Astrium's SPOT 6 ready for launch campaign

Toulouse, France (SPX) Jul 30, 2012

File image.

SPOT 6, the brand new Earth observation satellite built by Astrium, Europe's leading space technology company, is now ready for launch. It will be transferred in the coming days from the Astrium Satellites facility in Toulouse (France) to the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India where it will be integrated with the PSLV launcher that will carry it into orbit.
SPOT 6 is a high resolution optical Earth observation satellite. Like its twin SPOT 7, which is slated for launch early 2014, SPOT 6 will have a 60-km swath width and produce imagery products with a resolution down to 1.5 metres.
SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will ensure service continuity from the SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 satellites, which have been operating since 1998 and 2002 respectively.
Both ground and space segments have been designed for improved performance compared with previous SPOT missions, especially in terms of responsiveness - from satellite tasking to product delivery - and collection capacity.
Moreover, SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 are "agile" as they can quickly be aimed at any point within 1500km of their position. The constellation SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will actually provide a daily revisit everywhere on Earth with a total coverage of 6 million km" per day.

U.S., Europe scrap for gulf satellite deal

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Jul 23, 2012


U.S. satellite-makers like Raytheon Corp. and Lockheed Martin have reportedly succeeded in convincing the U.S. administration to ease export rules so they can compete with European firms to sell spy satellites to the United Arab Emirates.
The Intelligence Online Web site in Paris said that Raytheon "quietly entered the race to win the highly strategic contracts for a new military observation satellite" in recent months.
That puts it in direct competition with the European aerospace giant European Aeronautics Defense and Space Co., which has been negotiating with the Emirates for two years.
The new negotiations involved the two contenders "are being followed closely by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, both of which are looking to equip themselves with surveillance satellites," Intelligence Online reported.
The winner of the Emirates deal will likely be well placed to secure similar deals with other Persian Gulf monarchies, all of the key allies in the U.S. confrontation with Iran in the region over Tehran's contentious nuclear program.

Italian Space Agency Taps CGS To Design Optical Imaging Satellite

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By Peter B. de Selding

ASI President Enrico Saggese. Credit:Photo courtesy of the Fifth Ilan Ramon Annual International Space Conference. Enlarge Image

FARNBOROUGH, England — Italy’s CGS satellite manufacturer has won a follow-on contract to design an Italian-built high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite that the Italian government would operate for military and civil applications in tandem with its Cosmo SkyMed radar satellite constellation.

Milan-based CGS, or Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio, will perform an 18-month Phase B design of Italy’s OpSis system under a contract with the Italian Space Agency, ASI, valued at 13.5 million euros ($17 million). The contract was signed July 6.

CGS, formerly named Carlo Gavazzi Space, is owned by OHB AG of Bremen, Germany.

CGS Managing Director Lanfranco Zucconi said OpSis’ development is being financed solely by civil Italian government agencies and currently has no backing from the Italian Defense Ministry.

As such, he said, OpSis’ future is unrelated to the Italian Defense Ministry’s decision to purchase an Israeli high-resolution optical satellite as part of an offset arrangement that includes the Israeli Air Force’s purchase of trainer jet aircraft from Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi.

It Just Got More Expensive To Maintain Mining Claims In British Columbia

Published on July 16, 2012 at 11:11 AM

 

Effective July 1, 2012, companies and individuals will pay double the value of the corresponding assessment work requirement for Payment Instead of Exploration and Development (PIED). The previous rates were equivalent to the value of exploration and development work. These changes will impact decisions companies and individuals make as there is a risk of forfeiture if assessment work is not completed on time and companies are not able to come up with the additional money to pay the fees. This can be a serious problem since forfeiture makes it possible for other companies and individuals to acquire the mineral tenure.

According to David McLelland, owner of Auracle Geospatial Science Inc., a remote sensing and geospatial company in British Columbia, mining claim owners may not be aware that remote sensing qualifies as exploration work under the Mineral Tenure Act (MTA). “It would be unfortunate for companies to lose mineral claims that are still valuable and of interest because they haven’t completed work and can’t generate the extra fees,” explains McLelland. Remote sensing is a cost-effective way to gather and analyze vast amounts of information from large areas without being on the observed surface. One of its greatest advantages is that it can be conducted in remote areas, in virtually all weather, even when the ground is snow-covered.

A 3-D model from Auracle Geospatial Science Inc.

Some exploration companies have gotten caught in the red-tape associated with obtaining licenses and permits required to get into or to work in an area. Remote Sensing doesn’t require social license or a permit so there are no additional permitting costs and it is something that can be started immediately. It can be conducted without public scrutiny.
Auracle Geospatial Science has developed specialized protocols to fuse multivariate image multi-temporal spectral satellite data, radar sat panchromatic data and knowledge based geological data to produce a new type of image of the area. These new images more clearly identify fault structures, rock lithologies and alterations that are not visible on simple satellite images, aerial Lidar images or geological maps. Structures and alterations that have the highest probabilities of containing mineralized areas are identified so that exploration can concentrate on more detailed and narrow targets. These methodologies have been used to identify probable scarns, porphories, veins, surficial uranium deposits, SEDEX, VMS and kimberlites.

