Government & Industry to Combine for 1,150 Satellites Over Next Decade

Paris, Montreal, Washington D.C., November 4, 2013

 

New Satellite Systems from 30 Emerging Space Markets

According to Euroconsult's recently published research report, Satellites to be Built & Launched by 2022: World Market Survey, 115 satellites will be launched on average each year worldwide over the next 10 years (2013-2022). As several commercial and government constellations will be launched into low earth orbit (LEO) in the coming years, up to 140 satellites per year are expected between 2015 and 2017, decelerating to 100 units afterwards.

Revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,150 satellites over the decade will be worth $236 billion, up 26% from those generated by the 810 satellites launched in the past ten years (2003-2012). Revenue growth between the two decades is lower than the growth in number of satellites since many small satellites are being developed, requiring shorter development time and lower launch costs.

Governments’ dominance of the space industry driven by operational satellite systems and technology development

Governments worldwide will be responsible for two-thirds of the 1,150 satellites to be launched and for nearly three-quarters of the $236 billion expected in revenues. Over 90% of the government market value will remain concentrated in the 15 countries with an established space industry. New satellite systems in 30 emerging space countries will also create a market of over $1 billion on average per year. According to Rachel Villain, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult, “More and more governments are acquiring operational telecommunications and Earth observation (EO) satellite systems to support socio-economic development in their country and to sell satellite services abroad.”

With 375 satellites to be launched in the next decade, EO is the largest satellite application for governments to support ranging policy objectives, such as in environment monitoring, defense, natural resources monitoring and meteorology. The satellite demand of civilian government agencies will be much stronger than that of military agencies with military space remaining concentrated in a limited number of countries. 

New method to study mountainous terrains with satellite imagery

 05/11/13
JRC scientists obtained remarkable results in correcting surface shapes of satellite imagery to study mountainous terrains, with a combination of topographic correction algorithms and statistical methods. The JRC presented its new method in a recently published article in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

The JRC presented a new method to correct surface shapes of satellite imagery to study mountainous terrains.© EU, 2009 (A-M. Petrescu)

Proper pre-processing of remote sensing imagery is required to limit possible discrepancies due to atmospheric, radiometric and topographic effects, such as confusion between clouds and bright soils. Whereas most of these factors have been studied and their correction methods established, topographically induced illumination differences, confusion between dark shadows and water bodies for example, are still being investigated and there is no universal technique widely accepted in the remote sensing community.
To fill this gap, the JRC tested two digital elevation models (3D representations of a terrain's surface), a pre-classification/stratification approach to identify the strata according to the vegetation covers and several statistical correction methods, in study areas from 3 continents (Asia, Africa and South America) with different land covers. The pre-classification/stratification approach was used to split the different land cover types into strata which were corrected individually with the selected topographic correction method in order to achieve better reduction of the terrain effects (for example illumination effects due to the orientation of the slope, occlusions by mountains, …). Images from four different sensors systems were tested and processed to encompass different land cover types, temporal variations in solar illumination and a range of reliefs.
The obtained methodology represents an optimal solution for an operational topographic correction system with global dataset processing capabilities. Some improvements could still be made to increase the separation accuracy among the strata and the correctness of water detection.

Related Links

• Article: Fast and robust topographic correction method for medium resolution satellite imagery using a stratified approach

source:  http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc

GeoCento + ESA—Find What You Seek (Imagery)

A new service to make satellite Earth images easily available to customers is being created by UK start-up company GeoCento, an alumnus of ESA Business Incubation Centre Harwell. Their web-based service EarthImages will target the growing demand to have better and faster tools to search and access imagery from the wide range of Earth observation satellites.

The highlight imageshows the sand seas of the Namib Desert on January 7, 2012.
Image courtesy of KARI/ESA.

“With many Earth imaging satellites already in orbit and the launch according to our estimates in the coming decade of over 250 new ones with an increasingly sophisticated range of instruments, it is not easy to find the best images with exactly the information needed for a specific case,” said GeoCento Managing Director Kim Partington.

Researchers Turn to Technology to Discover a Novel Way of Mapping Landscapes

File image.

by Dawn Fuller for UC News Cincinnati OH (SPX) Nov 05, 2013 University of Cincinnati researchers are blending technology with tradition, as they discover new and improved methods for mapping landscapes. The research is newly published in the Journal of Applied Geography (Vol. 45, December 2013) by UC authors Jacek Niesterowicz, a doctoral student in the geography department, and Professor Tomasz Stepinski, the Thomas Jefferson Chair of Space Exploration in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).
The researchers say the analysis is the first to use a technology from a field of machine vision to build a new map of landscape types - a generalization of a popular land cover/land use map. Whereas land cover/land use pertains to physical material at, or utilization of, the local piece of Earth's surface, a landscape type pertains to a pattern or a mosaic of different land covers over a larger neighborhood.
Machine vision is a subfield of computer science devoted to analyzing and understanding the content of images. A role of a machine vision algorithm is to "see" and interpret images as close to human vision interpretation as possible. Previous uses of the technology have focused on medicine, industry and government, ranging from robotics to face detection.

Researchers Turn to Technology to Discover a Novel Way of Mapping Landscapes

File image.

by Dawn Fuller for UC News Cincinnati OH (SPX) Nov 05, 2013 University of Cincinnati researchers are blending technology with tradition, as they discover new and improved methods for mapping landscapes. The research is newly published in the Journal of Applied Geography (Vol. 45, December 2013) by UC authors Jacek Niesterowicz, a doctoral student in the geography department, and Professor Tomasz Stepinski, the Thomas Jefferson Chair of Space Exploration in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).
The researchers say the analysis is the first to use a technology from a field of machine vision to build a new map of landscape types - a generalization of a popular land cover/land use map. Whereas land cover/land use pertains to physical material at, or utilization of, the local piece of Earth's surface, a landscape type pertains to a pattern or a mosaic of different land covers over a larger neighborhood.
Machine vision is a subfield of computer science devoted to analyzing and understanding the content of images. A role of a machine vision algorithm is to "see" and interpret images as close to human vision interpretation as possible. Previous uses of the technology have focused on medicine, industry and government, ranging from robotics to face detection.

Sensor Payloads Lift Off With Availability of Complete Hyperspectral Airborne Solution

File image.

