capabilities offered by advanced sensors and other technologies have also helped counter the threat from improvised explosive devices. Vickers added that commanders in Iraq now have access to more surveillance and reconnaissance data than at any other time in the war. In Afghanistan, 3D mapping has been done for a good chunk of the country and wide area surveillance assets now generate 53 terabytes of data every day. Vickers state that GEOINT capabilities were used during Japanese earthquake. GEOINT technologies and techniques established the extent of the disaster and the shape of its aftermath. This allowed the governments of Japan, the US, and elsewhere to assess the situation, their response, and make needed adjustments. It also showed one of the strengths that the craft offers. “GEOINT frequently allows us to corroborate other sources,” Vickers opined. As for the future, it consists of what are somewhat contradictory constraints. One is the budget, which is going to be tighter going forward than it has been in the past. Counteracting that is the fact that intelligence and special forces are going to be increasingly important. Also there is a need to develop enhanced cyber domain capabilities, and the use of unmanned aerial platforms will continue to grow. All of these trends require today’s GEOINT capabilities and more, which means results will have to be achieved for fewer bucks. The solution is to rationalise the GEOINT assets that have been developed in 10 years of war and adapt them to a new world, Vickers said. Some of the lessons that have been learned, such as how to implement rapid acquisition, will be carried forward. Others still have to be mastered, such as how to implement the needed organisational changes. Source:

http://geospatialworld.net

NGA builds irreversible momentum: Long

San Antonio, US: “We have irreversible momentum in what we have started here. The demand for GEOINT is rising, and it will continue to rise. We are delivering and we are continuing to deliver,” Letitia A. Long, Director, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) told GEOINT 2011 Symposium attendees. Continuing her GEOINT 2010’s talk of putting GEOINT power into the hands of users, she offered a progress report on the past year and demonstrated some of the many apps the agency is working on. Long began by explaining the framework for how she measures progress by the agency, which takes into account content, the open IT environment, customer service and analytic depth. She also explained her three level model for the delivery of services, which includes self service, assisted service and full service. “Increasingly our users are GIS savvy. They want to be able to serve themselves for the things that make sense,” she said, adding that that approach frees up analysts to be “focused on the ‘so what’ and develop new analytic tools.” The bulk of Long’s remarks, however, were devoted to explaining and demonstrating some of the apps NGA is working on. In the area of humanitarian relief and disaster response, for example, she explained how a new app had already helped the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other first responders deal with the devastation caused by the recent Hurricane Irene. Traditionally, she said, the agency prints disaster atlases of maps and imagery for those travelling to the scene. NGA analysts can produce 200 pages of documents an hour, which then are printed, bound and shipped. A typical disaster may involve 200,000 pages of material. “Sometimes we can be the bottleneck,” she acknowledged. “So we started working on a suite of applications for FEMA as Hurricane Irene was bearing down on the East Coast. We thought, what better way to test our apps than to deploy with a bunch of mobile devices. So that’s what we did.” Instead of printing atlases, NGA used an app that enabled analysts to produce the equivalent of 6,000 pages an hour on a mobile device once the information was loaded in. “We came up with a simple application to allow entry of data from the field,” Long said. “You put in your location and time, and the key attributes you want to get back to headquarters. Now everyone has access to the information. You don’t have to go back to the command post to get the information in. It also shows up on the base map. As for providing support to military forces, Long described a flight she had taken on a military aircraft the day before from Washington, D.C., to San Antonio. She noted that NGA’s mission includes preparing pre-flight information materials for military aircraft. Currently, that involves printing vast quantities of materials—10 million books and charts in 2010, at a cost of USD 20 million a year. With an app, she said, “I think I have a better, cheaper and faster way of doing that. You can just pull up a chart and have it at your fingertips and have all the information in one place. It’s going to save us and the military services a lot of time and money.” Looking ahead, Long offered these thoughts: “In support to military planning and ops, I’d like to move from a data poor to a data rich environment. I’d like to be able to build and provide apps for our military forces for operations, with secure mobile devices, and experiment and use different types of information.” “For integrated GEOINT analysis, it really is the continuation of using all of our traditional and nontraditional sources so that we are creating new value, and focusing on the key intelligence questions,” she said. “We will also do all of this while we are focused on gaining efficiencies, and while we are embedded in our mission partners’ footprints, forward with our fighting forces. We will continue to partner with industry and academic partners, the National System for Geospatial-Intelligence and our international partners.” source:

http://geospatialworld.net

Astrium signs new Pleiades contract

Paris, France (SPX) Oct 13, 2011

The upcoming constellation is based on four satellites: Pleiades 1 and Pleaides 2, two very-high-resolution satellites delivering 50-cm ortho colour products as a standard, and SPOT 6 and 7, designed to extend SPOT 5's success to the 1.5-m product family.

Astrium Services and Chinese provider of satellite data and value-added services, Beijing Eastdawn Information Technology (Eastdawn), have signed a partnership agreement to give Eastdawn access to Pleiades solutions and technologies.

This three year contract (with the possibility to extend for an extra two years) will enable Eastdawn to distribute 50-cm resolution products from the Pleiades constellation, as well as innovative services.

These products will support near-real-time applications to five key accounts in China (Ministry of Land Resources; National Administration for Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation; China Geological Survey; Ministry of Agriculture; and Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development) on an exclusive basis.

This new partnership agreement demonstrates Eastdawn's commitment to Pleiades. The company, investing in reception infrastructure, will operate three receiving stations to meet the needs of clients over the vast Chinese territory.

"China has leveraged the benefits of very high resolution satellite data since the beginning of the century to conduct land resource surveys and urban planning. Eastdawn will build on this tradition and work closely with our domestic remote sensing community," declared Mr. Bing Sun, President and CEO of Eastdawn.

"Pleiades will be the right solution to meet the needs of our target market. We believe our partnering with Astrium Services will help provide the Chinese government and key businesses with quality geospatial information in a timely and convenient manner to address applications such as land resource surveys, mapping, geosciences, agricultural assessment and urban planning."

EDRS, the future data highway in space

Paris, France (SPX) Oct 13, 2011

EDRS operations will commence with the launch of the first EDRS mission at the end of 2014. The mission will be embarked on board a Eutelsat satellite: EUTELSAT 9B that will be manufactured by Astrium and located at 9E. Astrium will also contract OHB-System, Germany, to build a second EDRS satellite for launch in 2015.

Astrium, Europe's leading space company, will partner with the European Space Agency (ESA) to design, deliver and operate the European Data Relay System (EDRS).

The EDRS will be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between ESA and Astrium. Under the terms of the agreement the partners will jointly finance the EDRS. ESA contract with Astrium amounts to 275 million euros.

The EDRS's two telecommunication payloads in geostationary orbit will enable broadband, bi-directional data relay between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and an associated ground segment via either of the EDRS payloads.

The EDRS increases the time LEO spacecraft can be in communication with the ground and enables immediate broadband data transfer to the user. It also provides the capability to re-programme LEO Earth observation (EO) satellites in almost real-time.

This ensures the timely acquisition and delivery of imagery following natural disasters, and helps emergency services on the ground to accurately map the affected areas and effectively coordinate response efforts.

Currently, LEO satellites can only be reprogrammed and images can only be received when the satellites pass over a specific geographic location with a dedicated ground station.

The new space data highway will provide Europe with independent, on demand access to EO data from LEO satellites in real-time. It solves the growing problem of "data traffic jams in space" and enables an improved reactivity as well as a more intense and efficient use of EO satellites.

Japan launches new spy satellite

Tokyo (AFP) Sept 23, 2011

Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit Friday, officials said, in its latest effort to beef up surveillance against the threat of North Korean missiles.

The Japanese H-2A rocket carrying a new information-gathering optical satellite lifted off at 1:36 pm (0436 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.

"The rocket was launched successfully and the satellite was separated into an orbit around the earth later," Naoki Takarada, an official of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said by telephone from Tanegashima.