Afghanistan the First Country Mapped using Broad Scale Hyperspectral Data

Released: 7/17/2012 5:00:00 PM

In partnership with: Task Force for Business and Stability Operations

 

For the first time, about 70 percent of a country has been mapped using an advanced remote sensing technique known as hyperspectral imaging. In order to assist Afghanistan in understanding their abundant natural resources, in particular the development of an economically viable minerals market, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations led an effort to fully map Afghanistan with hyperspectral data. Airborne hyperspectral sensors measure light reflected from the earth. The spectrum of the reflected light can be interpreted to identify the composition of materials at the surface, such as minerals, man-made materials, snow, and vegetation. These materials can be identified remotely due to their unique light spectra.  In addition, these data allow large geographic areas to be mapped quickly and accurately, showing mineral resources, natural hazards, agricultural conditions and infrastructure development. The project was funded by the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Afghan Government. The TFBSO is a Department of Defense organization that promotes stability and security in Afghanistan by developing growth of the private sector.  The Task Force has been working closely with the Afghan Ministry of Mines to assist in identifying and tendering major mineral deposits to international mining companies.

Landsat Looks and Sees

by Joel N. Shurkin for Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 23, 2012

An artist's rendition of the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) that will launch in Feb. 2013. Credit: NASA.

The American sage Yogi Berra once said: "You can see a lot by just looking." The Landsat program is the longest continuous global record of Earth observations from space - ever. Since its first satellite went up in the summer of 1972, Landsat has been looking at our planet. The view of Earth that this 40-year satellite program has recorded allows scientists to see, in ways they never imagined, how the Earth's surface has transformed, over time.
In the 1970s Landsat captured the first views from space of the Amazonian rainforest and continued to track the area year after year after year, giving the world an unprecedented view of systemic and rapid deforestation.
This view from space let us see an activity that was taking place in an exceptionally remote part of our world. These now iconic-images of tropical deforestation spurred the global environmental community to rally in an unprecedented way, and resulted in worldwide attention and action.
Antarctica is arguably the most hostile and remote landscape on Earth. Researchers studying the snow, ice, wildlife and weather near the South Pole face exceptional difficulties.
Even gathering the most basic data like wind speeds and temperatures push the limits of human endurance. Landsat's view from space as it flies over Antarctica 16 times a day is the first ever large-scale true-color map of this continent.
Scientists have used it for everything from tracking climate change's effects on glaciers to finding new colonies of penguins.
In the 1970s, just after the launch of the first Landsat satellite, scientists working on the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment wanted to see if they could tell which plants were being grown and where.
The project demonstrated that crops could be monitored worldwide from space, and in 1979 it was used to assess total yield of the Soviet wheat crop before the harvest.
Remarkably these estimates came within 90 percent of official Soviet figures released months after the harvest, proving the validity of satellite crop monitoring and providing information for use in worldwide food estimates, government policies and international trading decisions.
NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage the Landsat program with NASA building and launching the satellites and the USGS preserving and distributing an archive of more than three million Landsat images to people in over 180 nations and territories. Together they continue an unprecedented and continuous view of the transformations on Earth's surface, year after year after year.

Earth-observing Camera Launches to International Space Station

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 23, 2012

The ISERV camera, once installed, will be positioned to look through Destiny's Earth-facing window. ISERV will receive commands from Earth and acquire image data of specific areas on the Earth the next time the station passes over the region.

A remote-controlled Earth-observing camera system called ISERV was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's third H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) on July 20. Once installed, the system will be directed by researchers on the ground to acquire imagery of specific areas of the globe for disaster analysis and environmental studies.
ISERV Pathfinder is a new imaging instrument designed and built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The HTV-3 launched at 10:06 p.m. EDT July 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
ISERV stands for the International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System. The space station provides researchers a unique perspective through global observations from space. SERVIR is a Spanish acronym meaning "to serve."
Also known as the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System, the program provides satellite data and tools to environmental decision makers in developing countries. SERVIR is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
ISERV will be installed in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) in the station's Destiny laboratory. The system is intended to help scientists gain operational experience and expertise and inform the design of a more capable system in the future. Ideally, a future operational system will be able to monitor disasters on Earth.

Lockheed Martin Marks Landsat 40th Anniversary

Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2012

The NASA Landsat 7 spacecraft is seen undergoing final inspection in a cleanroom at the Lockheed Martin facility in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, USA. It was launched on April 15, 1999 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Photo by Lockheed Martin photographer Russ Underwood.

An unprecedented enterprise began 40 years ago when the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) - later renamed Landsat - was launched. Five more Landsat spacecraft would reach orbit during the next 27 years. All were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. into near-polar orbits allowing them to image the entire Earth, one slice at a time, as it rotated below.
"We congratulate NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on this momentous anniversary of an incredible resource that serves the entire planet," said Bob LeRoy, director of Civil Space East Coast Operations for Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSSC), and the company's Landsat 7 program director.
"Landsat is the central pillar of this nation's civil remote sensing capability, and we're enormously proud of our 40-year partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey. Since the very beginning of the program in 1972, Lockheed Martin has built every spacecraft, and this has been, and remains, a true source of pride for us.
"I am particularly proud of the men and women at our Valley Forge, Penn. facility who so distinguished themselves in the development of the Landsat spacecraft."
In 1975, NASA Administrator Dr. James Fletcher stated: "If I had to pick one spacecraft, one spacecraft development to save the world, I would pick ERTS and the satellites which I believe will be evolved from it late in this decade."
Landsat's 40-year collection of land images serves those who observe and study the Earth, those who manage and utilize its natural resources, and those who monitor the changes brought on by natural processes and human activities.

