The OGC announces Best Practices Document for Earth Observation Product, Service and Sensor Discovery

20 March 2013
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has adopted as an official OGC Best Practice a document titled, "OGC EO Product Collection, Service and Sensor Discovery using the CS-W ebRIM Catalogue."
This OGC Best Practices Document describes the relations that exist between several metadata conceptual models: Earth Observation (EO) Product, EO Product Collections, Sensors and Services. Specification of the linking between artifacts of these types is important for the process of cataloguing and discovering those artifacts.
CSW, or "Catalog Service – Web," is one profile of the OGC Catalog Service Standard, which defines common interfaces to discover, browse, and query metadata about data, services, and other resources. Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, or ebXML, is a family of XML based standards sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT providing an open infrastructure that enables global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure, and consistent manner. ebRIM is the accompanying electronic business Registry Information Model.

Astrium: operational and commercial launch of the fully complete Pleiades constellation

Paris (SPX) Mar 25, 2013

File image.

Astrium has announced the operational and commercial launch of the fully complete Pleiades constellation as well as SPOT 6, following the successful in-orbit qualification of the Pleiades 1B and SPOT 6 satellites.
"Astrium Services will now distribute images from the twin Pleiades 1A and 1B satellites, operating as a fully-fledged constellation", said Astrium Services CEO Evert Dudok. "This configuration, the only one of its kind in the world, offers very-high-resolution daily revisits and guarantees an image in less than 24 hours from any point on the globe, as well as daily monitoring of any location and double the coverage."
It is this daily revisit capability that makes geo-information services a reliable part of the strategic and economic decision-making process, offering Astrium Services' customers a number of advantages.

A Closer Look at LDCM's First Scene

by Ellen Gray for NASA Earth Science News Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 25, 2013

The area around Boulder, Colo., is shown here in a true color image collected by the OLI aboard LDCM on March 18, 2013. The OLI and an important component of TIRS, its cryocooler, were built at the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation facility in Boulder. Credit: USGS/NASA Earth Observatory. images here

Turning on new satellite instruments is like opening new eyes. This week, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) released its first images of Earth, collected at 1:40 p.m. EDT on March 18. The first image shows the meeting of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. The natural-color image shows the green coniferous forest of the mountains coming down to the dormant brown plains. The cities of Cheyenne, Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and Denver string out from north to south. Popcorn clouds dot the plains while more complete cloud cover obscures the mountains.
LDCM is a joint mission of NASA and the Department of Interior's U.S. Geological Survey.
"It's a really great day," said Jeff Pedelty, an instrument scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., who worked on the LDCM Operational Land Imager, or OLI instrument, that took the natural color image. He's very impressed with the level of detail they can see with the advancements to the sensor. "It's wonderful to see, there's no doubt about it, and it's a relief to know that this is going to work wonderfully in orbit."
The natural color image showed the landscape in the colors our eyes would see, but Landsat sensors also have the ability to see wavelengths of light that our eyes cannot see. LDCM sees eleven bands within the electromagnetic spectrum, the range of wavelengths of light. OLI collects light reflected from Earth's surface in nine of these bands. Wavelengths on the shorter side include the visible blue, green, and red bands. Wavelengths on the longer side include the near infrared and shortwave infrared.

MDA to provide RADARSAT information for environmental monitoring and emergency response services

March 21st 2013

MDA - Geospatial Services | Richmond, BC, Canada

MDA’s Information Systems group (MDA) announced today that its Geospatial business unit will deliver RADARSAT-2 data products and change monitoring services to the Ukraine Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Ministry) to support environmental monitoring and emergency response services in key areas within the Ukraine.
Working with G.X. Satellite Communication Management Limited(GX COM), a local industry partner that provides environmental monitoring and emergency response solutions, MDA’s remote sensing data and services will enhance these capabilities and provide actionable information to enable the Ministry to monitor changes to sensitive environmental areas, manage on-going changes, mitigate negative environmental impacts, and to respond effectively when environmental emergencies occur.
MDA’s change monitoring service, derived from RADARSAT-2 imagery, can be used to detect deforestation, monitor mining activities, identify new infrastructure development in urban or suburban regions; determine flooding extent, and detect oil spills on water.
The RADARSAT-2 satellite has global high-resolution surveillance capabilities that include a large collection capacity and high accuracy. The satellite acquires data regardless of light or weather conditions, provides frequent re-visit imaging options, and is supported by ground receiving stations that provide near real-time information delivery services. This versatility makes RADARSAT-2 a reliable source of information in multi-faceted intelligence, surveying, and monitoring programs. The unique high resolution wide swath beam modes available from RADARSAT-2 make it the ideal satellite for monitoring changes across vast areas.
 
