Canada to Pay for Ditched Launch Contract with Russia for key military satellite

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 29, 2014

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozhin.

Canada will have to pay - both in terms of money and reputation - for a decision to ditch the launch of its satellite by a Russian rocket, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.
Commenting on the Canadian media reports that the government's hard line on sanctions against Russia has scuttled the launch of what was described to be a "key Canadian military satellite," Rogozin wrote in his Twitter that Canada will "certainly" have to pay the forfeit.
In addition, the Canadian government exposed the true military purpose of its satellite, claimed to be a civilian one, he said.
"The Canadians screwed things up. They refused to launch the satellite and admitted that it was a military one, despite earlier assurances of its civilian purpose," Rogozin said.
The M3MSat was to be launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on June 19. The spacecraft is intended for sea surveillance and was to operate jointly with the RADARSAT-2 orbiter.
Canadian media said the government was currently looking for another state or private space contractor to carry out the launch.

DigitalGlobe Foundation: Fostering the Vision of “Seeing a Better World”

Thursday, April 24th 2014

By Joe Francica

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Summary: The DigitalGlobe Foundation was established to support university research and the next generation of geospatial technology users through grants of satellite imagery. In this interview, Editor in Chief Joe Francica discusses the mission of the Foundation with its executive director, Mark Brender.
Directions Magazine(DM): Can you provide some background on the foundation, its history and original mission? 

Mark Brender (MB): The DigitalGlobe Foundation is now seven years old. We established it to support the development of the next generation of geospatial users and leaders who share in our purpose of “Seeing a Better World.”  This is the vision of Jeff Tarr, the CEO of DigitalGlobe and it is the driving force behind the Foundation’s mission. The Foundation is just one part – but an important part - of DigitalGlobe’s overall corporate social responsibility effort. The Foundation makes archive imagery grants to students or faculty at civilian and military educational institutions who need access to high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to support research projects. Typically an image award is about 1,000 square kilometers of archive imagery over a research area.

DM: How many universities are currently taking advantage of the imagery provided by the Foundation and are you activity seeking to grow this list?

MB: In 2013 we made imagery grants to 60 universities around the world. While we expect to make a similar number of awards this year, if the quality of the applications is high and research projects unique and interesting enough, then we are open to making more. For us it’s a matter of quality over quantity. I might add that the Foundation has a special relationship with the eight USGIF accredited schools and provides their students and faculty with even larger amounts of imagery. During the last month, we have made imagery awards to the University of Punjab in India for a GIS research project involving land cover; University of Redlands for environmental studies over two separate lakes in the High Sierras to show the differences in phosphate loading during different seasons; Chinese Academy of Sciences for a study on the impact of open space in urban areas on the health and well-being of a population; and Dartmouth College for faculty and students who are studying the spatial distribution of a rare plant found only in one area of Namibia. So you can see that the research subject areas just in the last month are quite diverse.

New Catalog Brings NASA Software Down to Earth

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 08, 2014

File image.

From the rudimentary but effective Apollo Guidance and Navigation System that landed the first humans on the lunar landscape to the code used to manage robotic missions to explore other planets, software has always been at the core of NASA's mission successes.
When NASA develops this software, we know the code may have uses beyond the original mission. One of our missions is to ensure that the technologies we create for aeronautics and space missions, including software, have the opportunity to be turned into new products and processes that can benefit the lives of people on Earth. Technology transfer allows us to offer added value to taxpayer investment in cutting edge research and development.
Much of this NASA-developed code will be available for public use through a new software catalog starting April 10.
With over 1,000 codes organized into fifteen broad subject matter categories, the new software catalog offers a large portfolio of software products for a wide variety of applications. These codes represent NASA's best solutions to a wide array of complex mission requirements.
"Software is an increasingly important element of the agency's intellectual asset portfolio, making up about a third of our reported inventions every year," said Jim Adams, NASA's deputy chief technologist. "We are excited to be able to make that software widely available to the public with the release of our software catalog."
The technologies featured in the software catalog cover project management systems, design tools, data handling, and image processing, as well as solutions for life support functions, aeronautics, structural analysis, and robotic and autonomous systems.
Each NASA code is available at no cost and has been evaluated for access restrictions and designated for a specific type of release, ranging from codes that are open to all US citizens to codes that are restricted to access by other federal agencies.
"NASA is committed to the principles of open government," said Adams. "By making NASA resources more accessible and usable by the public, we are encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. Our technology transfer program is an important part of bringing the benefit of space exploration back to Earth for the benefit of all people."
NASA's Technology Transfer Program, managed by the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA Headquarters, ensures that technologies developed for missions in exploration and discovery are broadly available to the public. For more information on NASA's Tech Transfer program, visit here.

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source: space-travel.com
Related Links Technology Transfer Program at NASA