Satellites see Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Melt

Washington DC (SPX) Jul 25, 2012

Extent of surface melt over Greenland's ice sheet on July 8, 2012 (left) and July 12, 2012 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. In the image, the areas classified as "probable melt" (light pink) correspond to those sites where at least one satellite detected surface melting. The areas classified as "melt" (dark pink) correspond to sites where two or three satellites detected surface melting. Image credit: Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory and Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI and Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory. For a larger version of this image please go here.

For several days this month, Greenland's surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its 2-mile-thick (3.2-kilometer) center, experienced some degree of melting at its surface, according to measurements from three independent satellites analyzed by NASA and university scientists.
On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice sheet naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that melt water quickly refreezes in place. Near the coast, some of the melt water is retained by the ice sheet, and the rest is lost to the ocean. But this year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.
Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute to sea level rise.
"The Greenland ice sheet is a vast area with a varied history of change. This event, combined with other natural but uncommon phenomena, such as the large calving event last week on Petermann Glacier, are part of a complex story," said Tom Wagner, NASA's cryosphere program manager in Washington. "Satellite observations are helping us understand how events like these may relate to one another as well as to the broader climate system."
Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. was analyzing radar data from the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Oceansat-2 satellite last week when he noticed that most of Greenland appeared to have undergone surface melting on July 12. Nghiem said, "This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?"
Nghiem consulted with Dorothy Hall at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Hall studies the surface temperature of Greenland using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. She confirmed that MODIS showed unusually high temperatures and that melt was extensive over the ice sheet surface.

Israel's IAI signs Italian deals worth $1B

Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Jul 24, 2012


Israel Aerospace Industries has secured two contracts worth nearly $1 billion to provide Italy with a reconnaissance satellite and two Gulfstream early warning aircraft in an unusual deal with Rome.
The contracts are part of a reciprocal agreement between Israel's Defense Ministry and the Italian government for Israel's purchase of 30 Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainers for its air force.
Globes, Israel's business daily, reported the Italian deal involves a consortium of Finmeccanica, Alenia Aermacchi, Telespazio and Selex Elsag.
Alenia Aermacchi will provided the M-346s, along with engines, maintenance, logistics, simulators and training worth $1 billion, some $600 million of which go to the Italian aircraft manufacturer.
Selex Elsag will supply the identification, communications and computer systems for the M346s, which will replace Israel's aging fleet of Vietnam-era Douglas A-4 Skyhawks.
Delivery of the new Italian jet trainers is to start in mid-2014.
The Israelis' side of the deal includes state-owned IAI, flagship of Israel's defense industry, building a $182 million high-resolution optical military satellite system, known as OPTSAT-3000, for Telespazio, prime contractor for the $200 million satellite, launch services, operations and logistics services and in-orbit testing.
The satellite's scheduled for delivery in 2015.

Headwall's Hyperspectral Sensors Set to Lift Off with NT Space

Fitchburg MA (SPX) Jul 26, 2012

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Headwall Photonics has completed the design, manufacture, and test of the space-qualified hyperspectral sensor payload for NT Space, a leading technology supplier and integrator of satellites and spacecraft and a subsidiary of NEC and Toshiba. The Headwall sensor systems have been delivered to NT Space for integration onto one of the world's foremost remote sensing satellite missions.
With this hyperspectral space platform, Headwall has introduced a new class of hyperspectral imaging sensors specifically designed for small satellite payloads that offer the industry's highest optical efficiency and widest field of view.
The Hyperspec Space sensors offer government programs and commercial satellite providers the ability to cost-effectively deliver new data services and imagery with a very small, affordable sensor payload that covers the VNIR (380-1000nm) and SWIR (950-2500nm) spectral regions.
With many years as an instrument supplier to NASA, Headwall was selected by NT Space to manufacture spectral imaging instrumentation in support of the scientific and remote sensing applications of the Japanese satellite mission.
Japan's satellite will offer the world's first commercial hyperspectral data service products. Hyperspectral imagery is a critical technology in that it offers the remote sensing community the ability to detect not only the presence of objects but also identify, characterize, and quantify objects within the field of view of the satellite.

Digitalglobe And Geoeye Combine To Create A Global Leader

Longmont CO (SPX) Jul 26, 2012

File image.