source: http://www.directionsmag.com & www.mdacorporation.com

CSTARS Awarded Funding Over Three Years By Office of Naval Research

Miami FL (SPX) Mar 22, 2013

CSTARS' researchers and students are working on several ONR funded projects studying dynamic processes at river mouths such as changes caused by strong surface currents and bathymetric features; the impact of melting and freezing cycles of ice distribution in the Marginal Ice Zone and how sea state breaks up ice; as well as understanding intensity changes in typhoons for improved storm forecasting.

The University of Miami's (UM) Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) has announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Office of Naval Research to continue collecting, processing and disseminating data from global Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite systems. The goal of the project is to provide SAR imagery collected in near-real time to aid in U.S. Navy operations around the world.
The first phase of the grant will allow CSTARS scientists to procure processing terminals that will assist in the development of hardware and software for next generation of commercial imagery. CSTARS will continue to develop its numerous algorithms of image analysis using new imaging modes and insights derived from research and testing of data with the availability of the new satellite sensors.
"We are very pleased to be working with the ONR on this project, which will allow us to continue to provide the U.S. Navy Fleet with valuable images and research products from commercial satellites," said Dr. Hans Graber, UM professor and executive director of CSTARS.
"Through this collaboration we will be able to fuse radar and optical data to derive advanced products that will allow us to understand better oceanographic, sea ice and terrestrial processes. With this solidifying support of our infrastructure from the Navy, CSTARS can continue its track record for excellence in research and the education of students using satellite remote sensing data."

Space station to watch for Earth disasters

Moscow (UPI) Mar 8, 2013

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

A new crew for the International Space Station will install equipment to monitor Earth's atmosphere and forecast natural disasters, a Russian cosmonaut says.
The crew will lift off from the Baikonur space center March 28 abroad a Soyuz-TMA-08M carrier rocket, ISS-36 Crew Commander Pavel Vinogradov told RIA Novosti Thursday.
The new equipment -- a complex system of sensors and antennas designed to study the plasma/wave processes in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere -- will be installed on the outer surface of the station's Russian segment during one of the four spacewalks, he said.
It is intended to "eventually benefit mankind by forecasting earthquakes and other natural disasters," Vinogradov said.
A new Russian laboratory module will be docked with the ISS to expand the Russian segment this year, he said, and a research/power module will be added next year.
source:  http://www.spacedaily.com

Bringing Sentinel-3 together

6 March 2013 An important milestone has been reached for ESA’s Sentinel-3 mission. The satellite platform has been delivered to the Prime Contractor in France where the instruments will be installed and tested along with the numerous components that make up this sophisticated new mission to monitor Earth.
Once complete, Sentinel-3 will host an array of state-of-the-art instruments that mainly focus on measuring different aspects of ocean waters, such as the temperature and colour of the surface waters along with the height of the sea surface.
The new technology will not only lead to a better understanding of the marine environment, but also that of the land, atmosphere and cryosphere.

Sentinel-3 arrives in France

Sentinel-3

The mission, which will eventually operate as a pair of satellites, is dedicated to providing data for services that will be offered through Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme, recently renamed 'Copernicus'.
The first Sentinel-3 satellite is due to be launched in 2014.
The satellite platform, apart from the solar arrays, was integrated and tested at Thales Alenia Space in Rome, Italy, before being shipped to Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France.

ISRO plans a new high-resolution EO satellite

07 March 2013
 India: The Indian Space Research Organisation is planning to build a remote sensing satellite, Cartosat-3, capable of taking images of the earth with a resolution of 0.25 metres.