Fitchburg MA (SPX) Nov 05, 2013 Responding to customer demand across the remote sensing industry for small, light, and power-efficient spectral imaging solutions, Headwall has announced availability of a completely integrated airborne solution that provides users with unmatched levels of hyperspectral image acquisition and data-processing performance.
The core element of the solution comprises Headwall's Micro-Hyperspec hyperspectral sensor, which is based on the Company's patented aberration-corrected sensor design. The use of aberration-corrected diffractive optics designed and manufactured by Headwall allows the Micro-Hyperspec sensor to achieve outstanding performance: very high signal-to-noise characteristics, a very wide field-of-view, and high spatial and spectral resolution.
Headwall engineers designed the hyperspectral airborne configuration to optimize configuration size, weight, and power (SWaP), which are each critical considerations for deployment on manned aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Elements of the solution include a GPS unit, a compact, lightweight Hyperspec Data Processing Unit, and airborne-specific hyperspectral software providing image acquisition, sensor control, and synchronization for flight-plan efficiency. Every element of the solution is optimized for airborne use, in platforms ranging from small, hand-launched UAVs to fixed-wing aircraft and multi-rotor airframes.
"All across the remote-sensing landscape we're seeing a need for precise, accurate, data-rich hyperspectral imagery using increasingly smaller airborne platforms," said David Bannon, CEO of Headwall.
"Customers need solutions that are small and light, and they need them to be fully integrated between the sensor, software, GPS/INS, and data-processing hardware." Because Headwall's hyperspectral sensors run at very high frame rates to capture exceptionally precise imagery, Hyperspec data processing software is optimized for the task.
"We found that many of our customers were spending a lot of valuable time assembling the necessary payload components," said Mr. Bannon. The Headwall team worked collaboratively with leading researchers to offer an airborne configuration that is ready to fly out-of-the-box.
Typical uses for hyperspectral sensing from airborne platforms include precision agriculture, oil and gas exploration, forestry management, and environmental monitoring.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Astrium partners with information and analytics specialist IHS to support GEOINT community

File image.

Englewood CO (SPX) Nov 04, 2013 Astrium has announced that the GEO-Information activities of Astrium Services have entered into a partnership agreement with IHS, the leading global source of defence and security information, to deliver satellite imagery and services for intelligence analysis and reporting.
Leveraging this partnership will enable IHS to provide new insights and even more up-to-date and detailed information, meeting demand for fused intelligence sources to tap easily accessed information. Invariably, geospatial data plays a critical role in developing intelligence, formulating strategic policy and driving operational interventions.
Astrium Services brings to IHS the capability to deliver imagery and defence-oriented services based on unique access to the only multi-resolution imaging satellite.
Astrium's offering has been specifically developed to support the high currency requirements of the GEOINT community, including the many and varied challenges faced by military and intelligence agencies.
Under the agreement, Astrium Services will provide newly acquired imagery from its Pleiades, SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellites for use as primary sources and fusion with open source information, for actionable intelligence.
It will also provide access to the GO Monitor service, which delivers reliable surveillance and change information anywhere on Earth.
By fusing IHS insight with Astrium Services imagery, IHS analysts will be able to deliver broader contextual analysis and more granular insight in order to meet the needs of business and national security professionals.
With more than 100 years of history as Jane's, IHS has a reputation built on products such as IHS Jane's Fighting Ships, IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft and IHS Jane's Defence Weekly.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Seeing in the dark

This is a photo of the novel infrared remote sensing system built by researchers at two Chinese universities. Credit: Tianxu Zhang/Zheng Fang.

Washington DC (SPX) Nov 01, 2013 Thermal infrared (IR) energy is emitted from all things that have a temperature greater than absolute zero. Human eyes, primarily sensitive to shorter wavelength visible light, are unable to detect or differentiate between the longer-wavelength thermal IR "signatures" given off both by living beings and inanimate objects.
While mechanical detection of IR radiation has been possible since Samuel Pierpont Langley invented the bolometer in 1880, devices that also can recognize and identify an IR source after detection have been more challenging to develop.
In a recent paper in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments, researchers at two Chinese universities describe a novel instrument that successfully does both tasks with extremely high sensitivity by splitting the IR radiation given off by an object into a long-wave portion for detection and a mid-wave portion that can be spectrally analyzed for accurate identification.
Conventional remote sensing systems share a single sensor for both imaging and spectral data processing. The new instrument designed by the Chinese researchers has separate sensors for each task and uses a dichoric beamsplitter to divide the IR signal from an object into two components, a long-wave IR (LWIR) beam and a mid-wave IR (MWIR) beam.
"The LWIR beam goes to the imaging sensor and the MWIR to the spectrum recognition sensor," said Tianxu Zhang, corresponding author on the RSI paper and a physicist at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Working in the shadows: Phil Pressel and the Hexagon spy camera

by Roger Guillemette and Dwayne Day 

Monday, October 28, 2013

The history of the Cold War is filled with stories of people who fled persecution in Europe or elsewhere and ended up working in the American defense and intelligence fields. Physicists like Leo Szilard and Hans Bethe fled Germany to work on the Manhattan Project.

Phil Pressel points to some of his handiwork on a Hexagon satellite on display at the National Air and Space Museum in 2011. (credit: R. Guillemette)

Michael Yarymovych spent part of his childhood in a German work camp and fled the Russian attack on Berlin only to later travel to the United States and eventually serve as Chief Scientist of the US Air Force. Pedro Rustan escaped Castro’s Cuba by swimming across Guantanamo Bay, became a colonel in the US Air Force, and eventually developed advanced technology for American intelligence satellites. And Phil Pressel endured the Nazi occupation in occupied Belgium and France, traveled to the United States, and two decades later helped to design one of the most powerful satellite reconnaissance cameras ever built—a secret he kept for 46 years, sharing it with no one, not even his wife, from the time he first went to work for the Perkin-Elmer optics company in 1965.

Tears welling in his eyes, the Belgian boy who was hidden from the Nazis by the French Resistance in a picturesque mountain town took his wife’s hand and humbly pointed to the Hexagon’s engineering marvel: twin panoramic rotating cameras.

On September 17, 2011, the then 74-year-old Holocaust survivor and kidney transplant recipient patiently waited in line with his wife as the doors opened to a large tent structure at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. His life-long secret, an integral component in one of the United States’ most closely guarded assets, a behemoth larger than a school bus, was now on display for the whole world to see: the just-declassified KH-9 Hexagon spy satellite.
Tears welling in his eyes, the Belgian boy who was hidden from the Nazis by the French Resistance in a picturesque mountain town—a story that he recounted in a 2004 book—took his wife’s hand and humbly pointed to the Hexagon’s engineering marvel: twin panoramic rotating cameras that exposed the former Soviet Union’s hidden missile bases, bomber airfields and submarine holding pens.
Incorporated into the belly of the giant spacecraft was the “optical bar” camera system that produced incredibly valuable intelligence data for his adopted country, detailed imagery that helped prevent a cataclysmic World War III between the global superpowers. Phil Pressel and his colleagues designed the cameras.
Pressel has now published a book about developing the Hexagon camera, Meeting The Challenge: The Hexagon KH-9 Reconnaissance Satellite. It is a detailed, behind-the-scenes account of designing the most complex mechanical device ever flown in space, and one of the most powerful reconnaissance cameras ever built. Pressel, after getting permission from the CIA to write the book and agreeing not to have it published until after declassification of the program, started the book years before the program was declassified, not knowing if he would ever be allowed to publish it (see “Eyes of the Big Bird”, The Space Review, October 14, 2013.)

