Διακλαδική Ημερίδα στη ΣΙ: Η Επιχειρησιακή Εκμετάλλευση του Διαστήματος για σκοπούς Ασφάλειας και Άμυνας: Εξελίξεις-Προκλήσεις για την Ελλάδα

Την Τετάρτη, 23 Μαΐου 2012, στο αμφιθέατρο της Σχολής Ικάρων (ΣΙ) στην Αεροπορική Βάση
Δεκέλειας, στο Τατόι, πραγματοποιήθηκε η Διακλαδική ημερίδα με θέμα: "Η Επιχειρησιακή Εκμετάλλευση του Διαστήματος για σκοπούς Ασφάλειας και Άμυνας: Εξελίξεις-Προκλήσεις για την Ελλάδα".
Την ημερίδα οργάνωσε το Τμήμα Αεροπορικών Επιστημών της ΣΙ, στο πλαίσιο των ετήσιων δράσεων του Διασχολικού Συμβουλίου των Ανώτατων Στρατιωτικών Εκπαιδευτικών Ιδρυμάτων (ΔΣΑΣΕΙ).
Την έναρξη των εργασιών κήρυξε ο Διοικητής της ΣΙ, Υποπτέραρχος (Ι) Σπυρίδων Παπαδάκης και συμμετείχαν ομιλητές από τα Υπουργεία Εθνικής Άμυνας, Προστασίας του Πολίτη, Υποδομών Μεταφορών και Δικτύων, Παιδείας Διά Βίου Μάθησης και Θρησκευμάτων, το Γενικό Επιτελείο Εθνικής Άμυνας, το Ενιαίο Κέντρο Συντονισμού Έρευνας και Διάσωσης (ΕΚΣΕΔ), την Εθνική Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία, το Τμήμα Διεθνών Σχέσεων του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου, ενώ την παρακολούθησαν όλοι οι μαθητές της ΣΙ, αντιπροσωπείες από την Σχολή Ευελπίδων και Ναυτικών Δοκίμων, στρατιωτικές αντιπροσωπείες και εκπρόσωποι της ακαδημαϊκής κοινότητας.
source:  http://www.haf.gr

China launches new remote-sensing satellite

Taiyuan, China (XNA) May 14, 2012

illustration only

China successfully launched the remote-sensing satellite Yaogan XIIII Thursday from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi, according to a press release from the center.
The satellite was carried into space aboard a Long March 4B carrier rocket which blasted off at 3:06 p.m. Beijing time, according to the center.
The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments, carry out surveys on land resources, monitor crop yields and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention.
The Long March 4B carrier rocket was produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Thursday's launch is the 162nd mission of Long-March-series carrier rockets.
Along with Yaogan XIIII, a tiny satellite named Tiantuo I was also sent into orbit during the flight.
The satellite, weighing only 9.3 kg, will be mainly used for data reception for the satellite-based vessel Automatic Identification System, optical imaging and various space exploration experiments in orbit.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, http://www.spacedaily.com

Nigeria to commercialize satellite services: official

Abuja, China (XNA) May 14, 2012

illustration only

The newly-launched earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2, is now set for commercial activities, a top government official has said.
Director-general of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Mohammed Seidu disclosed this on Friday in Abuja, adding that Nigeria's first satellite in orbit NigeriaSat-1 is to be decommissioned soon.
Seidu, who was giving a rundown of the activities of NASRDA, said the testing of Sat-2, launched in August 2011, had been completed and commercial activities would take off soon.
The director general, who did not disclose the specific time for decommissioning NigeriaSat-1 and the takeoff of commercial activities for the NigeriaSat-2, cited security reasons as why he could not divulge the information.
According to him, the satellite had finally come to the end of its life and needed to be decommissioned so that the fuel left in it could be used for the decommissioning.
Seidu said there would be very minimal environmental impact as the satellite was small and most of it would have burnt out in orbit before it re-enters the earth.
Nigeria become the third African country to have a presence in space after South Africa and Algeria with the launch of NigeriaSat- 1.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, http://www.spacemart.com