Currently, GeoEye-1 produces the highest resolution earth images taken by a commercial satellite. The American spacecraft, launched in September 2008, is capable of taking panchromatic images with 0.41 metre resolution. WorldView-2, another satellite operated by the same company, DigitalGlobe, offers a best resolution of 0.46 metres. However, in accordance with U.S. regulations, commercially released images from these satellites are degraded to 0.5 metre resolution.

DigitalGlobe plans to launch WorldView-3 next year, which will supply images with a resolution of 0.31 metres. Cartosat-3’s camera would better that performance. In the words of one expert, this satellite's images could allow a scooter to be distinguished from a car.

In the ‘Notes on Demands for Grants, 2013-2014’ from the Department of Space, which forms part of the budget documents presented to Parliament recently, Cartosat-3 figures as a separate item with an allocation of Rs. 10 crores. “Cartosat-3 is an advanced remote sensing satellite with enhanced resolution of 0.25 metre for cartographic applications and high-resolution mapping,” the document said.

IN 1988, ISRO launched India’s first operational remote-sensing satellite, IRS-1A. The best resolution its cameras could provide was about 36 metres. Seven years later, IRS-1C went into space, with a panchromatic camera that had a resolution of 5.8 metres. It supplied the highest resolution images available from any civilian satellite in the world till Ikonos, an American satellite launched in 1999, began taking images with better than one-metre resolution. India launched the Technology Experiment Satellite in 2001, followed some years later by the Cartosat-2 series of satellites that could take images with 0.8 metre resolution.

Source: http://www.geospatialworld.net

2012 satellite launches results: advances of China and resurrection of France

07 March 2013 14:00 
 

In 2012 there were 24 civil, commercial and military spacecrafts for Earth observation launched (Table 1), belonging to 13 world countries and organizations. The undisputable leader in the number of launched national Earth remote sensing spacecrafts is again China for the fourth time in a row since 2007 (8 satellites), well outrunning Russia (3 satellites), France (satellites), meteorological Eumetsat organization (2 meteosatellites) and 9 more countries, which launches by one satellite each. Over the past few years the leadership of China in annual RS satellites launch rates was challenged only by the USA (2009) and Germany (2008).

For the first time Venezuela entered  the list of the RS Operators, for which China created and launched the first national VRSS-1 spacecraft “Francisco de Miranda”. In 2012 D.P.R.K (North Korea) formally entered the club of “space powers”, launching the first satellite with its own launch vehicle from the national launch pad. Despite official announcements about successful operation of the KMC-3-2 satellite with low resolution Earth observation equipment onboard, there were no records of its functioning on the orbit  (North Korean satellite was not included into the launch record statistics).
So, results of 2012 in the total number of launched satellites (24 spacecrafts) with Earth observation equipment onboard have bitten all records over the past 12 years. Within 2000-2007 the RS satellites launch rate constituted 10-19 satellites on average per year. In 2008 – 21 satellites, in 2009 – 22, in 2010 – 14 and in 2011 -23 satellites. Brief description of RS satellites launch in 2012 is shown in Table 1.

GOCE: the first seismometer in orbit

Paris (ESA) Mar 12, 2013

ESA's GOCE satellite detected sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011. At GOCE's orbital altitude, the concentration of air molecules is very low so weak sound waves coming up from the ground are strongly amplified. Variations in air density owing to the earthquake were measured by GOCE and combined with a numerical model to show the propagation of low frequency infrasound waves. Copyright ESA/IRAP/CNES/TU Delft/HTG/Planetary Visions. For a larger version of this image please go here.