Indra leads the european G-Sextant earth observation project

October 16, 2013 ( Spain

• With an budget of more than €5.7 million, Indra coordinates this R&D initiative aimed at developing new geospatial information services and products 
• These products, based on satellite images, will support the efforts of the European External Action Service and other users
• Indra has become an international reference in the development of the most advanced Earth observation technologies  

The European Commission, through the Research Executive Agency (REA), has entrusted Indra with the G-SEXTANT R&D project aimed at developing different products and services that cover the geospatial information needs of the European External Action Service and of other users. This project includes an investment of more than €5.7 million and its development will last through the first quarter of 2015.
G-SEXTANT forms part of the European Copernicus programme (previously referred to as GMES, Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), one of the European Commission's most important initiatives in the space sector. Copernicus will enable the EU to observe the Earth in order to monitor the environment's evolution and to manage security and emergencies.
Indra leads the consortium comprised by companies, research centres and European organisations that are working on this project. The objective of G-SEXTANT is to develop pre-operation products and services for observing the Earth.
These products have been conceived to provide support in humanitarian crises, to monitor conflicts, to detect illegal crops, to provide border surveillance, etc. G-SEXTANT will also make it possible to improve existing products and services, and to develop a standardised solutions portfolio.
The new services and products will provide geospatial information to support the decision making efforts of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and of other European agencies and services.

NGA opens doors to GEOINT app store

By Greg Slabodkin
Oct 22, 2013

Leveraging mobile devices to literally put the "power of GEOINT" in the hands of warfighters is the vision of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The agency's move to embrace mobility is most visible in the creation of the GEOINT App Store, loosely modeled after commercial storefronts that provide downloadable apps for smartphones and tablets in the three security domains — unclassified, secret and top secret.
"The idea of an end user being able to download an app that they need right now is critical," said Robert Zitz, senior vice president and chief systems architect for the National Security Sector at Leidos, the company formed after the split of SAIC in September 2013. "It's a great example of using and building upon commercial technologies and approaches.”
To date, more than 270 apps are available to the intelligence community through the online platform. According to the 2013-2017 NGA Strategy report, "Recognizing that GEOINT data, products, services, and knowledge are most relevant when the information is easily accessible, NGA is committed to making its content discoverable, accessible and usable in multiple security domains."
By 2017, the agency wants to empower the GEOINT community through "greatly improved access to varied content and applications," allowing users to "create and consume GEOINT content anytime on the device of their choice." That approach mirrors similar efforts across DOD.
Mark Riccio, director of future experience for NGA's Xperience Directorate, formerly the agency's Online GEOINT Services Directorate, acknowledged that previously NGA did not necessarily support the provision of mobile type apps. "We realize now that with the speed at which information is made available and the way that consumers want to use that kind of data, that the self-service model is really the driving force to get information in the hands of those that need it in a timely fashion,” he said.
Some duplication is inevitable, observers said. "I have some concerns that they are going to have too many apps that do the same thing. That's going to be a challenge for the agency and others to make sure they have the right vetting process," noted Scott Simmons, CACI’s executive director of geospatial solutions.
source:  http://www.geospatialworld.net & http://defensesystems.com

Time is ripe for fire detection satellite, say Berkeley scientists

By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | October 22, 2013

BERKELEY — As firefighters emerge from another record wildfire season in the Western United States, University of California, Berkeley, scientists say it’s time to give them a 21^st century tool: a fire-spotting satellite.

An artist’s concept of the FUEGO satellite, which would snap digital photos of the Western U.S. every few seconds in search of hot spots that could be newly ignited fires. Image by R. E. Lafever, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Such a satellite could view the Western states almost continuously, snapping pictures of the ground every few seconds in search of hot spots that could be newly ignited wildfires. Firefighting resources could then be directed to these spots in hopes of preventing the fires from growing out of control and threatening lives and property.
The UC Berkeley scientists have designed such a satellite using state-of-the-art sensors, written analysis software to minimize false alarms, and even given it a name – the Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit (FUEGO). They’re hopeful it can be built for several hundred million dollars, either by government or private entities.

Eyes of the Big Bird

The KH-9 HEXAGON on display at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. (credit: D. Day)

by Dwayne Day
Monday, October 14, 2013

In 2004, I wrote an article about why there was no KH-9 HEXAGON reconnaissance satellite on display in the Smithsonian Institution’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Museum near Washington Dulles International Airport (see: “The invisible Big Bird: Why there is no KH-9 spy satellite in the Smithsonian”, The Space Review, November 8, 2004). The first HEXAGON launched in 1971 and the last in 1986, and the huge satellite had earned the nickname “big bird.” It used high-speed film to record images that covered vast amounts of territory, returning the images to the Earth in film-return capsules. In the late 1990s the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was actively working on declassifying the HEXAGON and the GAMBIT satellite programs, but that effort had ground to a halt.
Shortly after I wrote that article I received a phone call from a man named Phil Pressel. “Are you the person who wrote the article in The Space Review?” Yes, I replied. “I’m the guy who built that thing!” he said. He wouldn’t say the name of the “thing” or even what it did. But he said he had worked for the Perkin-Elmer Company, had helped design the “payload” on the satellite, and that he was writing a history about it.
Phil Pressel’s history has now been published by AIAA Press. Titled Meeting The Challenge: The Hexagon KH-9 Reconnaissance Satellite, it is a detailed, behind-the-scenes account of designing the most complex mechanical device ever flown in space, and one of the most powerful reconnaissance cameras ever built. It is a great read.

Shortly after I wrote that article I received a phone call from a man named Phil Pressel. “Are you the person who wrote the article in The Space Review?” Yes, I replied. “I’m the guy who built that thing!” he said.

During that 2004 phone call, Pressel wondered if I had any idea about when the program might be declassified. I thought it would not happen soon. I told him that it was originally supposed to happen in the late 1990s, but had been put on hold. Ever since then, there was no indication that it was likely to happen. Furthermore, the Bush Administration had clamped down on the declassification of even old historical records. The NRO’s fiftieth anniversary was in 2011 and government agencies like to throw parties on their big anniversaries and they like to have something to show off at them. So my best guess was that the earliest it would be declassified was sometime in 2011.
Pressel was disappointed, but said that he was going to ask his contacts in the government if they had any information as well. A month or two later he called me again and said that he had confirmed that there were no plans to declassify the program anytime soon, but he was going to continue working on his history of the program.

Looking to the future of Earth observation

13 September 2013

Swarm: ESA’s magnetic field mission

More about this video

The Living Planet Symposium has come to a close in Edinburgh, and a week of talking about past, present and future satellite missions, as well as the scientific challenges facing us, has prepared Earth observation for a new chapter.
Over 300 scientists attended two special sessions organised to discuss ESA’s plans to update the scientific challenges of the Living Planet Programme.
The scientific challenges are the foundation of ESA’s science strategy for Earth observation for the coming years.
The current strategy, called ‘The Changing Earth’, was formulated in 2006 and significant progress has been made since then, thanks to the achievements of ESA’s Earth Explorer missions.
During the dedicated sessions, the scientists’ comments were wide-ranging, emphasising the increasing need to connect ESA’s science activities and technological advances to worldwide societal issues.
Participants also emphasised the need to draw out the strong multidisciplinary connections of these challenges and the increasing need for international collaboration to respond to them.

Alan O’Neill

From the input received, ESA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee (ESAC) will work to refine the scientific challenges for presentation to ESA’s Programme Board for Earth Observation later this year. The aim is to produce the revised strategy for Earth observation during 2014.