Moscow court upholds ban against satellite image distributor

Moscow (RIA Novosti) May 15, 2012

illustration only

A Moscow court upheld a ban on Friday prohibiting the Russian research and development company ScanEx from distributing satellite images of Earth at a resolution higher than two meters.
Scanex works under license from the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, to collect, process and disseminate Earth remote sensing data.
A 2008 ban prohibited ScanEx from distributing high-resolution images, considered by the defense ministry to contain sensitive military information.
ScanEx appealed the ban, citing the Russian defense minister as saying in 2006 that all restrictions on satellite imagery resolution would be lifted.
Commenting after the court decision was announced, a ScanEx spokesman said the company would file another appeal.
"The whole world can see Russia from space on detailed satellite images, but in Russia these data have not been definitively declassified," the spokesman said.
Last November Roscosmos announced that it was preparing a bill to lift all restrictions on the dissemination of civil satellite data.

source: http://www.spacedaily.com

DARPA's SeeMe Program Has Arrived

by Launchspace staff writers Bethesda MD (SPX) May 17, 2012

SeeMe would provide eyes in the sky quickly to troops on the ground (Image: DARPA).

On May 9, 2012, DARPA released its latest Broad Agency Announcement (DARPA-BAA-12-35) for a program called, "SeeMe," which is an acronym for Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements. Bidders will be competing for a total of roughly $45M to be distributed via multiple awards.
The goal of this program is to provide needed on-demand imagery directly to the warfighter in the field from a very-low-cost satellite constellation in a timely manner. Such a program will fill current gaps in critical information prior to, during and after military engagements.
There are obvious significant advantages in closing this information gap with persistent coverage and on-demand delivery in terms of driving up mission success probability and reducing personnel risk.
If successful, the SeeMe program will provide reliable and persistent information by using small, short-lived, very-low-cost satellites at very low altitudes, integrated into existing communications systems and handheld platforms.
The challenge here is to provide full constellation coverage over a selected latitude band at a cost that is only a fraction of current airborne costs. This roughly translates into a satellite unit cost of no more than $500,000, exclusive of launch and ground operations.
Today, the warfighter in the field is unable to obtain on-demand satellite imagery in a timely manner due to unavailability of satellite over-flight opportunities, lack of information distribution channels, prioritization conflicts, and/or classification restrictions. The BAA points out: "At the same time, insurgents that operate against US warfighters worldwide have the ability to utilize commercial imagery services to obtain information, effectively providing them with an asymmetric advantage."
At first glance this program really sounds like a good idea. But, there is one glaring question that immediately comes to mind. It is unclear why we allow insurgents to have an asymmetric advantage by using commercial imagery services. US warfighters should at least have the same access to commercial services, thus leveling the information battlefield.
On the other hand, SeeMe should improve on this by providing on-demand relevant tactical information, higher levels of pre-engagement information and improved reliability in remote and beyond-line-of-sight conditions. With higher levels of persistence the US warfighter should realize a significant advantage over insurgents.

source: http://www.spacewar.com

Deal signed for space-based imaging

Cannes, France (UPI) Jul 20, 2011

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

Thales Alenia Space Italia will study the definition and feasibility of Europe's Multinational Space-based Imaging System .
The contract for the MUSIS Federated Activities program was signed with OCCAR-EA, the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation, which was acting on behalf of the French and Italian ministries of defense and which awarded the contract to a temporary grouping of companies made up of Astrium of France and Thales Alenia Space France, led by Thales Alenia Space Italia.
The study is aimed at defining a common interoperability layer between the ground segments of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation and the French CSO (Optical Space Component) high-resolution optical system.
The two defense ministries will be guaranteed access to both systems through this common interoperability, providing them with multi-sensor observation capabilities.
This approach has several objectives, including:
-- Guaranteed mutual access for Italy and France to both SAR and high- and very-high resolution optical satellite capabilities, at the same time ensuring suitable mutual confidentiality requirements.
-- Reduced life-cycle costs through the development of common user interfaces providing access for both national systems.
-- Ensured full consistency and compatibility with the development plans of the respective national programs.
The development of the common interoperability layer is part of the broader MUSIS program, which calls for a federation of several national systems endowed with complementary observation capabilities.

ESA declares end of mission for Envisat

Paris, France (ESA) May 11, 2012

Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) captured this image on 8 April 2012 at 11:09 GMT. The image was transmitted in X-band to the Santa Maria station in the Azores, Portugal, operated by Edisoft. It shows Spain's Canary Islands. It is the last Envisat data transmitted via X-band before the communication anomaly. Credits: ESA/Edisoft. For a larger version of this image please go here.

Just weeks after celebrating its tenth year in orbit, communication with the Envisat satellite was suddenly lost on 8 April. Following rigorous attempts to re-establish contact and the investigation of failure scenarios, the end of the mission is being declared. A team of engineers has spent the last month attempting to regain control of Envisat, investigating possible reasons for the problem.