DigitalGlobe, Inc. and GeoEye, Inc. have announced that the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $900 million. The combination of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye will create a global leader in earth imagery and geospatial analysis with a more diversified revenue base, a superior financial foundation and significant growth potential.
Under the terms of the agreement, GeoEye shareowners will have the right to elect either 1.137 shares of DigitalGlobe common stock and $4.10 per share in cash, 100% of the consideration in cash ($20.27) or 100% of the consideration in stock (1.425 shares of DigitalGlobe common stock), for each share of GeoEye stock they own, with the amount of cash and stock subject to proration depending upon the elections of GeoEye shareholders, such that aggregate consideration mix reflects the ratio of 1.137 shares of DigitalGlobe common stock and $4.10 per share in cash.
Based upon the closing prices of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye as of July 20, 2012, the transaction delivers a premium of 34% to GeoEye's July 20, 2012 closing price of $15.17 per share.
Upon completion of the transaction, DigitalGlobe shareowners are expected to own approximately 64% and GeoEye shareowners are expected to own approximately 36% of the combined company. The transaction structure will allow both DigitalGlobe and GeoEye shareowners to participate in the substantial value creation opportunity resulting from this combination.
The combined company will be named DigitalGlobe and continue to trade on the NYSE under the symbol DGI. It will have a 10-member board of directors, with six initial members from the current DigitalGlobe board and four initial members from the board of GeoEye.

GeoEye Signs Two New Seven-Figure GeoEye-1 Imagery Contracts

Herndon, VA (SPX) Jul 20, 2012

This half-meter resolution satellite image of the Indus River was taken from 423 miles in space by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Oct. 21, 2009. The Indus River flows through the entire country of Pakistan from north to south and is the country's longest river. The total length of the Indus River is 3,180 kilometers or 1,976 miles, and it spans three countries: China, India and Pakistan. The GeoEye-1 satellite is owned and operated by Va.-based GeoEye, Inc. and is the world's highest resolution commercial Earth imaging satellite. For a larger version of this image please go here.

GeoEye recently signed seven-figure agreements with two international partners in the Middle East and Asia for both the renewal and expanded use of GeoEye imagery products. The Middle East affiliate has signed a new agreement for access to GeoEye-1 sub half-meter imagery, which is the highest resolution commercial imagery available globally.
This affiliate has had an ongoing agreement with GeoEye for IKONOS satellite imagery collection and distribution since 2000.
The agreement with the government customer in Asia renewed their access to GeoEye-1's highly precise imagery products. This customer has had an agreement in place for GeoEye-1 satellite imagery collection since 2009.
Both partners have indicated they will integrate GeoEye-1's high-resolution imagery with their own systems to support regional security and peace missions.
"Both the Mideast Regional Affiliate and the Asian government customer have been trusted and valued partners for many years," said Paolo Colombi, GeoEye's vice president of International Sales.
"We appreciate the extension of our partnerships and the expansion of our global footprint that these agreements represent. We look forward to supporting our partners' mission critical requirements by delivering superior-quality location intelligence regarding these highly sensitive and dynamic regions of the world."
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

EuroGEOSS Broker: Finding Common Ground for Earth Sciences

By Katharine Gammon, posted on July 9th, 2012 in Articles, Earth Observation, GEOSS/ICEO News, Technology

An innovative tool, the EuroGEOSS Broker, lets scientists search across datasets to integrate earth sciences information from all over the globe. Source: EuroGEOSS

Earth sciences data is everywhere — but how do you put that data to work in a world that doesn’t know the boundaries between different scientific pursuits? That question has long been problematic for researchers in the Earth sciences. Many different Earth observation programs collect data, but collecting, sharing, and understanding that data in a multi-disciplinary way has been difficult, to say the least. Understanding global environmental problems will take input from a myriad of sources, from social sciences to Earth science data. “Nature doesn’t realize that fire, and water and drought are different disciplines,” said Dr. Jay Pearlman, an IEEE fellow. Now data gathered across disciplines is working harder than ever to erase boundaries, with online tools that make it easy to search and interpret multiple sources of information.
GEOSS, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems is working to combat the inherent difficulties with gathering and interpreting data. GEOSS keeps an eye on what’s going on all over the Earth through information gathered by tens of thousands of sensors and satellites, and is supported by nations and scientific organizations. It links together existing systems and provides support for new ones.
Once that multitude of Earth data is analyzed, it needs to be shared with others. But in Europe alone, 23 languages and different sets of semantics have meant that sharing was difficult. That’s why EuroGEOSS was born three years ago.

Goodrich's ORS-1 Satellite Completes its First Year in Space

Charlotte NC (SPX) Jul 12, 2012

ORS-1 has demonstrated an alternative to the normal acquisition process for space programs and its lower cost, when compared to more traditional space-based ISR platforms, makes it an affordable contributor to the ISR "force mix" in today's fiscally constrained environment.

Goodrich Corporation reports that the ORS-1 satellite has celebrated its first anniversary in space. ORS-1, the first Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) satellite specifically designed to support combatant command operations, was launched from Wallops Island Flight Facility aboard a Minotaur I launch vehicle on June 29, 2011, at 11:09 p.m. EDT.
Designed, manufactured, integrated and tested by Goodrich's ISR Systems business in Danbury, CT, ORS-1 is a 500Kg class satellite providing game-changing impacts. In recognition of its ground breaking importance, ORS-1 was named one of the nation's 25 most important concepts by C4ISR Journal in 2011.
Initiated to fulfill requirements from the Commander of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) to support US Central Command (CENTCOM), the satellite went from the drawing board to delivery in 30 months.
Less than 90 days after launch, ORS-1 earned early acceptance and has been satisfying CENTCOM's mission needs for multispectral EO/IR imagery and enhanced battlespace awareness ever since.