Satellites map changes in Earth's surface caused by earthquakes but never before have sound waves from a quake been sensed directly in space - until now. ESA's hyper-sensitive GOCE gravity satellite has added yet another first to its list of successes.
Earthquakes not only create seismic waves that travel through Earth's interior, but large quakes also cause the surface of the planet to vibrate like a drum. This produces sound waves that travel upwards through the atmosphere.
The size of these waves changes from centimetres at the surface to kilometres in the thin atmosphere at altitudes of 200-300 km.
Only low-frequency sound - infrasound - reaches these heights. It causes vertical movements that expand and contract the atmosphere by accelerating air particles.
On Monday, Japan remembers the 20 000 people who died in the earthquake and tsunami that devastated its northeastern coast two years ago. New studies have revealed that this massive quake was also felt in space by ESA's GOCE satellite.
Since it was launched in 2009, GOCE has been mapping Earth's gravity with unrivalled precision, orbiting at the lowest altitude of any observation satellite. But at less than 270 km up, it has to cope with air drag as it cuts through the remnants of the atmosphere.
The cleverly designed satellite carries an innovative ion engine that instantly compensates for any drag by generating carefully calculated thrusts. These measurements are provided by very precise accelerometers.

The Origins of High Resolution Civilian Satellite Imaging - Part 1: An Overview

January 24th 2013

By Dr. Christopher Lavers

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Summary: The following article is excerpted from the first chapter from the book by Dr. Christoper Lavers, "Recent Developments in Remote Sensing for Human Disaster Management and Mitigation- Natural and Man-made 2013 - Spotlight on Africa." This particular chapter is entitled "The Origins of High Resolution Civilian Satellite Imaging" and will be presented in three parts.

Introduction

 

There are now several civilian providers of high resolution satellite imagery, notably GeoEye and Digital Globe, as well as smaller lower resolution imagery providers, such as DMC International Imaging (DMCII) and RapidEye, but it was not always this way. In the wake of the alarming Soviet Sputnik I launch in 1958, (from an American perspective), the United States of America (USA), under President Eisenhower, initiated the secret Corona satellite reconnaissance program managed jointly by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US Air Force (USAF). The program arose as a concerted response to several significant Soviet advances in space technologies, resulting in 1960, with the launch of the USA’s own first spy satellite whose first images of the Soviet Union weren’t declassified until as late as 1995. Besides Sputnik the Soviet Union launched over 500 Zenit military spy satellites between 1961-1994, under the name Kosmos, typically having a spherical re-entry capsule 2.3m in diameter and a mass of about 2400kg. In due course the US government launched its first commercial satellite, the ERTS-1 (Earth Resources Technology Satellite)- later renamed Landsat, the first of a long series of successful earth observation satellites, and it is upon the twin pillars of civilian earth observation and military reconnaissance that modern humanitarian satellite imaging stands. For the first time, satellite imagery became available for non-military use, but ground resolution, by comparison with military surveillance satellite imagery, was extremely poor.

ESA launches earth observation app event

12 February 2013 Help to bring Earth observation services to the everyday user with your ideas for mobile phone applications.
Following the success of last year’s first ever App Camp organised by ESA, 20 app developers from all over Europe will be invited once again to ESA’s ESRIN centre in Frascati, Italy, on 3–10 June.

Developers at work

They will have the opportunity to spend the week creating mobile applications using satellite Earth observation data.
Eligible applicants will need to have experience in app development on Android or iOS platforms that can be verified with links to published apps and other references. The 20 lucky developers will be selected by an expert committee involving ESRIN staff.
ESA will provide Internet and access to satellite data for developing mobile applications in five defined categories. The goal is to develop mobile apps using Earth-monitoring data on smartphones, building on the possibilities offered by Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.

ESA’s miniature satellite to map global vegetation

11 February 2013 The French Spot satellites have been charting the world’s vegetation since 1998. This important task soon falls to ESA’s Proba-V, which, despite being only a little larger than a washing machine, will provide sharp views of Earth’s plant life every two days.

African equatorial forest 

 

 

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Keeping a close check on the health of vegetation is not only essential for monitoring environmental change, but also for numerous practical applications – importantly, those related to agriculture and food security.
Over the past 10 years, more than 8000 registered users around the world have relied on data from the Vegetation instruments on Spot-4 and Spot-5.
Since the sensor on Spot-4 stopped supplying data last year and Spot-5 is expected to come to an end in the middle of 2014, the upcoming Proba-V mission has been designed to continue the supply of this much-needed imagery.
Furthermore, after the loss of Envisat and its MERIS camera, Proba-V will help to bridge the gap until the launch of the Sentinel-3 mission, which carries the Ocean Land Colour Instrument to follow on the 10-year time series of MERIS data.