Earth Observation Opportunities Expected to Develop in Emerging Markets

September 11, 2013 - New regions, application sectors to drive growth

Paris and Montreal, September 11, 2013 - According to Euroconsult’s recently published research report, Satellite-Based Earth Observation: Market Prospects to 2022, the number of Earth observation (EO) satellites launched by civil government and commercial entities is expected to more than double over the next decade to 360 satellites, translating into $35.8 billion in manufacturing revenues over 2013 to 2022, an 88% increase over the previous decade. New government and commercial entrants are anticipated, with organizations from 42 countries expected to have launched at least a first-generation EO satellite by 2022.

The market for commercial EO data was valued at $1.5 billion in 2012. Growth slowed to 7% over 2011 as a result of the stabilization of U.S. defense procurement; however North America maintains the largest market share with 55% of the total commercial data market. The U.S. NGA will also remain the first customer of commercial data in 2013 despite its reduction in data procurement, an action which led to the combination of the U.S. operators DigitalGlobe and GeoEye in 2013. The net effect of this reduced procurement over 2012 to 2013 will however result in 0% growth in the industry, a figure which disguises growth opportunities elsewhere.

NASA Launches Study of New Global Land Imaging System

Reston, VA (SPX) Sep 20, 2013

The objective of the Sustainable Land Imaging study is to design an approach to develop space-based systems that can provide continuous Landsat-quality data for at least 20 years and be sustained in a tight federal budget environment. The system is planned to continue the 41-year-old Landsat data record, which was assembled with a series of single satellites implemented one at a time.

NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will kick off a quest for an innovative and affordable space-based system to extend the Landsat satellite data record for decades to come with a public forum and call for ideas Wednesday, Sept. 18.
The Sustainable Land Imaging Architecture Study Industry and Partner Day will take place from 1-4:30 p.m. EDT in the NASA Headquarters Webb Auditorium at 300 E St. SW in Washington. Following this public forum, NASA will release a request for information to seek new ideas on the design of such a system.
In April, the Obama Administration directed NASA to conduct the study as part of its initiative to create for the first time a long-term, sustainable system in space to provide Landsat-quality global observations for at least the next 20 years. The Sustainable Land Imaging Program, announced in President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2014 budget, directs NASA to lead the overall system architecture study with participation from USGS.
Representatives of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, NASA and USGS will present details of the study process and planning timeline during the public forum.
"We are looking for system design solutions that spur innovation and increase efficiencies, making use of aerospace expertise from across the government and commercial aerospace sector," said David Jarrett, study lead in the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "We will evaluate a range of solutions, including large and small dedicated spacecraft, formation flying, hosted payloads, and international and private sector collaborations."

ESA's GOCE mission to end this year

Paris (ESA) Sep 20, 2013

ESA's GOCE mission has delivered the most accurate model of the 'geoid' ever produced, which will be used to further our understanding of how Earth works. The colours in the image represent deviations in height (-100 m to +100 m) from an ideal geoid. The blue shades represent low values and the reds/yellows represent high values. A precise model of Earth's geoid is crucial for deriving accurate measurements of ocean circulation, sea-level change and terrestrial ice dynamics. The geoid is also used as a reference surface from which to map the topographical features on the planet. In addition, a better understanding of variations in the gravity field will lead to a deeper understanding of Earth's interior, such as the physics and dynamics associated with volcanic activity and earthquakes. Image courtesy ESA/HPF/DLR.

After more than four years mapping Earth's gravity with unrivalled precision, GOCE's mission is nearing its end and the satellite will soon reenter our atmosphere.
The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer - GOCE - has been orbiting Earth since March 2009 at the lowest altitude of any research satellite.
With a sleek, aerodynamic design responsible for it being dubbed the 'Ferrari of space', GOCE has mapped variations in Earth's gravity with extreme detail.
The result is a unique model of the 'geoid', which is essentially a virtual surface where water does not flow from one point to another.
In mid-October, the mission will come to a natural end when it runs out of fuel and the satellite begins its descent towards Earth from a height of about 224 km.
While most of GOCE will disintegrate in the atmosphere, several parts might reach Earth's surface.
When and where these parts might land cannot yet be predicted, but the affected area will be narrowed down closer to the time of reentry. Reentry is expected to happen about three weeks after the fuel is depleted.
Taking into account that two thirds of Earth are covered by oceans and vast areas are thinly populated, the danger to life or property is very low.
About 40 tonnes of manmade space debris reach the ground per year, but the spread and size mean the risk of an individual being struck is lower than being hit by a meteorite.
An international campaign is monitoring the descent, involving the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee. The situation is being continuously watched by ESA's Space Debris Office, which will issue reentry predictions and risk assessments.
ESA will keep its Member States and the relevant safety authorities permanently updated.

source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Take a Virtual, High-Resolution Tour of Vesta

London, UK (SPX) Sep 17, 2013

If you could drive a car around the giant Asteroid Vesta, you would need a road map akin to the atlas of images released from NASA's Dawn mission. Twenty-nine new maps of the asteroid, one of which is shown here, show its mountains and craters at a scale similar to that of common road maps. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA.

An atlas of the asteroid, Vesta, created from images taken during the Dawn Mission's Low Altitude Mapping Orbit (LAMO), is now accessible for the public to explore online. The set of maps has been created from mosaics of 10 000 images from Dawn's framing camera (FC) instrument, taken at an average altitude of about 210 kilometres.
The maps are mostly at a scale of 1:200 0000 (1 centimetre = 2 kilometres), about that of regional road touring maps. The atlas will be presented by Dr Thomas Roatsch at the at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2013 in London.
"Creating the atlas has been a painstaking task - each map sheet of this series has used about 400 images,' said Dr Roatsch.
"The atlas shows how extreme the terrain is on such a small body as Vesta. In the south pole projection alone, the Severina crater contours reach a depth of 18 kilometres; just over a hundred kilometres away the mountain peak towers 7 kilometres above the ellipsoid reference level."
The atlas comprises 29 maps using three different projections: Mercator for equatorial regions, Lambert conical projections for mid-latitudes and a stereographic projection for the Rheasilvia basin at Vesta's south pole.

Astrium to provide new satellite imagery for Google Maps and Google Earth

Toulouse, France (SPX) Sep 18, 2013

Pleiades 1A and 1B are Europe's first very high-resolution Earth-observation satellites

Astrium has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Google Inc. to provide satellite imagery in support of Google Maps, Google Earth and other Google products and services. Under this agreement, Astrium Services will provide newly acquired imagery from its Pleiades and SPOT satellites.
Pleiades 1A and 1B are Europe's first very high-resolution Earth-observation satellites, offering exceptional performance to support both commercial and government markets with 50cm resolution imagery products. The SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 constellation, operated in conjunction with Pleiades, offers 1.5m resolution imagery products and is uniquely capable of mapping continent-wide areas.
This four-satellite constellation makes Astrium Services the first satellite operator in the world to offer a complete range of Earth-observation data at different resolutions (from medium to very high-resolution), an image collection capacity of up to 6.5 million square kilometers each day and the ability to image every point of the globe on a daily basis.
With this agreement, Astrium demonstrates again its unique ability to meet the increasing demand for imagery to support the online mapping and location-based services markets.
Through its GEO-Information business, Astrium Services is recognized as one of the leaders in the geo-spatial information market, not least thanks to the now fully integrated skills and resources of the former Spot Image and Infoterra.
The company provides decision-makers with complete solutions enabling them to increase security, boost agricultural performance, maximize oil and gas or mining operations, improve their management of natural resources, and protect the environment.
It has exclusive access to data from the SPOT, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and Pleiades satellites, coupled with a complete range of space-based data allowing it to offer an unrivalled scope of Earth observation products and services. This extensive portfolio covers the entire geo-information supply chain, from the generation of images to the provision of high added-value information to end-users.
By leveraging the synergies and expertise available across the whole of Astrium Services, its GEO-Information teams develop innovative, yet competitive, custom-made solutions based on the combination and integration of Earth observation, navigation and high-end telecommunications.