The new satellite, equipped with optical sensors, can distinguish objects on the ground with a resolution of some 60 centimetres (24 inches) from an altitude of around 500 kilometres (310 miles), according to media reports.

The government decided to build an intelligence-gathering system following North Korea's missile launch in 1998 into the Pacific over the Japanese archipelago.

In defiance of international pressure, North Korea launched again what was believed to be a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile in April 2009, with an estimated range of 6,700 kilometres (4,100 miles).

Japan's new satellite was the seventh to be placed into orbit since 2003 under the programme.

Of the previously launched four optical and two radar satellites, only three optical ones are still operating. The latest satellite will replace one of them which has passed its expected life of five years.

Optical satellites can capture images in daylight and in clear weather.

In the next two years, Japan plans to launch two radar satellites, which can capture images at night and in cloudy weather.

For security reasons, the government has refused to divulge details about the functions of these satellites.

The development cost of the latest satellite has reached 36 billion yen ($470 million) with its launch expenses amounting to 10 billion yen, according to the government.

The rocket had been initially scheduled to be sent into orbit on August 28.

But the state-run JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had to postpone the launch three times due to poor weather conditions with the approach of a powerful typhoon and the discovery of a system glitch.

Related LinksMilitary Space News at SpaceWar.com

Help NASA Find Life On Mars With MAPPER

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 28, 2011

Since the PLRP 2011 field season MAPPER has been open to the general public, enabling anyone to explore Pavilion and Kelly Lake as full-fledged members of PLRP's Remote Science Team.

Would you like to participate in NASA's analog research program? Interested in helpingscientists pinpoint where to look for signs of life on Mars and elsewhere in the universe? Now you can, with an exciting new citizen science website called MAPPER that was launched in conjunction with the Pavilion Lake Research Project's 2011 field season.

The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) has been investigating the underwater environment of Pavilion and Kelly Lake in British Columbia, Canada with DeepWorker submersible vehicles since 2008. Now with MAPPER, you can work side-by-side withNASA scientists to explore the bottom of these lakes from the perspective of a DeepWorker pilot.

The PLRP team makes use of DeepWorker subs to explore and document freshwater carbonate formations known as microbialites that thrive in Pavilion and Kelly Lake. Many scientists believe that a better understanding of how and where these rare microbialite formations develop will lead to deeper insights into where signs of life may be found on Mars and beyond. To investigate microbialite formation in detail, terabytes of video footage and photos of the lake bottom are recorded by PLRP's DeepWorker sub pilots.

This data must be analyzed to determine what types of features can be found in different parts of the lake. Ultimately, detailed maps can be generated to help answer questions like "how does microbialite texture and size vary with depth?" and "why do microbialites grow in certain parts of the lake but not in others?". But before these questions can be answered, all the data must be analyzed.

Orbiter Resumes Use of Camera

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 09, 2011

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter completed its primary science phase in 2008 and continues to work in an extended mission.

Operators of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are resuming use of the mission's highest resolution camera following a second precautionary shutdown in two weeks.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument powered off on Aug. 27 and again on Sept. 6. In each case, commanding for an observation was not properly received by the memory module controlling one of the instrument's 14 electronic detectors (CCDs, or charge-coupled devices).

Between those two incidents, the camera successfully resumed observations for five days using its other 13 detectors. The second entry into the power-off, thermally protected mode occurred during an attempt to add use of the 14th detector. The camera is resuming observations with 13 detectors today while plans are developed for other diagnostic tests.

Astrotech Subsidiary Wins Contract for NASA Mission

Austin, TX (SPX) Sep 23, 2011

LDCM is the seventh mission awarded to Astrotech under the IDIQ contract. LDCM is part of the Landsat Program, which provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis.

Astrotech has won a fully-funded task order under the previously announced Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.

The Company will provide facilities and payload processing services from its VAFB location in support of NASA's Landsat DataContinuity Mission (LDCM) scheduled to launch in December 2012.

