Russia, Sweden to boost space cooperation

Putin has invited Sweden to increase its cooperation with Russia on its Glonass satellite navigation system

by Staff Writers Stockholm, Russia (RIA Novosti) Apr 29, 2011

Russia and Sweden agreed on Wednesday to improve cooperation in the space industry, including their intention to launch Swedish satellites using Russian carrier rockets. The two countries signed a relevant declaration during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Stockholm.
The sides also agreed to jointly use ground facilities to gather information for operating their own orbital objects and those of third countries.
Sweden and Russia will also cooperate within a Russian space research project to monitor the Earth's polar regions. The project envisions using a new satellite cluster, called Arktika, to provide environmental monitoring data for accurate weather forecasts and to aid national socio-economic development.
The system is scheduled to begin operating in 2015. The cost of the project is estimated at 30 billion rubles ($1.23 billion).

NASA Orbiter Reveals Big Changes in Mars' Atmosphere

A newly found, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide - dry ice - near the south pole of Mars contains about 30 times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated to be frozen near the pole.

by Staff Writers Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 25, 2011

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water, if it exists on the Martian surface, and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. Researchers using the orbiter's ground-penetrating radar identified a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole. The scientists suspect that much of this carbon dioxide enters the planet's atmosphere and swells the atmosphere's mass when Mars' tilt increases. The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal Science.
The newly found deposit has a volume similar to Lake Superior's nearly 3,000 cubic miles (about 12,000 cubic kilometers). The deposit holds up to 80 percent as much carbon dioxide as today's Martian atmosphere. Collapse pits caused by dry ice sublimation and other clues suggest the deposit is in a dissipating phase, adding gas to the atmosphere each year. Mars' atmosphere is about 95 percent carbon dioxide, in contrast to Earth's much thicker atmosphere, which is less than .04 percent carbon dioxide.

US Space Wing sharpens focus on contested environment

A graphic depicting satellites and their orbits demonstrates how the space around Earth is contested and congested.

by Staff Writers Schriever AFB CO (SPX) Apr 25, 2011

During the summer of 1861, a pair of competing visionaries ushered in the concept of aerial reconnaissance when they successfully piloted gas-filled balloons hundreds of feet into the air. In separate events, John LaMountain and Thadeus Lowe viewed Confederate troop encampments and reported their findings to Union Army officers. As soon as Confederate soldiers learned their adversaries had developed eyes in the sky, they quickly developed strategies to shoot them down - ushering in the concept of contested air space.
While time and technology have served to transform the domains of contention, 150 years later the notions of contested space and cyberspace have become such strategically important concepts that the 50th Space Wing Commander, Col. Wayne Monteith, included them in the wing's revised vision statement. The terms have also been accentuated in the Air Force motto.
"It's about recognition," said Col. Michael Finn, commander, 50th Network Operations Group. "We enable information for the warfighter and national security decision makers. So we have to recognize a shift in thinking about the information domain, from one that is support centric, to one that is about preserving our freedom of action in the domain, while denying our adversary the same when called upon to do so."

Satellites track human rights abuses

Washington DC, US

Satellites images can help track human rights abuses from around the world, according to researchers who believe that this technology could one day help prevent such atrocities.

US researcher Lars Bromley proved its effectiveness when he watched the final days of the Sri Lankan conflict unfold with the help of satellites. Bromley observed the digital satellite photos as part of the Science and Human Rights Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This has been reported by Christian Science Monitor.

Bromley, a geographer, wanted to determine if the Sri Lankan Army was attacking a civilian safety zone during the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009. Since the photos were not sufficiently fine-grain to reveal corpses, Bromley and his team focused on other damage like shattered buildings and mortar craters in places where refugees had previously gathered. The rectangular grids of Tamil Tiger cemeteries grew every day in the new photos, revealing dozens of new graves. The Sri Lankan government denied targeting civilian areas.

One of Bromley's team members who studied meteor craters on Mars noticed sprays of soil kicked up from mortar craters. The orientation of those sprays allowed him to extrapolate the trajectory of incoming shells - and ultimately, trace them back to Sri Lankan Army positions.

AAAS has also documented home demolitions by Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's regime in its first satellite project in 2005. Burning of hundreds of villages in Darfur was revealed in a 2007 project. Others have probed abuses in Myanmar, Gaza, North Korea, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Patrick Meier, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, in California, who co-founded the global network Crisis Mappers, said: "You're not just documenting human rights abuses so you can bring someone to justice in The Hague three years later." The question is "can you provide tactical data for people to act on and get out of harm's way?", the Monitor quoted him as saying.