Despite continuous commands sent from a widespread network of ground stations, there has been no reaction yet from the satellite.

As there were no signs of degradation before the loss of contact, the team has been collecting other information to help understand the satellite's condition. These include images from ground radar and the French Pleiades satellite.

Report warns of rapid decline in US Earth observation capabilities

Washington DC (SPX) May 04, 2012

In the near term, the report concludes, budgets for NASA's earth science program will remain inadequate to meet pressing national needs. Therefore the agency should focus on two necessary actions: defining and implementing a cost-constrained approach to mission development, and identifying and empowering a cross-mission earth system science and engineering team to advise on the execution of decadal survey missions.

A new National Research Council report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left U.S. earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago.

The report cautions that the nation's earth observing system is beginning a rapid decline in capability, as long-running missions end and key new missions are delayed, lost, or cancelled.

"The projected loss of observing capability will have profound consequences on science and society, from weather forecasting to responding to natural hazards," said Dennis Hartmann, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, and chair of the committee that wrote the report.

"Our ability to measure and understand changes in Earth's climate and life support systems will also degrade."

Spotlight on Sentinel-2

Paris (ESA) May 08, 2012

A mockup of the high-resolution images that the future Sentinel-2 mission will deliver, with a swath of 290 km and a resolution of 10 m per pixel. Using 82 observations from the German RapidEye satellites, the image covers the border area of northern Switzerland, southern Germany and eastern France, and includes a small portion of Austria and Lichtenstein. Sentinel-2, envisaged for launch in 2013, is one of five Sentinel missions that ESA is developing for Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme. Credits: RapidEye.

The vast potential of ESA's upcoming Sentinel-2 satellites came into focus last week at a symposium in Italy on how they will benefit current and future projects that exploit Earth observation data. The humid and moist tropical climate of Gabon yields immense forests that cover over 85% of the land, making them the number-two driver of the national economy - and deforestation a subject of concern.

The GMES project on Forest Monitoring Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation mapped deforestation in Gabon from 1990 to 2010 using NASA's Landsat satellite.

But the Equatorial African country's heavy cloud cover means that imagery is often difficult to acquire over some areas.

While it takes Landsat 1.5-3.5 years to obtain imagery of the entire country, the future Sentinel-2 mission would require less than a year because of its more frequent coverage.

The future monitoring of land cover by Sentinel-2 was just one of the many topics covered at the Sentinel-2 Preparatory Symposium, hosted this week at ESA's ESRIN centre for Earth observation in Frascati, Italy.

Other applications discussed include forestry, agriculture, cartography and the mapping of glaciers and wetlands.

EnhancedView’s cloudy future

by Jeff Foust
Monday, May 7, 2012

On Friday, commercial satellite remote sensing company GeoEye surprised many in the industry when it announced an unsolicited takeover offer of its chief rival, DigitalGlobe. GeoEye offered $17 per share, split evenly in cash and stock, to acquire DigitalGlobe, valuing the company at $792 million. The deal represented a 26 percent premium on DigitalGlobe’s stock price at the close of trading Thursday, although by Friday the stock soared to close at $16.44 a share.

“The considerable scale of the combined entity creates a strong domestic player in satellite imagery which could compete more effectively with foreign providers,” GeoEye president and CEO Matt O’Connell wrote in a letter to his counterpart at DigitialGlobe, Jeffrey Tarr. “The combination also allows for operating expense synergies and reduced capital requirements while better satisfying customer needs.”

“We believe GeoEye made its hostile bid in desperation due to highly publicized concerns about potential government decisions that may jeopardize their portion of the EnhancedView program,” DigitalGlobe said in its rejection of the offer.
In the press release, and a conference call with investors Friday morning, O’Connell said there had been discussions behind the scenes between the two companies about a potential deal for some time. “In these discussions, we discussed and agreed upon the merits of the combination, and the synergies that could be achieved by putting the two companies together,” he said on the call. DigitalGlobe, though, had rejected prior offers made in private. “We believe at this point in our dialogue that it’s appropriate to make our proposal public, because this is such an important matter for all shareholders to know about and consider.”

“We’re kind of puzzled as to the slowdown in discussions,” O’Connell said later in the call. “We’re not sure what their issues are.”

In a statement issued Sunday, DigitalGlobe formally rejected the GeoEye offer, saying it “substantially undervalues” the company and “does not adequately recognize DigitalGlobe’s superior track record of financial and operating performance as well as its constellation's greater capabilities.”