On June 25, 2007 Astrotech announced the award of a $35 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with NASA for payload processing support services associated with potential future missions.

LDCM is the seventh mission awarded to Astrotech under the IDIQ contract. LDCM is part of the Landsat Program, which provides repetitive acquisition of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global basis.

This mission will obtain valuable data and imagery to be used in agriculture, education, business, science, and government.

From Titusville, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Astrotech Space Operations provides all support necessary for government and commercial customers to successfully process their satellite hardware for launch, including advance planning; use of unique facilities; and spacecraft checkout, encapsulation, fueling, and transport. ASO has supported the processing of more than 290 spacecraft without impacting a customer's launch schedule.

Astrotech is one of the first space commerce companies and remains a strong entrepreneurial force in the aerospace industry.

source: http://www.spacedaily.com
Related LinksAstrotechEarth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application

Russia may launch its first Earth remote sensing satellite in 2012

Arkhangelsk, Russia (RIA Novosti) Sep 26, 2011

The Resurs platform.

Russia's first Earth remote sensing satellite, the Kondor, may be launched in January 2012, a space official said on Thursday.

"We are developing Kondor and Arkon [satellites]," deputy head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos Anatoly Shilov said. "Arkon is a distant future, but Kondor will hopefully fly in January."

The Kondor is an 800 kg Earth remote-sensing spacecraft designed to provide high-resolution radar imagery and terrain mapping in real-time. It will be launched as part of the so-called Arktika Earth observation satellite grouping.

"As a rule, 90% of the time the Arctic region is covered with clouds or remains in darkness due to long polar night season. In such conditions these satellites are indispensible," Shilov said.

The official added that Russia was planning to launch in 2012 two Earth optical observation satellites - the Resurs-P and the Canopus-B - to provide precision monitoring of natural and man-made disasters, particularly wildfires and environmental pollution.

Source: RIA Novosti via http://www.spacedaily.com

Big Black throws a party

     A KH-7 on display at the NRO’s 50th anniversary party Saturday night. 

(credit: D. Day) 

by Dwayne A. Day

Monday, September 19, 2011

On Saturday night the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a major bash at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. The spooks definitely know how to throw a party.

The event was remarkable in some ways because for the first 31 years of its life the NRO was a secret organization and the government did not even admit that it existed—blacker than black. But in the past 20 years the office, by fits and starts, revealed more of what it does. Today although most of its current operations remain classified, the NRO acknowledges the broad outlines of its activities, taking images and intercepting signals using sophisticated and expensive satellites. The NRO has had its share of scandals in the past couple of decades, some of which became public, but lately it seems to be on a roll with a number of programmatic successes, and so they held a party, and have something to celebrate.

Spy satellite hardware on display. (credit: D. Day) 

Officially sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the event was attended by approximately 4,000 people who enjoyed (excellent) catered food, an open bar, an orchestra, and several fortunately not-terribly-long-winded speeches. But the highlight of the event (for me, anyway) was the declassification of two major Cold War-era reconnaissance satellite programs, the KH-7 and KH-8 GAMBIT and the KH-9 HEXAGON (see “Flashlights in the dark”, The Space Review, September 12, 2011). The NRO even brought in things to show off—an engineering mockup of the massive KH-9 and what is apparently a leftover flight version of the KH-7, which ceased operations in the latter half of the 1960s. Both objects were viewable for only one day, although only the KH-9 was open to viewing by the general public during the day (the KH-7 could be seen by visitors who went up to a museum walkway).

NASA Gives Public New Internet Tool to Explore the Solar System

by Staff WritersPasadena CA (JPL) Sep 06, 2011

NASA's new Web-based application, "Eyes on the Solar System," gives people the power to journey through the solar system without leaving their computers. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

NASA is giving the public the power to journey through the solar system using a new interactive Web-based tool. The "Eyes on the Solar System" interface combines video game technology and NASA data to create an environment for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore the cosmos.

Screen graphics and information such as planet locations and spacecraft maneuvers use actual spacemission data.