Lockheed Martin to Support Intelligence Analysis Worldwide Under DIA Solutions Contract

Alexandria, VA (SPX) Jul 12, 2012

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A key for intelligence officers and the mili tary to detecting and acting on threats worldwide is the ability to access information in a timely manner. The recent selection by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) of Lockheed Martin, as one of eight companies to offer worldwide analytic support across a variety of intelligence areas, will provide those intelligence personnel with the information they need, when they need it.
The new indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, Solutions for Intelligence II (SIA II) from the Virginia Contracting Activity in support of DIA, has an estimated cost ceiling of $5.6 billion and a period of performance of two base years and three one-year options.
"Lockheed Martin is proud to continue our s upport to the DIA Intelligence Analysis mission, providing timely, objective and cogent intelligence to warfighters, defense planners and national security policy makers, resulting in a distinct decision advantage," said Bob Kramer, Lockheed Martin IS and GS-Defense vice president for Operational Systems and Services.
Through the contract's task orders, Lockheed Martin will provide worldwide analytic support across 29 specialized intelligence categories which are critical to satisfying DIA's mission requirements including: Computer Network Operations, Foreign Intel Activities, Foreign Space and Counterspace, Terrorism, WMD, Foreign Denial and Deception, and Illicit Drugs.
"Our expertise truly lies in developing the innovative intelligence, counterintelligence and information-sharing solutions that have supported the DIA mission in the past and kept our soldiers and country informed," said Kramer.
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a Department of Defense combat support agency and an important member of the United States Intelligence Community. With more than 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide, DIA is a major producer and manager of foreign military intelligence.
DIA provides military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners, in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition.
source:  http://www.spacewar.com

New eyes in the sky

UI researchers develop technique to help pollution forecasters see past clouds

By: 

Gary Galluzzo | 2012.07.10 | 11:18 AM 

 

Until now, scientists who study air pollution using satellite imagery have been limited by weather. Clouds, in particular, provide much less information than a sunny day.
University of Iowa scientists have created a technique to help satellites "see" through the clouds and better estimate the concentration of pollutants, such as soot. The finding is important, because, like GPS systems, clouds block remote-sensing satellites' ability to detect, and thus calculate, the concentration of pollution nearer to the ground. This includes particles (commonly known as soot) that reduce air quality and affect weather and climate.
The results of the study are published July 9 in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

This image shows two MODIS-Aqua products for Oct. 17, 2008, over the persistent Southeast Pacific stratocumulus deck, off the coasts of Chile and Peru. UI researchers and their colleagues have developed a new technique to evaluate how aerosol pollutants affect clouds, thereby giving scientists the ability to examine clouds and determine particle concentrations in the atmosphere below. Satellite retrievals courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; image courtesy of Pablo Saide, Greg Carmichael, Scott Spak, Matthew Janechek, and Nicholas Thornburg, University of Iowa.

“Particles in the atmosphere (aerosols) interact with clouds changing their properties. With this technique, we can use remote sensing observations from satellites to estimate these cloud properties in order to correct predictions of particle concentrations. This is possible due to a numerical model that describes these aerosol-clouds interactions,” says Pablo Saide, environmental engineering doctoral student and researcher at the UI Center for Global and Regional Research (CGRER).
Scott Spak, co-author and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the UI College of Engineering, adds that the new technique is expected to find immediate application across a wide range of activities. Examples include air quality forecasting, numerical weather prediction, climate projections, oceanic and anthropogenic emissions estimation, and health effects studies.
But the ability to see pollution “through the clouds” is also expected to have “on the ground” health results.

From bench to bunker

DARPA's Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts program speeds up image recognition by using the EEG P300 effect

July 12, 2012 | Source: Chronicle of Higher Education

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Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts (credit: DARPA)

Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts (NIA), being developed through a collaboration between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and a private company called Neuromatters, aims to use the EEG P300 effect to allow military analysts to sort through hundreds of satellite images for a target structure, eliminating worthless images in seconds and speeding up  review by orders of magnitude.
Neuromatters claims to have achieved a 300-percent increase in the speed of image analysis.
According to the program manager for the DARPA project, William Casebeer, “Taking advantage of the massively distributed parallel-processing capabilities of the human brain by sensing when it has detected anomalies in images could be an important part of a comprehensive approach for dealing with the deluge of data our intelligence analysts deal with each day. Testing of promising prototype NIA systems is ongoing so we can make fully-informed transition decisions.”
Other projects DARPA finances include one to test whether sending electricity through the brain can accelerate learning; another that seeks to use psychology and neuroscience to understand which types of communication best convince those living in occupied lands that they should yield to American forces, a sort of Propaganda 2.0; and a project aimed at developing drugs that would reduce or erase traumatic memories.
source: http://www.kurzweilai.net

