New approach to improve the integration of earth observation data

[Date: 2013-05-21]

One of the fundamental challenges in the 21st Century is to achieve a greater understanding of the complex interactions between environment and human society. To meet this challenge, the social and environmental sciences need to be better integrated, to move from disciplinary to multidisciplinary research and close the gap between citizens, scientists and policy makers.

The EU-funded EuroGEOSS project ('European approach to GEOSS'), with EUR 6 million in European funding, asked: what kind of information systems do we need to facilitate this major multi-disciplinary research effort? And, how we can best support closer interaction among specialists from different fields, as well as non-specialist stakeholders?

The project worked specifically within the context of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which is supposed to provide a framework for integrating the world's earth observation efforts. GEOSS is an initiative of the Group of Earth Observations (GEO), which includes 90 countries and over 60 international organisations.

New Animation Marks Arrival of NASA's LDCM Satellite to its Final Orbit

by Holli Riebeek for Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD (SPX) May 22, 2013

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA's Earth Observatory. Download video in HD formats.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to watch the world fly by beneath you from space? That dream is elusive for most of us, but the Landsat Data Continuity Mission offers a vicarious flight with a crisper view than our eyes alone would be capable of if we were in space. That view is now available in a new NASA animation.
After two months of on-orbit testing and calibration, LDCM fired its propulsion system on April 12, 2013, and ascended to its final orbit 438 miles (705 km) above Earth. The animation, made from scenes taken a week later on April 19, allows viewers to fly with the satellite from its final operating orbit.
A 15-minute animation shows 56 Landsat scenes that have been stitched together into a seamless view from Russia to South Africa. The animation was produced at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

One Year Anniversary of KOMPSAT-3 Launch

Daejeon, South Korea (SPX) May 30, 2013

illustration only

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has announced successful operation of KOMPSAT-3 for one year since its launch on May 18, 2012.
For the first year of operation, the performance of KOMPSAT-3 was validated, and the worldwide commercial service was launched through Satrec Initiative, since April 1, 2013.KOMPSAT-3 is the first sub-meter satellite of Korea and developed by KARI as a successor of KOMPSAT-2 for VHR EO data continuity.
With KOMPSAT-3 program, KARI has achieved substantial technical improvements comparing previous programs in terms of resolution and agility.
KOMPSAT-3 can provide sub-meter images with various imaging modes including single pass stereo. It will continue to provide sub-meter imagery to domestic and international users for the applications of public safety, resource management, environmental monitoring, location-based services, intelligence and disaster monitoring.

Landsat 8 Satellite Begins Watch

Reston, VA (SPX) Jun 03, 2013

Remote-sensing satellites such as the Landsat series help scientists observe the world beyond the power of human sight, monitor changes to the land that may have natural or human causes, and detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources.

NASA transferred operational control Thursday of the Landsat 8 satellite to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in a ceremony in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The event marks the beginning of the satellite's mission to extend an unparalleled four-decade record of monitoring Earth's landscape from space. Landsat 8 is the latest in the Landsat series of remote-sensing satellites, which have been providing global coverage of landscape changes on Earth since 1972. The Landsat program is a joint effort between NASA and USGS.
NASA launched the satellite Feb. 11 as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). Since then, NASA mission engineers and scientists, with USGS collaboration, have been putting the satellite through its paces - steering it into its orbit, calibrating the detectors, and collecting test images. Now fully mission-certified, the satellite is under USGS operational control.
"Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in Washington.
"Landsat 8 carries on a long tradition of Landsat satellites that for more than 40 years have helped us learn how Earth works, to understand how humans are affecting it and to make wiser decisions as stewards of this planet."
Beginning Thursday, USGS specialists will collect at least 400 Landsat 8 scenes every day from around the world to be processed and archived at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls.
The newest satellite joins Landsat 7, which launched in 1999 and continues to collect images. Since 2008, USGS has provided more than 11 million current and historical Landsat images free of charge to users over the Internet.
"We are very pleased to work with NASA for the good of science and the American people," said U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in Washington.
"The Landsat program allows us all to have a common, easily accessible view of our planet. This is the starting point for a shared understanding of the environmental challenges we face."

OHB Finalizes Contract for European Data-relay Satellite

By Peter B. de Selding | May. 27, 2013

ESA's European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS). Credit: ESA artist's concept

PARIS — Satellite manufacturer OHB AG on May 27 announced it had signed a final contract for the construction of a data-relay satellite that will use laser communications to speed delivery of European Earth observation data to users.
Bremen, Germany-based OHB has been working on the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS) for about two years under a preliminary contract with Astrium Services, which is managing the EDRS system as a public-private partnership with the 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA). The final contract announced May 27 is valued at 157.5 million euros ($205 million).

RADARSAT-1: 17 years of successful earth observation

Surpassing its expected lifetime by 12 years, RADARSAT-1, successfully monitored environmental changes and the planet's natural resources, after it was declared non-operational last month. The image above is the first image transmitted by Canada’s first earth observation satellite. The image is of a portion of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, and is centred at latitude N46:27:05 and longitude W 060:18:50.

Geological, land use patterns, wind and current patterns in lakes and the surrounding oceans are visible in the image. This image provides an enhanced coloured view of the Cape Breton where the oceans and lakes are in blue tones and the land in green tones.

"RADARSAT-1 is a great Canadian success story. It was among the first of the many world-leading technologies that have positioned Canada as a global leader in space," said the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the CSA.

source:  http://www.geospatialworld.net

RADARSAT-1 Mission Officially Declared Non-Operational

By Marc Boucher
Posted May 10, 2013 7:30 AM

© MDA

RADARSAT-1

Canada's first Earth Observation satellite has been officially declared non-operational after a final anomaly consigned the satellite to what will be a very slow de-orbit to a final fiery burn-up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The anomaly that took RADARSAT-1 out of commission on March 29th wasn't its first, but it was its last.
RADARSAT-1's mission was to monitor environmental changes and the planet's natural resources. Launched in November of 1995, its lifespan was to have been five years. However it lasted well beyond the original factory warranty to work another 12 years for a total service time of 17 years.
Ironically, it was just over a year ago when Europe's newer ENVISAT satellite went offline and for which RADARSAT-1 was tasked to help fill-in with the lost access to data.
According to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), RADARSAT-1 can count among its many accomplishments the Antarctic Mapping Missions (AMM) which took place in 1999 and 2000 and delivered the first-ever high-resolution maps of the entire frozen continent.