"This is the first time the public has been able to see the entire solar system and our missions moving together in real time," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "It demonstrates NASA's continued commitment to share our science with everyone."

The virtual environment uses the Unity game engine to display models of planets, moons, asteroids, comets and spacecraft as they move through our solar system. With keyboard and mouse controls, users cruise through space to explore anything that catches their interest. A free browser plug-in, available at the site, is required to run the Web application.

"You are now free to move about the solar system," said Blaine Baggett, executive manager in the Office of Communication and Education at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "See what NASA's spacecraft see - and where they are right now - all without leaving your computer."

Users may experience missions in real time, and "Eyes on the Solar System" also allows them to travel through time.

The tool is populated with NASA data dating back to 1950 and projected to 2050. The playback rate can be sped up or slowed down. When NASA's Juno spacecraft launched on Aug. 5, 2011, users could look ahead to see the mission's five-year journey to Jupiter in a matter of seconds.

Point of view can be switched from faraway to close-up to right "on board" spacecraft. Location, motion and appearance are based on predicted and reconstructed mission data.

Dozens of controls on a series of pop-up menus allow users to fully customize what they see, and video and audio tutorials explain how to use the tool's many options. Users may choose from 2-D or 3-D modes, with the latter simply requiring a pair of red-cyan glasses to see.

"By basing our visualization primarily on mission data, this tool will help both NASA and the public better understand complex space science missions," said Kevin Hussey, manager of Visualization Technology Applications and Development at JPL, whose team developed "Eyes on the Solar System."

"Eyes on the Solar System" is in beta release. It has been demonstrated at science conferences, in classrooms and at the 2011 South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas.

Designers are updating "Eyes on the Solar System" to include NASA science missions launching during the coming months, including GRAIL to the moon and the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover.

source: www.spacemart.com


go to JPL's Eyes on the Solar System

NRO Maintains US Intel Satellite Edge

by Karen ParrishWashington DC (AFNS) Sep 19, 2011

NRO's ability to fuse various streams of intelligence data - including image, signals and geolocation - into a single, usable result has increased by an order of magnitude, but is five orders of magnitude below where it needs to be.

The National Reconnaissance Office is 50 years old this month, but its mission of designing, building, launching and maintaining America's intelligence satellites is always future focused, its chief said yesterday.

Bruce A. Carlson, a retired Air Force general and NRO's director, told defense reporters here the office's current missions range from identifying roadside bombs in Afghanistan to tracking activities in China and North Korea.

The National Reconnaissance Office has launched six satellites in seven months, "the best we've done in about 25 years," the director said.

As recently as two years ago, more than 30 percent of the organization's programs were rated yellow or red for improper performance. All the NRO's major system acquisition programs are now in the green - delivering on schedule, on contract and on price, Carlson said.

Carlson said NRO's mission is getting more challenging because space is becoming increasingly congested where the satellites work.

"Other countries are launching a lot of stuff, and it's becoming more competitive," he said. "We all have to operate in the same space."

And it's no secret the Chinese are becoming more active in space, the director added. "That concerns us because we're not absolutely sure of their intent," he said.

NRO and Air Force Space Command have a joint space protection program, Carlson said, which is the "ace in the hole" should "somebody try to do something."

"We also use the space protection program to work around the congestion problem ... make sure we don't run into something else up there," he said.

China and Russia both contend with the United States for room in space, Carlson said.

In satellite surveillance as with night fighting, deep strike capabilities and special operations expertise, "they have to focus on our strengths," the director said.

China and Russia don't try to compete with U.S. capabilities, but to counter them, Carlson noted. "That's why we have a space protection program," he said.

China is a focus for his organization's surveillance efforts, as is North Korea, Carlson said.

"I remain concerned about [China's] intent and exactly what it is that I do not know," he said.

North Korea also works "really hard to deceive us," Carlson noted. "We work really hard to make sure we don't let them deceive us. So it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game. It's very serious for us."

The NRO's three main lines of business are imaging, signals collection and communications, the director said. The science and technology, or developmental and demonstration program, underlies all three, he added.