DARPA seeks teams for eight-week imagery data analysis study

July 12, 2012

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Innovation House (credit: DARPA)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks teams to explore new visual and geospatial data analysis methods in its Innovation House Study, with up to $50,000 funding.
Researchers will participate in a short-fuse, crucible-style environment to invent new approaches to the identification of people, places, things and activities from still or moving defense and open-source imagery.
“A lot can happen when you put seriously intelligent, seriously motivated people in a room with a mission and a deadline,” said Michael Geertsen, DARPA program manager and the force behind the Innovation House Study.
“We are inviting a new generation of innovators to try out ideas in an environment that encourages diverse solutions and far-out thinking. If this model proves to be as successful as we believe it could be, it represents a new means for participating in Government-sponsored research projects.”
Proposals due July 31
DARPA’s Innovation House Study, conducted with George Mason University in Arlington, Va., will provide a focused residential research environment for as many as eight teams. Interested team leaders are encouraged to submit proposals by July 31, 2012, detailing their plan to design, execute and demonstrate a radical, novel research approach to innovation in the area of extracting meaningful content from large volumes of varied visual and geospatial media. Selected teams will receive up to $50,000 in funding.
The Innovation House concept revolves around a collaborative, rather than competitive, environment. The study will run for eight weeks over two four week sessions from Sept. 17, 2012 to Nov. 9, 2012. In Phase I, teams are expected to produce an initial design and demonstrate in software the crucial capabilities that validate their approach. In Phase II, teams are expected to complete and demonstrate a functional software configuration as a proof of concept. Teams demonstrating sufficient progress in Phase I will receive Phase II funding.
DARPA will provide access to unclassified data sets and facilitate interaction with mentors from U.S. Government and academia. These interactions will provide teams with context for how their proposed technology could be applied in the real world.
Details on the proposal process and program can be found here.

source:  http://www.kurzweilai.net

NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission Becomes an Observatory

by Rani Gran for NASA Earth Science News Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 17, 2012

LDCM image credit Orbital Sciences Corp. For a larger version of this image please go here.

Engineers at Orbital Sciences Corporation, Gilbert, Ariz., have installed the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instrument back onto to the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft. With both the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and TIRS instruments now on the spacecraft, LDCM is a complete observatory.
After the TIRS instrument was shipped to Orbital in February, engineers discovered that helium had leaked from the TIRS cryogenic cooler. The cooler keeps the detectors extremely cold, which is required for the instrument to detect thermal infrared radiation emitted from Earth.
The leak was quickly repaired, the cooler was re-pressurized with helium, and TIRS was re-installed onto the instrument deck of the spacecraft. Once the TIRS instrument is electrically connected later this month, TIRS will be ready to begin environmental testing with the rest of the observatory.
The engineering team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., built TIRS on an accelerated schedule, going from a design on paper to a completed instrument in 43 months. An instrument of this type usually takes another year to complete.
Under contract to NASA, Orbital is responsible for providing the spacecraft bus, installing the science instruments and performing system-level integration and testing of the Observatory prior to launch. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. built the OLI. The USGS developed the LDCM ground system.
LDCM is on schedule for launch on Feb. 11, 2013.
source: http://www.spacedaily.com

The hour of the wolf

by Dwayne A. Day
Monday, July 16, 2012

In the late 1960s two massive, expensive, highly classified pieces of machinery clashed in secrecy. It was a classic space battle between humans and machines, and this time the machines won.
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program was started in late 1963 after the cancellation of the X-20 Dyna-Soar winged spaceplane. The Air Force has declassified many documents on the first year of the MOL program, but they may be misleading. From the available documentation, MOL appears to have started as a general purpose experimental military space station to determine if astronauts could perform militarily useful missions in low Earth orbit. But by 1965 MOL had evolved into an operational photographic reconnaissance satellite whereby astronauts would operate a powerful telescope, code-named DORIAN, to take images of targets inside the Soviet Union with resolution on the ground up to 10 centimeters (four inches)—almost good enough to spot a softball laying in the grass from over 160 kilometers (100 miles) up in space, if the Russians ever bothered to play softball. Exactly when and how the mission shifted remains unclear, but a group of military astronauts were soon in training to perform at least half a dozen flights starting in the late 1960s. MOL was an Air Force program, with both an unclassified, “white,” Air Force office, and a classified, “black,” program, managed by the Air Force component of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

An illustration comparing the HEXAGON spy satellite (bottom) with the cancelled Manned Orbiting Laboratory. [larger version] (credit: Giuseppe De Chiara)

Italian Military Buys $100M Spy Satellite from Israel in Exchange Deal

By Peter B. de Selding

PARIS — The Italian Defense Ministry is buying a high-resolution optical reconnaissance satellite from Israel as part of an offset package agreed to in exchange for the Israeli Defense Ministry’s purchase of Italian trainer aircraft, according to industry officials.

The satellite transaction, which officials said is valued at more than $100 million, is the latest example of the fragility of agreements between Italy, France and Germany on a de facto division of expertise, with France taking charge of optical systems and Italy and Germany sticking with radar reconnaissance.

The decision appears to run counter to the Italian Space Agency’s planned OPSys, or Optical Payload System, work to develop an Italian-made optical reconnaissance satellite for Italian defense authorities.

“France has already expressed its view that OPSys is a kind of provocation, the same as Hi-Ros is,” said one industry official, referring to a German government program to build a high-resolution optical satellite. Hi-Ros does not appear to have moved forward in recent months.