Source: http://www.geospatialworld.net

STEREO Turns Its Steady Gaze On Variable Stars

"STEREO's ability to sample continuously for up to 20 days, coupled with repeat viewings from the twin spacecraft during the year, makes it an invaluable resource for researching variable stars. As well as making discoveries, observations from HI are enabling us to pin down the periods of known variables with much greater accuracy," said Karl Wraight.

by Staff Writers London, UK (SPX) Apr 26, 2011

Researchers have discovered 122 new eclipsing binary stars and observed hundreds more variable stars in an innovative survey using NASA's two STEREO solar satellites. The survey has been carried out by team from the Open University, University of Central Lancashire and the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Dr Danielle Bewsher will present highlights at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales. STEREO was launched in 2006 to study the Sun in 3D and coronal mass ejections, the cause of space weather. Each STEREO spacecraft carries a Heliospheric Imager (HI), each instrument comprising two cameras (HI-1 and HI-2) built and developed at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the University of Birmingham. The HI cameras are able to make such stable measurements that researchers can accurately monitor the brightness of stars in the background.
"Although STEREO is primarily a solar mission, we recognised that the stability of the HI cameras could also be used to monitor variations of the brightness of stars," said Bewsher, of the University of Central Lancashire.
"To date, 893 000 stars have passed through the HI-1 field-of-view alone, producing an unexpected resource of scientific data about the variability of stars that is currently being data mined."

Russian space forces reconnect with lost satellite

Geo-IK-2

by Staff Writers Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 25, 2011

The Russian Space Forces has re-established contact with a military satellite, Geo-IK-2, which went missing in February, local media reported Friday. According to a spokesman from the Defense Ministry, Interfax news agency said the Space Forces had already received telemetric information from the satellite and collection and analysis of the data were currently underway.
After studying the information, the Defense Ministry would make a decision regarding the further use of the satellite, the spokesman said.
A Rokot light-class carrier rocket carrying with the Geo-IK-2 satellite blasted off Feb. 1 from Russia's Plesetsk launching site, but placed the satellite in an incorrect orbit. After the launch, the Defense Ministry announced it had lost contact with the Geo-IK-2 and later abandoned the satellite.
The Russian Space Forces then grounded launches of all Rokot light-class carrier rockets until the completion of an investigation into the failed launch.

source: http://www.spacewar.com

Israel reveals its geo intelligence

Israel: Israel's observational satellites take up a large chunk of the multi-year Halamish plan that the Army is preparing, which is due to come before the cabinet for approval, Haaretz Daily reported. The plan outlines Israel’s current strategic standing in the Middle East amid the ongoing upheaval in the region and particularly the regime change in Egypt and the impact it will have on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and its buildup.

As an integrated part of the plan, satellites including the Ofek 5, 7 and 9 - the latest of which was launched in June - provide up-to-date images to the Intelligence Corps of the IDF. The images are used to help Israel keep an eye on sensitive "areas of interest" where planes, whether manned or unmanned, would not be able to go, said the lieutenant colonel who heads the air force's satellite and space unit.

IAF officials are wary of going into too much depth when it comes to describing the abilities of Israeli satellites, but the lieutenant colonel described them as "creating photographic opportunities that enable us to get up-to-date information, to the point of providing a warning on leading operational needs."

But the satellites have their limitations. Of Israel's six satellites, only one - the high-resolution TecSar, which features radar imaging - is capable of transmitting images at night and in poor weather conditions, and the TecSar has a view of those "areas of interest" only once every 90 minutes. In addition, its elliptical orbit means that it goes dark for two weeks of every two months or so.

The air force would like to have enough satellites to keep the Middle East covered well enough that there would be no spot where Israel cannot see what's going on once every 15 minutes.

Unlike the Ofek series satellites, TecSar - along with Eros A and Eros B, which are privately owned by a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries - were launched abroad, from either Russia or India.

Source: http://www.geospatialworld.net

Resourcesat-2, Youthsat, X-Sat functioning satisfactorily

File image.

by Staff Writers Bangalore, India (PTI) Apr 27, 2011

The country's latest remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 and two micro satellites launched by home grown PSLV-C16 rocket on April 20 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh ''are functioning satisfactorily'', ISRO said. "All three satellites were placed in the targeted orbits with high precision," the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a statement here.
In its 17th consecutive successful flight, PSLV-C16 injected Resourcesat-2, Youthsat and X-sat (of Nanyang Technical University, Singapore) into polar sun synchronus orbit on Wednesday last.

Missile Warning Satellite Encapsulated in Launch Vehicle Payload Fairing

Shown here is the first geosynchronous (GEO-1) Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellite during fairing encapsulation in preparation for an early May launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

by Staff Writers Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Apr 27, 2011

The first Lockheed Martin-built Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous (GEO-1) spacecraft was encapsulated into its payload fairing April 20 in preparation for an early May liftoff aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. SBIRS GEO-1 will enhance the nation's missile warning capabilities and improve other critical mission areas simultaneously including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness.
The GEO-1 satellite includes highly sophisticated scanning and staring sensors that will deliver enhanced infrared sensitivity and a reduction in area revisit times over the current constellation.
The scanning sensor will provide a wide area surveillance of missile launches and natural phenomena across the earth, while the staring sensor will be used to observe smaller areas of interest with enhanced sensitivity.
When GEO-1 is launched, declared operational and its data is fused into the current constellation, SBIRS will deliver unprecedented, global, persistent, taskable infrared surveillance capabilities to the warfighter, nation and allies for decades to come.
The SBIRS team is led by the Infrared Space Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Lockheed Martin is the SBIRS prime contractor, with Northrop Grumman, as the payload integrator. Air Force Space Command operates the SBIRS system.

source:  http://www.spacewar.com

New land maps available in time for spring

29 March 2011
ESA is making land data maps of Europe and Africa available to the public online in near-real time. The maps target land activities that are of particular interest to the agriculture and food-security user communities.