source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Exelis delivers first-of-its-kind commercial payload to DigitalGlobe for WorldView-3 satellite

Wednesday, September 11th 2013

Exelis Visual Information Solutions (formerly ITT Visual Information Solutions) | Rochester, NY

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Exelis delivers first-of-its-kind commercial payload to DigitalGlobe for WorldView-3 satellite
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept 10, 2013- Exelis has delivered an integrated, super-spectral payload consisting of a telescope, sensor and shortwave infrared system for the WorldView-3 satellite. WorldView-3 is the first multipayload, commercial satellite to carry such capabilities, and will allow DigitalGlobe to further expand its imagery product offerings.
"We met additional requirements and delivered the integrated, multimodality system within a tight timeframe," said Kyle Schmackpfeffer, Exelis Geospatial Systems director of mapping and resource management and space situational awareness. "Meeting DigitalGlobe's additional requirement for a shortwave infrared (SWIR) subsystem capability one year into the original contract demonstrates our agility and strong program execution."

The SWIR bands will penetrate haze, fog, smog, dust, smoke, mist and cirrus clouds and allow clearer identification of materials not visible to the human eye. This is a capability that will be very useful in applications for oil, gas and vegetation and for a number of other uses. For example, the shortwave infrared capability will allow oil and gas companies better mineral characterization to build more accurate geological models for drilling.

European Space Imaging completes VHR data supply in record time to European Commission’s CwRS Campaign

Tuesday, September 10th 2013

European Space Imaging | Munich, Germany

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9 September 2013
European Space Imaging (EUSI) has successfully completed another year’s CwRS campaign in record time supplying almost cloud-free imagery well inside collection windows in keeping with their reputation for speedy delivery of high-quality data.

EUSI has been the most reliable data supplier to the European Commission in the Controls with Remote Sensing (CwRS) program and has delivered the bulk of the data for a yearly increasing number of control sites since the program’s inception in 2004. With success rates close or equal to 100% every year and contributing more than two thirds of the data in the past ten campaigns European Space Imaging has proven to be a most dependable program partner.

Each year CwRS campaign collects around 1,000 images evenly distributed across Europe and totaling more than 240,000 km² – twice the area of England, or 8 times that of Belgium. Generally the collection campaign begins in March in southern Europe and following agricultural flourishing works its way North to completion in August.

In 2013 EUSI had 100% success over a total of 213 control sites. About half the sites were collected within 7 days of the collection window start time, and the rest within 15 days of the window opening. This corresponds to an overall  average site completion time to within the first quarter of the requested windows. All collections were made accessing either WorldView-1, WorldView-2 or QuickBird satellites. European Space Imaging has the benefit of operating their own ground station which, in combination with manual satellite tasking based on real-time weather conditions, leads to the speedy delivery of data for distribution to  European Union Member State administrations.

European Space Imaging is looking forward to continuing its role as dependable imagery partner and to supporting the EU Commission and EU Member States with data supply into the future.

Astrium Services targeting geo information business growth

Toulouse, France (SPX) Sep 15, 2013

View the video here.

As previously announced during its teaser campaign, Astrium Services, Europe's leading space technology company, has launched a new video designed to communicate the diversity and value of its range of Earth observation services, connect to existing and potential customers while strengthening its identity in a highly competitive geo-information market.
Entitled "Picture the Future: How Astrium Services can help shape our world", the video draws upon Astrium's expertise in satellite imagery, monitoring and intelligence services to demonstrate the impact its technology can have on a raft of market segments including the defence and security, civil engineering, avionics, energy, and agriculture industries.
The video, which marks the beginning of a global marketing campaign, illustrates how Astrium Services remains, since almost 30 years, one of the main leaders in the geo-information market. The release of this film signifies several months of activity demonstrating the firm determination to continually improve the way it connects with its customers.
Bernhard Brenner, Executive Director of Astrium Services' GEO-information Division explained:
"In an industry too often characterised by one-size-fits-all solutions we're committed to an era of greater communication with our customers, listening more than ever to them to understand their sector-specific needs and working closely together to deliver new and customised services.
"This is the age of collaboration. Many of our new and evolving service offerings have been developed by working closely with clients seeking new solutions to the daily challenges they face, and the time is right to launch a new campaign underlining our determination to play an even bigger role in helping a range of industries benefit from the advantages of space age technology."
Benefiting from a unique access to the most sophisticated satellite constellation (SPOT, Pleiades, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X), Astrium Services enables customers to increase security through surveillance, boost agricultural performance, maximize oil and gas or mining operations, improve the management of natural resources, support military operations and protect the environment.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

ESA selects SSTL to design Exoplanet satellite mission

Guildford, UK (SPX) Sep 15, 2013

CHEOPS was selected from 25 missions proposed in response to ESA Call for Small Missions in 2012, which was targeting innovative small science missions that offer high value at low cost.

Surrey Satellite Technology has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the competitive design phase of CHEOPS science satellite, which will improve mankind's understanding of exoplanets - planets orbiting distant stars outside our solar system. The contractor selection for the implementation phase is planned by mid-2014 and the launch is scheduled late 2017.
The CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) will finely characterise known exoplanets and their parent stars with an unprecedented accuracy. The satellite will measure the orbit and radius of those exoplanets, enabling the scientists to assess their potential habitability.
The mission will also act as a "scout" performing preliminary observations on targets for the future European Extremely Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope that will be capable of more detailed analysis.
CHEOPS was selected from 25 missions proposed in response to ESA Call for Small Missions in 2012, which was targeting innovative small science missions that offer high value at low cost.

Arctic ice shrinking in volume, too: ESA

Paris (AFP) Sept 11, 2013
Arctic sea ice, which has been declining in area by unprecedented amounts in summer, is also falling in volume, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday.
In a press release showcasing findings from its science satellite CryoSat, ESA said that in April this year, the Arctic's crust of ice was the thinnest observed in three years of operation.
"CryoSat continues to provide clear evidence of diminishing Arctic sea ice," said Andrew Shepherd, a professor at the University of Leeds in northern England.
"From the satellite's measurements we can see that some parts of the ice pack ice have thinned more rapidly than others, but there has been a decrease in the volume of winter and summer ice over the past three years," ESA quoted Shepherd as saying at a symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"The volume of the sea ice at the end of last winter was less than 15,000 cubic kilometres (3,600 cu. miles), which is lower than any other year going into summer, and indicates less winter growth than usual."
Arctic sea ice -- which floats on the ocean, unlike icesheets, which are on land -- expands and contracts with the seasons.
In 2012, its extent at a key measuring point in the summer season was the lowest on record, a sign that many experts said gave further proof of man-made global warming.
Some ice experts say that the clue to summer ice lies in what happens during the winter. Thinner or less extensive ice in winter can lead to further losses in the following summer.
CryoSat -- essentially CryoSat-2, replacing an original satellite that was lost at launch -- was taken aloft in April 2010.
It has an all-weather microwave radar altimeter, capable of detecting changes in ice thickness to within one centimetre (0.4 of an inch).
The satellite had a designed operational life for three years but is in good health and should be able to continue until 2017, ESA added.
source:  http://www.terradaily.com

NASA satellites used to predict zebra migrations

by Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 12, 2013

Zebra in the Makgadikgadi grasslands. Image Credit: Hattie Bartlam-Brooks.

