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Deimos Space UK is delighted to be leading the KORE (Knowledge, Observation, Response, Evaluation) project, an integrated applications demonstration co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), with collaborators SoilEssentials and G2Way.

KORE’s aim is to provide farmers and agronomists with high resolution, cost effective field maps that provide crop health information and historic data on yield and soil characteristics.


Screenshot of EssentialsMap agriculture portal

Societal and end user benefits

The project uses EO imagery from a variety of sources including ESA’s Sentinel satellites, UAV imagery and data from tractor-mounted sensors. All of the collected data is easily accessible and managed using the EssentialsMap agriculture portal operated by Soil Essentials. Farmers and agronomists can use the information derived from these data sources to study the performance of individual fields and make decisions about which areas of a field need more or less fertiliser or targeted disease/pest management treatment.


Reviewingcrop information using EssentialsMap

Update

Implementation of the KORE project demonstration phase is well under way and a small group of farmers have taken part in training sessions on the use of UAV’s and the EssentialsMap portal. The farmers are now using the system and providing valuable feedback for final development phase of the project prior to operational services being available in 2017.

Twitter @DeimosUK

By Dr. Peter Hausknecht, Chief Scientist, Earth-i .

The SS Torrey Canyon is not a name many will remember—in the spring of 1967, this fully laden oil tanker was navigating toward the docks at Milford Haven in South Wales.

Sadly, through a combination of human error and machine failure, the ship hit rocks off the Cornish coast in South West England—approximately 32 million gallons of crude oil spilled onto extensive regions of English and French coastlines.

This incident’s devastating impact on the local environment and the subsequently unsatisfactory clean-up operation led to a number of new laws and regulations that were imposed on the oil industry. One aspect of the UK government’s response to the disaster that did work was the monitoring of the oil slick from the air.

The production technologies for the transport of oil and gas have improved since this oil spill event and so has our understanding regarding the sensitivity of coastal environments and the need to minimize all potential threats.

Remote sensing provided a wide overview of the disaster and potential spill impact sites. Today, with the much more common use of satellite images, this information can be quickly collected and distributed to the people that require these crucial observations.

Through the lessons learned and the increased efforts that followed incidents such as the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon oil spills, the guidelines for good practice in using Earth Observation (EO) data have been developed and refined.

Documents published by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) and IPIECA (the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues on surveillance), and the Open Geospatial Consortium guidance on the Common Operating Platform (see the references below) reflect current good practice as to how the industry responds to such events

While the current price of oil (and gas, for that matter) means that there is little impetus to spend money on anything beyond a company’s core activities and obligations; however, there is a real opportunity for the entire industry to come together and collaborate on solutions.

The entire oil & gas industry, in collaboration with the respective regulators, could jointly develop their high resolution base line mapping and subsequent monitoring methodologies using as much EO data and technology as required to reach a fundamentally improved knowledge base of the coastal zones around the globe that could be affected by an oil spill disaster

By working together, familiar guidelines could be created, common analysis methods and reporting developed, prevalent data acquisition strategies generated and a unified industry voice developed to communicate with regulators and to ensure the acceptance of these new methodologies, all based upon the implementation of Earth Observation images

The industry has already created a body through which such activities could be coordinated:The Sub-committee on Earth-Observation under the IOGP—Geomatics committee—together with the geospatial subcommittee and members from the Environmental committee, they are certainly up for such a task.

Any new disaster will hurt the entire oil & gas industry, not just the individual company or companies who are unfortunate enough to be in charge of and operating the failed asset, all at a time when the industry can least afford such a blow. From a balance sheet perspective, a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to address the coastal mapping and monitoring needs required by each company and the relative costs shared according to their stakes in exploration and production makes a great deal of sense.

Most oil & gas development projects these days are operated as joint ventures, with two, three or even six participating companies reducing the business risk—sharing the efforts required to address any incident and to work together in JIPs makes for more than simply economic sense.

These partnerships will include EO service providers, research and development teams and the oil industry under the guidance of, and with expertise from, the environmental agencies. They would all work together to develop ‘state of the art’ data models and implementation scenarios that will allow the regular use of EO images. Such joined efforts will obtain the approval and acceptance of the regulators as best practice monitoring methods and, hence, minimize the efforts required for EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessment) in new development projects.

