Multi-temporal Satellite Imagery

Taiwan lies at the border of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates and faces the Pacific Ocean. Earthquakes and typhoons are the two main threats, and can cause landslides, debris flow, flooding and other natural hazards. In 2005 the World Bank categorised Taiwan as the most vulnerable country in the world in terms of the percentage of exposed areas and multiplicity of disasters. Given these circumstances, planning for hazard mitigation is important, as is management for hazardous conditions. Also necessary are decision-support tools for understanding firstly where disaster is likely to occur, secondly, when, and thirdly what kinds of disasters... (read more)

2011-02-22 04:05:38

Modernized GPS Satellite Launched

The fourth US Air Force modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch vehicle. Designated GPS IIR-17M, the satellite is the fourth in a series of eight Block IIR-M spacecraft that Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems has modernised for its customer, the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base,CA, USA. The Block IIR-M series includes new features that enhance operations and navigation signal performance for military and civilian GPS users around the globe. Each... (read more)

2007-10-18 09:51:56

EarthCARE Satellite Contract Signed

The European Space Agency and Astrium GmbH have signed a contract worth €263m to provide the EarthCARE satellite, the sixth Earth Explorer mission of ESA's Living Planet Programme. As prime contractor, Astrium GmbH is responsible for the satellite's design, development and integration. The contract was signed in Berlin on the occasion of the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) by Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation, Evert Dudok, CEO of Astrium Satellites and Uwe Minne, Director of Earth Observation and Science at Astrium GmbH (Friedrichshafen), in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Head of... (read more)

2008-05-28 09:16:45

Satellite Smartphone App Contest

Surrey experts in space technology have today launched a Facebook competition challenging the British public to develop innovative applications that will run on its smartphone-powered satellite due for launch into space next year. The STRaND-1 (Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstrator) satellite weighs just 4kg and is a collaborative effort between engineers at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and University of Surrey researchers. It is being built in their free time to test innovative ideas for lower cost space missions. In the spirit of the mission, the four most creative, novel and fun 'App' ideas will be... (read more)

2011-08-02 08:50:04

Satellite Technologies Expo

Following exponential growth in the space sector, Messe Stuttgart (Germany) has created POSITIONALE, an international trade fair and conference for satellite positioning, navigation and telematics technologies. The expo will run concurrently with the European Space Agency (ESA)'s annual Investment Forum in Stuttgart from 18th to 20th May 2010. The global space sector, worth EUR90 billion and growing at 7% annually, influences most modern industries. Applications for modern satellite navigation technologies include transport, logistics, fleet and motor pool management, the automotive sector, traffic planning and control and navigation and mobile data utilisation. Europe has a 40% share of... (read more)

2009-06-25 04:06:57

Jason-2 Satellite

NOAA (Washington DC, USA) has announced the launch of a new satellite. The satellite will monitor the rate of sea-level rise and help measure the strength of hurricanes. NOAA will use data from the Jason-2/Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) to extend a 15-year record from two earlier altimeter missions that currently show sea level is rising at a rate of 3.2 mm/year - nearly twice as fast as the previous 100 years. The Jason-2/OSTM is scheduled for lift off June 15 at 1:47 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The spacecraft is a joint, international effort between NOAA, NASA,... (read more)

2008-05-22 09:36:05

Free Satellite Imaging Initiative

Satellite imaging provider DMCii has announced that it will provide free DMC constellation satellite imagery for scientists to support global environmental monitoring projects. Scientists are invited to compete for the opportunity to use the DMC multi-spectral data in their research projects. Applications will be judged on their contribution to international environmental research by an international panel of scientists chaired by Professor Alan O'Neil from the National Centre for Earth Observation. DMC constellation data will be awarded to 5 UK and 5 Spanish science projects. The provision of data will be coordinated by DMCii in the UK and Spanish... (read more)

2008-12-30 12:00:00

Fire Monitoring by Satellite

Testing of the operational ScanEx Fire Monitoring Service (SFMS) has been started. The service has been developed at the ScanEx Research and Development Center and unlike similar systems (e.g., NASA Rapid Fire, AFIS, etc.) it offers access to data of several satellites of low, middle and high resolution. For the purpose of the project daily satellite imagery of the Russian territory is carried out with the data received at UniScan ground complexes, deployed in Moscow, Irkutsk and Magadan. At the first stage of the service testing in July only data of the European part of Russia will be used (within... (read more)

2010-07-02 10:00:09

RapidEye Satellite Image

The first public release of a RapidEye image has been unveiled. This demonstration image highlights the capabilities of RapidEye imagery in many market segments, by showing diverse landscapes that include agricultural fields, forests, cities and roads. The image shows the area of El Bolsón in Argentina near the Argentinian-Chilean border. El Bolsón is situated in the far southwest of the Río Negro Province in Argentina at the foot of the Piltriquitron Mountain. The image was recorded by RapidEye's camera built by Jena-Optronik of Jena, Germany from the satellite RapidEye # 1, named Choros, at a nadir view angle and has... (read more)

2008-10-24 03:15:11

High Resolution Satellite DTMs

GeoEye-1 stereo satellite imagery is capable of producing Digital Terrain Models (DTM) with better then 0.5m vertical accuracy. AAMHatch tasked the GeoEye-1 satellite to capture stereo data over a 270sqkm area in Eastern Australia. The application was an engineering study for the energy sector with the client requiring a 0.5m ortho-image with 2m contours. GeoEye-1's unsurpassed agility and maneuverability assists in rapid stereo capture. This image was cloud-free, and delivered to AAMHatch for processing within 48 hours of capture. Survey accurate ground control points, distributed evenly across the area, were used in the image processing. These points enabled... (read more)

2009-09-03 11:01:26