One of the world's longest migrations of zebras occurs in the African nation of Botswana, but predicting when and where zebras will move has not been possible until now. Using NASA rain and vegetation data, researchers can track when and where arid lands begin to green, and for the first time anticipate if zebras will make the trek or, if the animals find poor conditions en route, understand why they will turn back.
Covering an area of approximately 8,500 square miles (22,000 square kilometers), Botswana's Okavango Delta is one end of the second-longest zebra migration on Earth, a 360-mile (580-kilometer) round trip to the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans-the largest salt pan system on the planet.
Zebras walk an unmarked route that takes them to the next best place for grazing, while overhead thundering cloudbursts of late October rains drive new plant growth, filling pockmarks across this largest inland delta in the world. In a matter of weeks, the flooded landscape could yield ecosystems flush with forage for the muscled movers.
High above, Earth-orbiting satellites capture images of the zebras' movements on this epic trek, as well as the daily change in environmental conditions. Zebras don't need data to know when it's time to find better forage: The surge of rain-coaxed grasses greening is their prompt to depart. But now, researchers are able to take that data and predict when the zebras will move.

Gravity variations much bigger than previously thought

Perth, Australia (SPX) Sep 05, 2013

Gravity disturbances over Himalayas, India and parts of South-East Asia. For a larger version of this image please go here.

A joint Australian-German research team led by Curtin University's Dr Christian Hirt has created the highest-resolution maps of Earth's gravity field to date - showing gravitational variations up to 40 per cent larger than previously assumed.
Using detailed topographic information obtained from the US Space Shuttle, a specialist team including Associate Professor Michael Kuhn, Dr Sten Claessens and Moritz Rexer from Curtin's Western Australian Centre for Geodesy and Professor Roland Pail and Thomas Fecher from Technical University Munich improved the resolution of previous global gravity field maps by a factor of 40.
"This is a world-first effort to portray the gravity field for all countries of our planet with unseen detail", Dr Hirt said.
"Our research team calculated free-fall gravity at three billion points - that's one every 200 metres - to create these highest-resolution gravity maps. They show the subtle changes in gravity over most land areas of Earth."
The new gravity maps revealed the variations of free-fall gravity over Earth were much bigger than previously thought.
The Earth's gravitational pull is smallest on the top of the Huascaran mountain in the South American Andes, and largest near the North Pole.

Canada builds up arctic maritime surveillance

Ottawa (UPI) Sep 11, 2013

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

Canada is going ahead with plans to keep closer tabs on arctic shipping amid competing claims on the region, especially those from Russia and northern European states.
Plans to build and put in orbit a constellation of monitoring satellites mean Canada is set to spend millions on a maritime surveillance program that will include additional tasks of maintaining control on resource development in the arctic region.
Canada has actively pursued defense and security programs to assert its claim on the region after incidents involving Russian navy vessels which Canada considered to be too uncomfortable for Canadian defense interests.
Diplomatic exchanges on arctic naval incidents so far have been couched in political language. In Ottawa, however, officials are in no doubt they want to assert Canadian national authority on the northern territories before Russia or other European countries attempt another challenge.
It will be another five years before a Canadian satellite surveillance program focused on arctic maritime traffic comes into play.
In January Ottawa confirmed it would go ahead with Radarsat Constellation Mission which will see the launch of at least three satellites by 2018.
Before the satellites are launched, however, Canada will need to build capacity for receiving and processing vast amounts of information that the space-based intelligence-gathering operation will produce.

Industrial, Scientific Cameras Reach for the Stars

by Winn Hardin, Contrubuting Editor - AIA Posted 08/06/2013
Today, manufacturers of imaging sensors are responding to two competing forces: a desire for larger sensors to provide greater spatial resolution, and the need for improved quantum efficiency for applications ranging from astronomy to flat-panel inspection.
When it comes to larger spatial resolutions, consumer products such as cell phones continue to drive sensor manufacturers to develop new generations of larger sensors for the same cost or less. Many of these megapixel advances in array size have come with an associated reduction of pixel sizes, giving cell phone marketers the material they need for the sales pitch. However, larger sensors have not correlated with similar improvements in image quality as pixel size shrinks below the diffraction limit of low-cost cell phone optics, and smaller pixels often have to be binned together to collect sufficient photons for a usable picture.
These trade-offs run counter to the needs of industrial and scientific customers, who seek more pixels and better light collection and image quality so they can run their production lines faster or acquire images of dynamic biological events or faint stars in far-off galaxies. In response, sensor manufacturers are moving toward larger sensors that maintain pixel size while allowing for larger arrays, as well as new scientific CMOS (sCMOS) cameras that offer the image quality approaching traditional high-end CCD sensors with the speed of CMOS.

Revisiting Space: The Next Business Frontier

by Jeff Foust
Monday, September 9, 2013

In the fall of 2001, Lou Dobbs was the face of space, business, and space business.

“Yet in the next decade, a new form of commerce and a new level of technology will compete with the Internet for the attention span, and dollars, of this very same business community,” wrote the famous business pundit, after describing the tremendous success of Internet-based companies. “Space. Yes, space.” Those words sound like something that could have been said recently, perhaps by someone enthusiastic about the prospects of companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and other “NewSpace” startups. In fact, those comments are a dozen years old, and from someone who has since dropped off the radar of the space community: Lou Dobbs.

“Dobbs projects his own vision of the next big opportunity for business and investors—Space,” a press release for the book stated.

Dobbs made those comments in the introduction of Space: The Next Business Frontier, a book written by Dobbs (with HP Newquist) and published in the fall of 2001. At the time, Dobbs appeared to the public to be uniquely qualified to discuss this new business frontier. As the long-time host of CNN’s Moneyline program, he was one of the best-known figures in business media. Moreover, he was the founder of SPACE.com, a leading website of space news. If Dobbs said space was the next business frontier, the average reader would likely conclude he was on to something.
Was he? I stumbled across my copy of the book recently, laying on top of a bookshelf, dust collecting on the visage of Dobbs that dominates the book’s cover. A copy of the press release from the publisher, Pocket Books, was still tucked inside. “Dobbs projects his own vision of the next big opportunity for business and investors—Space,” the release reads (capitalization in original.) “Dobbs believes that America’s financial destiny is tied to the budding industries that it has established in Space, foreseeing American dominance of space research and space-related business as critical to our continued leadership role in world markets.”