Germany and Italy both have launched radar satellite constellations. Germany’s SAR-Lupe satellites are reserved for military use, while Italy’s four-satellite Cosmo-SkyMed has military, commercial and civil missions.

The French government has signed separate agreements with Italy and Germany promising to provide French Helios and Pleiades optical reconnaissance imagery in exchange for access to radar data.

In keeping with an unstated European practice that has led to separate satellite reconnaissance systems being built in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the imagery covered by the French-Italian and French-German agreements is not shared, it is exchanged.

Under an agreement announced in February, the Israeli air force agreed to purchase an undetermined number of M-346 trainer aircraft built by Alenia Aermacchi.

The satellite to be purchased by Italy as part of the contract’s offset package would have a ground sampling distance sharper than 1 meter. Its performance could approach that of Israel’s Ofeq 9 optical reconnaissance satellite, which was launched in 2009.

IGARSS 2012 - 'Remote Sensing for a Dynamic Earth'

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 11, 2012

Mount Etna in 3D - a TanDEM-X radar image.

One of the most important conferences on geoscience and remote sensing will take place at the International Congress Centre in Munich from 22 to 27 July 2012. The International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) is being organised by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
The 32nd IGARSS, themed 'Remote Sensing for a Dynamic Earth', is one of the highlights of the current remote sensing agenda.
This year, a record number of 3400 papers were submitted, of which more than 2000 were accepted as conference contributions. These papers come mainly from China, Europe and the United States. IGARSS is being held on the special occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the IEEE, the largest engineering organisation in the world.
The conference is focused on new applications for remote sensing, integrated Earth observation systems, satellite image processing, and current and future satellite missions.

New eyes in the sky

by Gary Galluzzo Iowa City IA (SPX) Jul 11, 2012

This image shows two MODIS-Aqua products for Oct. 17, 2008, over the persistent Southeast Pacific stratocumulus deck, off the coasts of Chile and Peru. UI researchers and their colleagues have developed a new technique to evaluate how aerosol pollutants affect clouds, thereby giving scientists the ability to examine clouds and determine particle concentrations in the atmosphere below. Satellite retrievals courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; image courtesy of Pablo Saide, Greg Carmichael, Scott Spak, Matthew Janechek, and Nicholas Thornburg, University of Iowa.

Until now, scientists who study air pollution using satellite imagery have been limited by weather. Clouds, in particular, provide much less information than a sunny day. University of Iowa scientists have created a technique to help satellites "see" through the clouds and better estimate the concentration of pollutants, such as soot.
The finding is important, because, like GPS systems, clouds block remote-sensing satellites' ability to detect, and thus calculate, the concentration of pollution nearer to the ground. This includes particles (commonly known as soot) that reduce air quality and affect weather and climate.
The results of the study are published July 9 in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"Particles in the atmosphere (aerosols) interact with clouds changing their properties. With this technique, we can use remote sensing observations from satellites to estimate these cloud properties in order to correct predictions of particle concentrations. This is possible due to a numerical model that describes these aerosol-clouds interactions," says Pablo Saide, environmental engineering doctoral student and researcher at the UI Center for Global and Regional Research (CGRER).
Scott Spak, co-author and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the UI College of Engineering, adds that the new technique is expected to find immediate application across a wide range of activities. Examples include air quality forecasting, numerical weather prediction, climate projections, oceanic and anthropogenic emissions estimation, and health effects studies.
But the ability to see pollution "through the clouds" is also expected to have "on the ground" health results.

China to invest in Earth monitoring system

Beijing (UPI) Jun 27, 2012

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

China says it will invest $81 million to build a national network to monitor movement in the Earth's crust and for other Earth sciences in the next four years.
The program will use more than 3,000 technicians to build a three-dimensional and dynamic "geodetic" network with high precision, the country's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation announced Tuesday.
The national geodetic network aims to build 360 Global Positioning System reference stations and a satellite-geodesy control network consisting of 4,500 control points, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The network will ensure people can get timely geodetic information for any point in the country's land area, surveying administration Deputy Directory Li Weisen said.
China lags behind developed countries in terms of surveying and mapping technologies.
While the United States' "geoid" determination network can reach an accuracy of 1 inch, China can only determine geoid at an accuracy of 1 foot in its eastern part and 2 feet in its western region, Xinhua said.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Arianespace to launch DZZ-HR high-resolution observation satellite

Toulouse, France (SPX) Jun 27, 2012

Jean-Yves Le Gall.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Jean Dauphin, Director Earth Observation Navigation and Science - Astrium France, announced that they have signed the launch service and solutions contract for the DZZ-HR satellite.
The DZZ-HR high-resolution observation satellite is being built by Astrium for the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Weighing 900 kg at launch, the DZZ-HR satellite will be launched by Arianespace's Vega light launcher into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 750 km. It will be launched from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, in the second quarter of 2014.
The DZZ-HR system will be independently controlled by Kazakh operators who have been trained by Astrium. Using images acquired by the DZZ-HR satellite from the entire planet, the system will provide very-high-quality panchromatic and multispectral products for a wide range of applications, including cadastral surveys, management of natural resources, environmental monitoring and homeland surveillance.
Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said: "Today, with the European launcher Vega, we can offer all customers new launch services for this type of mission.
This is the third contract for Vega, after Sentinel 2 and 3, and this time we are serving an end-customer outside of Europe. We are also delighted to be working once again with Astrium Satellites, with whom we have a long-standing relationship of mutual trust."

source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Bottleneck off the Orkney Islands

Bonn, Germany (SPX) Jul 04, 2012

Currents in the Pentland Firth.