The Culture-MERIS service demonstration – based on data from Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) at a resolution of 300 m – is updated every Wednesday with data acquired Monday to Sunday of the previous week. Users are able to download maps for selected countries or regions at no cost here: ftp://culturemeris:culturemeris@ionia2.esrin.esa.int
(User and Password are both ‘culturemeris’). 

source: http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM9LD6UPLG_index_0.html

ITT's Commercial Imaging Payload Passes Major Milestone

File image.

by Staff Writers Rochester NY (SPX) Apr 18, 2011

ITT reached a key milestone with the successful completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the imaging payload for WorldView-3, DigitalGlobe's high-resolution commercial Earth imaging satellite. WorldView-3 will combine the most productive high resolution commercial sensor subsystem available with a highly accurate and stable optical telescope unit. "ITT has been recognized as the aerospace industry's leading imaging payload provider for more than 50 years," said Rob Mitrevski, vice president and general manager of ITT's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems business area.
"Our design for the WorldView-3 imaging payload, which will provide improved imagery resolution, is now authenticated. We look forward to moving into the next phase of assembling, building and testing the WorldView-3 payload."

Rear Admiral Craig Steidle Named President Of Commercial Spaceflight Federation

File image.

by Staff Writers Washington DC (SPX) Apr 18, 2011

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce that Rear Admiral Craig E. Steidle (U.S. Navy, Ret.) has been named as President, effective May 15. Admiral Steidle was approved for the position by a unanimous vote of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation's board of directors and will serve full-time in this capacity working from the organization's headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. Admiral Steidle has a long and distinguished track record in aerospace as a former senior NASA official, flag officer, program manager, aerospace engineer, Naval aviator and combat veteran, and technology innovator. At NASA, Adm. Steidle served as the first Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, one of the most senior positions in the agency.
In 2004 and 2005, Adm. Steidle built the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate from the ground up into a $3 billion a year organization, personally initiating several innovative programs including efforts to foster commercial space transportation to the International Space Station, the Centennial Challenges prize program, and a far-ranging program of advanced technology development.
During his tenure at the Navy, Admiral Steidle became most well known for serving in the mid 1990's as Director of the Joint Strike Fighter Program - the single largest Department of Defense development program in history. As program manager, he implemented the innovative "fly-off" competition between the X-32 and X-35 prototype aircraft. Under his command, the Joint Strike Fighter Program was awarded the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award.

Astrium GEO-Info Services Looks Back On The Chernobyl Disaster 25 Years Later With EO Technologies

To view the Astrium GEO-Info Services Chernobyl flipbook of images form the last 25 years please go here.

by Staff Writers Paris, France (SPX) Apr 18, 2011 The first satellite image of the Ukrainian site was acquired by SPOT1 only ten days after the explosion, demonstrating the value of Earth-imaging satellites in responding to natural and man-made disasters. Technology has evolved in the 25 years since the Chernobyl explosion, and Astrium GEO-Information's satellites continue to keep a watchful eye on the zone.
Astrium GEO-Information Services (formerly Spot Image) has released satellite imagery of the Chernobyl nuclear site covering the 25 years since the disaster in 1986.
From the first satellite image acquired by SPOT1 on April 26th 1986 to the high performance radar imagery taken only days ago of the affected area, Astrium GEO-Information Services has effectively monitored Chernobyl for a quarter of a century using the vast data archive containing more than 100 billion square kilometres of imagery.
Since 1986, satellite imagery has played a crucial role in managing disaster zones by providing teams on the ground with comprehensive information for decontamination efforts as well as mapping the resulting reforestation of the area.
Astrium GEO-Information Services has published an online flipbook presenting the multi-source, multi-resolution imagery of the Ukrainian site acquired over the past 25 years. The flipbook illustrates the changes to the area and demonstrates how satellite technology has brought new insights to site monitoring, management and mitigation of disasters since the 1980s.
Taking full advantage of the fully-integrated combined resources and skills of its Spot Image and Infoterra subsidiaries, the GEO-Information division of Astrium Services has become a recognised world leader in the geo-information market by offering decision-makers sustainable one-stop-shop solutions to increase security, protect the environment, and better manage natural resources.
It has exclusive access to SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellite data, while also calling on a full gamut of space data sources and airborne acquisition capabilities, enabling it to offer an unrivalled combination of Earth observation products and services. Its portfolio spans the entire geo-information value chain.
Source: http://www.spacedaily.com