New technique to assess the cost of major flood damage to be unveiled at international conference

5 September 2013
A new approach to calculating the cost of damage caused by flooding is to be presented at the International Conference of Flood Resilience: Experiences in Asia and Europe at the University of Exeter.
The methodology combines information on land use with data on the vulnerability of the area to calculate the cost of both past and future flooding events.

Climate change, along with increased building on flood plains, has led to both a greater likelihood and a higher impact of flooding across the globe.

The method has already been employed to estimate the damage caused by heavy rain events that caused serious flooding in Barcelona in 2011 and in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2013.
As well as being used in the analysis of historical flood situations, the methodology is being used to predict the impact of future flooding, including health impacts of pollution caused by combined sewer overflows. Information on land-use from urban growth projections is coupled with hydraulic modelling results to assess the effectiveness of different strategies for future flood scenarios.
Flooding places enormous pressures on national economies, cities, communities and individuals. The short-term impacts may include many hundreds of casualties, displaced people, serious health problems and huge damage to property and infrastructure. Recovery and rebuilding in the affected areas can take years.
Two hundred experts from nearly forty countries will gather at the University of Exeter from the 5 - 7 September 2013 to discuss the latest advances in flood management plans and flood resilience measures.

Ukraine, Japan to monitor Chernobyl and Fukushima from space

06 September 2013

Ukraine: Ukraine and Japan have agreed to launch a joint satellite project to monitor regions around the crippled Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plants.
The agreement came during a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara and his visiting Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Kiev. It will be a joint project of Tokyo University and the Ukrainian state space agency. Ukrainian carrier rockets will be used to launch Japanese-developed satellites. Eight miniature satellites will be put into orbit by 2014. These satellites will gather information on the effects of radioactive elements in the surrounding areas of the nuclear plants. They will also receive signals from sensors installed on the ground. These signals will be used to collect information from areas where radiation levels exceed the norm.
Source: http://geospatialworld.net &  wall-street.com

New system for early detection of plant spread in water bodies

Aerial pictures reveal climate change

With the help of aerial images – such as this one showing the western shore of Lake Starnberg – scientists are able to track the spread of certain aquatic plants. This information sheds light on the quality of the water (blue: bare sediment; green and yellow: sparse vegetation; dark red: dense vegetation). (Aerial picture: Landesamt für Vermessung und Geodäsie)

01.08.2013,  Research news

As a result of climate change, certain undesirable aquatic plants are starting to invade German water bodies. Even popular recreation areas like Lake Starnberg have been affected, leading to a growing need to monitor the spread of these plants. Up to now, regular monitoring has proven to be a costly process. But in a new approach, researchers at Technische Universität München (TUM) have developed a quicker and less expensive method.

Taking a dip in a freshwater lake can quickly lose its appeal on contact with slippery aquatic plants. These might include Elodea nuttallii and Najas marina, better known as western waterweed and spiny naiad, both of which have been spreading rapidly in German water bodies in recent years.

Ecologists are able to use them as indicator plants. Their proliferation allows researchers to draw conclusions on water quality – Elodea nuttallii and Najas marina are particularly common in lakes with rising water temperatures. The rapid spread of such plants over a wide area can upset the balance of sensitive lake ecosystems.

Satellite images support research divers

To investigate changes in lake ecosystems, water management authorities regularly monitor plant populations. This requires the observations of divers, who map the “vegetation blankets” at different depths.

This process does produce highly detailed information, but it requires a lot of effort. Doctoral students from TUM’s Chair of Aquatic Systems Biology - Limnological Research Station in Iffeldorf have carried out research on this topic for their dissertations. The result of their work is a new process that will save both time and money.

“This new idea involves replacing some of the diving effort with high-resolution aerial and satellite images,” explains project supervisor Dr. Thomas Schneider. “In order to draw conclusions on plant growth from the imagery produced, we measure reflectance. Each plant species reflects the incident light in a specific way, depending on its pigmentation and structure.”

Idaho State University, NASA use new GIS-satellite imagery program to create effective informational tool for wildfire fighters

August 29, 2013

35 minutes.
That's how long it took for the Idaho State University GIS Center to produce a detailed report that gave Bureau of Land Management wildfire managers information they needed to plan for the recovery of the State Wildfire that burned on the Idaho-Utah border earlier this month – and the wildfire wasn’t even out yet.

In the past, the information collected on everything from burn severity and fire intensity to slope, vegetation and soil type would have taken as long as weeks to collect and distribute.

But now, using satellite imagery and a Geographic Information Systems mapping tool created by ISU GIS Training and Research Center and NASA's Applied Sciences Program, fire managers quickly have pertinent information at their fingertips on their computers. Wildfire managers may soon also have it on their mobile devices and cell phones. ISU and NASA are working in partnership with the BLM and Idaho Department of Lands on this project.

The new program, still in its testing phase, has already been used on several Idaho wildfires, including the Pony and Elk Creek Complex Wildfire in south-central Idaho and the Mabey Fire near Bancroft.

The official name of the project is Rehabilitation Capability Convergence for Ecosystem Recovery (RECOVER). Initial funding of nearly $180,000 for this project is being provided by NASA's Applied Sciences Program and the NASA's High-end Computing Program.

"The RECOVER project is one of the most interesting and important activities currently funded by NASA's Applied Sciences Program," said John Schnase, at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  "We're using a variety of advanced cloud computing, web services, and data grid technologies to dramatically improve the decision-making activities associated with fighting wildfires. We're also setting the stage to use new types of observational data that will be produced by future NASA missions."

NGA modifies strategy for global requirements under GDS

06 September 2013
US: The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) has recently modified its strategy for global requirements under the GEOINT Data Services (GDS).
According to the revised plan, land use or land cover will not be acquired under a separate, global requirement solicitation. The NGA anticipates using the GDS Foundation GEOINT Content Management (FGCM) Regional Contracts to support this effort if requirements occur. Global Ortho Image Service will not be acquired under the GDS program. Global Ortho Image Service will be solicited in the future based on data from multiple imagery sources. A Global Products contract is planned for acquisition under the GDS program, to include NAVPLAN (Navigation Planning) and CADRG (Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphic)/ECRG (Enhanced Compressed Raster Graphic)/Geo-Referenced PDF product finishing. The NGA intends to issue a full and open competitive solicitation for a base and two option years for this effort.
Source: fbo.gov & http://geospatialworld.net

JIB Antennas Will Support Ship ID Capability Being Added to Canadas RADARSAT Constellation Mission

Carpinteria CA (SPX) Sep 09, 2013

File image.