A mere 10 kilometres separate John O'Groats, at the northernmost tip of the Scottish mainland, and South Ronaldsay, in the Orkney Islands. What passengers on the ferries directly experience can also be observed from space by the German Aerospace Center TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X satellite duo; in the Pentland Firth, the water flows at great speed, often causing a rough crossing.
The water between the mainland and the island is flowing through a bottleneck. The sensitive radar systems on board TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X can detect the motion, even from a height of 500 kilometres. The satellites flew over the group of Scottish islands just once, separated from one another by 50 metres in the direction of flight, and captured the turbulent waters moving between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.
"By comparing the two images, we analyse the changes resulting from the time difference between their acquisition," explains Steffen Suchandt, a researcher at the DLR Remote Sensing Technology Institute.
The interferogram constructed from the two images shows the quiet waters in a dark red colour; here, the movements are very small and the current hardly perceptible. The situation is quite different where the colour coding for the Pentland Firth changes from violet to blue.
"In the blue section, the water is flowing at three metres per second away from the line of vision of the radar systems, one of which is transmitting the signals to Earth and both of which are receiving the reflections."
The different transit times of the radar signals have been turned into colour-coded flow velocities and wave motion in the image.

ESA-China collaboration takes Earth observation to new heights

Paris, France (ESA) Jul 05, 2012

This Dragon 2 project map shows change in forest cover along the Chinese-Russian border in 2005-10. The map is based on hypertemporal radar image collections from Envisat's ASAR sensor at 1 km resolution. Red areas illustrate decrease of forest stocks owing to forest fires or clear-cuts, green regions show regrowth. Credits: M. Santoro, Gamma RS Ltd; C. Schmullius, University Jena. For a larger version of this image please go here.

ESA and China have been cooperating through the Dragon Programme since 2004 to encourage the use of Earth observation in China. Building on the success of the past years, the programme is taking on more momentum as it enters its third phase. The Dragon Programme started in 2004 as a joint undertaking between ESA, the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC) under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China.
The aim is to promote the use of ESA, Third Party Missions and Chinese Earth observation satellite data within China for science and applications.
Since its conception, the programme has grown from strength to strength.
In 2004, Dragon focused on 16 projects to exploit satellite data for scientific research and different practical applications.
Under Dragon 2, which started in 2008, more than 400 scientists from 165 research institutes in Europe and China were involved in 25 joint Chinese-European research projects covering land, ocean and atmospheric themes.
This week, some 400 scientists gathered in China to discuss the results of Dragon 2 and mark the opening of the programme's third phase, Dragon 3.
Prof. Cao Jianlin, Vice Minister of MOST, addressed the symposium stating the importance of the collaboration between ESA and China to advance science through Earth observation.
"The Dragon Programme has become a model for scientific and technological cooperation between China and Europe.
"Through collaborative research, advanced training courses and sharing Earth observation data, not only have applications of remote-sensing expanded, but also high level results in scientific research have been achieved."

Images in an Instant: Suomi NPP Begins Direct Broadcast

by Christina A. Coleman for Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 10, 2012

Patrick Coronado points to Soumi NPP which is featured in the entranceway of the Direct Readout Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA.

Real-time data that will be used in everything from weather forecasts to disaster response is now being beamed down to Earth from a cone-shaped appendage aboard the nation's newest Earth-observing satellite. The High Rate Data (HRD) link is an antenna aboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite that provides 'direct broadcast' data to users in real-time.
Researchers world-wide are then able to use customized algorithms, or mathematical formulas, turning raw data into images to help manage quickly changing regional events, such as rapidly spreading forest fires, rushing flood waters and floating icebergs at the poles that could affect the shipping and fishing industries.
"Direct Broadcast data is unique in that it provides real-time data on a regional basis which enables quick evaluation of events at a local level," said Patrick Coronado, head of the Direct Readout Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
In general, a satellite stores data on-board until it passes over a ground station where it downloads or 'dumps' the data. In Suomi NPP's case, data is dumped every time it passes over the ground station in Svalbard, Norway, about 14 times every 24 hours. Use of this mode of storage, called Storage Mission Data, ensures that information is not lost when the spacecraft is out of sight of any ground stations, such as when it is over the ocean.
This collected data then runs through a computer system on the ground called the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS), which uses science algorithms to create data products for environmental monitoring and research. But this process can take some time and some users need the data as soon as possible.
The USDA Forest Service, for example, needs information quickly to map forest fires as they begin and spread to surrounding areas so they use the direct broadcast data, feeding it into customized algorithms that help remote sensing and image analysts to quickly process the data into usable images and mapping products so that firefighters and other first responders can react appropriately.
"We apply direct broadcast data daily to produce an entire suite of fire mapping and geo-spatial products," said Brad Quayle, an image analyst at the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center.