Small, lightweight JIB antennas from Northrop Grumman's Astro Aerospace business unit will help provide a new maritime identification capability for Canada's three RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) Earth observation satellites planned for launch in 2018.
Astro Aerospace will provide 13 self-deploying, monopole JIB antennas as part of an Automated Identification System (AIS) being added to the identical radar-imaging satellites under a contract from RCM prime contractor MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.
The RCM satellites will provide C band radar data to RADARSAT-2 users and add new applications made possible through the three-satellite constellation. Improvements include faster recurring area coverage of Canada and reduced risk of a service interruption.
"Our JIB antennas will be part of the key hardware in this world-class constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites that will add a ship identification capability for enhanced monitoring of Canada's coastal zones," said Astro Aerospace General Manager John A. Alvarez.
"Astro Aerospace has delivered more than 1,000 JIB assemblies for many important missions with 100 percent deployment success."
With an adaptable design configuration, JIB antennas can be tailored to specific applications. They are available in monopole diameters from one-half inch to 1 3/8 inches and any length up to 25 feet. The RCM AIS antennas stow in a low mass and compact 4-inch by 4-inch by 2.5-inch canister.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

After a Fire, Before a Flood: NASA's Landsat Directs Restoration to At-Risk Areas

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 09, 2013

The soil burn severity map of the New Mexico Silver Fire shows areas that with high (red), medium (yellow) and low (green) severity burns. Image Credit: USDA Forest Service, Burned Area Emergency Response Team.

While the 138,000-acre Silver Fire still smoldered, forest restoration specialists were on the job. They analyzed maps created using Landsat satellite data to determine where the burn destroyed vegetation and exposed soil - and where to focus emergency restoration efforts.
"The map looked like a big red blob," said Penny Luehring, the U.S. Forest Service's Burned Area Emergency Response and watershed improvement program leader, based in Albuquerque, N.M.
Red means high-severity fire, she explained - and the red areas were concentrated in a watershed drainage that fed communities west of Las Cruces, N.M. So crews got to work. The Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, teams are designed to go in as soon as the flames die down to help protect reservoirs, watersheds and infrastructure from post-fire floods and erosion. And Landsat satellites, built by NASA and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, help direct the crews to those forest areas needing attention.
As a wildfire starts to die down, fire managers like Luehring can contact the Forest Service's Remote Sensing Applications Center in Salt Lake City to request maps that identify the high, moderate and low severity burns. When that call comes in, remote sensing specialist Carl Albury finds satellite imagery of the burned forest both pre- and post-fire.
In Landsat images, he looks at two of the 11 spectral bands - the near-infrared band and a short-wave infrared band.
"The near infrared reflects well from healthy vegetation, and the short-wave infrared bands reflect well from exposed ground," Albury said. "By comparing the normalized ratio of the near- and shortwave-infrared bands in the pre-fire image to the post-fire image, we can estimate the burn severity."
The near-infrared wavelength bounces off of healthy plant cells, and so sends back a strong signal to the Landsat detector that isn't present over burned areas, explained Jeff Masek, Landsat program scientist with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. But the shortwave infrared band - added to Landsat satellites starting with Landsat 4 - has a distinct spectral signature for burned areas.
"The char will show up very clearly in the shortwave," Masek said.
Albury takes a ratio of the two spectral bands, both before and after a fire. Comparing those ratios, he creates a rough map of fire severity, called the Burned Area Reflectance Classification, or BARC. The BAER teams calibrate or adjust the maps based on on-the-ground observations, and then use them to plan time-sensitive restoration projects.

NASA's Landsat Revisits Old Flames in Fire Trends

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 05, 2013

The burn severity map of the Wallow Fire from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity project shows regions of high severity (red), medium (yellow) and low (green) burns. Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity. (2013, August- last revised). Image Credit: USDA Forest Service/U.S. Geological Survey.

The Wallow Fire burned over 500,000 acres, making it the largest fire in Arizona history, to date. It is one of many large fires that fire managers and researchers have seen scorch forests nationwide since the early 2000s.
"We have entered a new era where we're definitely seeing higher fire activity," said Philip Dennison, a geographer at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. With busy fire seasons, scientists and fire managers are interested in how and why fire frequency, severity and duration changes over time.
To help investigate these trends, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey are using Landsat data to quantify every large fire in the United States since 1984 and map each fire's severity and effect on the land. The project, called the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity project, or MTBS, provides long-term burn severity maps and data to help researchers understand fire trends in the United States.
The valuable burn severity data can inform fire management policies and improve the management of resources, said Brad Quayle, a program leader at the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center, or RSAC, in Salt Lake City. Researchers like Dennison also use the data to investigate how and why fire behavior changes over the years. But getting the big picture takes a lot of data over many years, which is why the 27-year MTBS data record relies on data from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat program.
Landsat is the longest running Earth-observing satellite program. The data record goes back more than 40 years, collected by a series of satellites that observe land cover at comparable resolution and with the quality necessary for long-term research. Currently Landsat satellites 7 and 8 are in operation.
The MTBS project team creates fire maps from Landsat imagery by analyzing the vegetation in the burned area. The project is a collaboration between RSAC and the USGS Earth Resource Observation and Science Center, or EROS, located in Sioux Falls, S.D. So far, the two organizations have mapped over 16,000 fires from 1984 to 2011 and will soon process data from the recently launched and operational Landsat 8 for the MTBS project.
"It's very important for us to maintain the continuity of having the spectral bands that have been there since day one, particularly the near infrared and short wave infrared bands," said Quayle.

Earth from Space: Salty Turkey

30 August 2013 This image from Japan’s ALOS satellite was acquired over Anatolia’s dry, central plateau on the Asian side of Turkey.
Also known as Asia Minor, the Anatolian peninsula is surrounded by the Black Sea to the north, Mediterranean Sea to the south and Aegean Sea to the west. In this image over the central high plains, we can see the whole of Lake Tersakan on the left side, with part of Lake Tuz in the upper right corner.
Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second largest lake, as well as one of the largest saline lakes in the world.
While some of the surrounding land shows the patchwork of agriculture, other areas are prone to the seasonal flooding of salty water. During the summer months, however, the lakewater recedes to expose a thick layer of salt.
The bright white surface during these dry summer months has been used by Earth-observing satellites to calibrate their sensors for the colour white – much like how you would adjust a camera’s white balance setting.
The salt from Lake Tuz is also mined, providing over half of the salt consumed in Turkey.
In addition to its economic importance, the lake provides an important breeding ground for the Greater Flamingo and the Greater White-fronted Goose.
Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) captured this image on 21 October 2010 with its Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type-2 instrument.
This image is featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
source:  http://www.esa.int

Iceland signs accession agreement with EUMETSAT

Monday, 02 September 2013

Iceland is on its way to becoming a EUMETSAT Member State in 2014 following the signature of the accession agreement by EUMETSAT Director-General Alain Ratier and Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, Minister for Environment and Natural Resources of Iceland on 30 August.

After the completion of the ratification process, Iceland will be fully involved in the strategic decisions of EUMETSAT’s ruling Council, in addition to having access to all EUMETSAT data and products.
Jóhannsson said: "Accurate weather forecasting is particularly important for Iceland and key industries, including fisheries, agriculture and tourism. Accession to EUMETSAT will improve our ability to predict our changeable weather, it will enhance surveillance of the atmosphere and natural phenomena and improve public safety." Árni Snorrason, Director-General of the Icelandic Met Office, said: “Unlimited access to EUMETSAT data and products will benefit road construction, marine and natural science research, universities and software companies in Iceland. In addition, Icelandic companies will be able to bid for contracts and take part in projects within EUMETSAT.”
Ratier added: “By becoming a Member State, Iceland marks its recognition of the benefits provided by our satellites. This is an essential signal to all our Member States at a time when EUMETSAT needs to invest in the renewal of its system of polar-orbiting satellites.”