The European Sentinel program is providing their data sets at no charge, as is the United States LandSat mission. These are excellent sources of regular, free data at medium spatial resolution, ideal for timeline monitoring programs, be such on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

When used in combination with high spatial resolution baseline data, they provide an excellent opportunity to use EO methods via a manageable budget. Only if material change or sudden events are detected or if a new baseline is needed will new high resolution data be necessary.

Shared efforts in JIPs would minimize the amount of work required, as the same satellite images will be used only once. As for commercial data, multi-client license agreements are quite common these days at reasonable up-lift costs for multi-user data sets.

This process does require a certain visionary level among environmental management teams in the oil and gas industry—without a vision, many new technologies would not be implemented and firms would not be where they are today.

Coastal environments are the most vulnerable ecosystems affected by any offshore oil and gas incident, even if such cannot immediately be defined as a disaster. The slightest oil contamination, for example, on a coastline with mangroves will dramatically affect such an ecosystem.

Coastal areas are the breeding grounds for the majority of marine life on Earth, whether turtle nesting beaches, coral reefs or flat water estuaries. In light of new incidents, the oil & gas industry must have the best possible baseline maps and monitoring methods in place to minimize any potential impact on these sensitive areas of our planet—to be aware of such methods after the next spill disaster event is definitely too late.

The satellite images on this page—taken recently by Earth-i’s high resolution DMC3 constellation—show recent examples of different mangrove coverage along the northern coastline of Australia, some of them close to large oil and gas fields. These areas are isolated and can only be realistically monitored by remote sensing; hence, EO methodologies provide an optimal solution for initial mapping and subsequent monitoring.

Spatial detail, such as individual trees, coastal damage, debris fields, contaminated areas, access tracks or shallow water obstacles just to name a few can be identified. Such detailed information would be very useful both for the preparedness teams and response teams in case of any incident.
earthi.space/

References

  • IOGP/IPIECA
    http://www.ipieca.org/publication/assessment-surface-surveillance-capabilities-oil-spill-response-using-airborne-remote-se
  • OGC

Dr. Peter Hausknecht is a seasoned subject matter expert in Earth Observation and worked with a multitude of sensors and data sets, both airborne and spaceborne instruments during his 25+ years career. He holds a PhD in Geoscience from Munich University with a thesis on an active thermal infrared laser remote sensing system.
Starting in 1986 as a student research assistant at DLR, German Aerospace Centre, he held a position as a research scientist from 1991 to 1997. Subsequently moving to Australia, he was a project manager for a new unique airborne hyperspectral optical and thermal sensor at Fugro Airborne Surveys
in Perth.
In 2002, he joined HyVista Corp. as their Senior Scientist working again mostly with airborne hyperspectral data, transforming the operational data processing chain and expanding the international customer base. In early 2007 Peter joined Woodside, Australia’s leading oil & gas company, where he stayed until 2015 as the subject matter expert on Earth Observation and remote sensing for the company. For a number of years he was leading the GIS, Mapping and Modelling team and successfully supervised quite a number of remote sensing projects within the company.
At an international level, Peter was a founding member of the OGEO (Oil & Gas Earth Observation) interest group in 2010 and later was elected chairman of the IOGP (Int. Association of Oil and Gas Producers) subcommittee on Earth Observation. After leaving Woodside, Peter is further pursuing his career in Earth Observation and currently working with EARTH-I, a newly formed UK satellite data company, as their Chief Scientist.

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By Mark Reichardt – May 21, 2016. As geospatial data becomes more common and useful to all aspects of commerce and personal activities, users are demanding simple ways to access content, thus turning the focus on interoperability and consistency in service of data. – By Mark Reichardt, Scott Simmons & Simon Chester, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

Much like information technology (IT) before it, GIS and spatial technology has grown from a niche technology used by experts to become a tool critical to many business processes. Further to this, “location” is now a foundational element for many consumer and citizen services, with location-based services — through sensors and mobile devices — being used daily by millions across the globe.

But how did it get to this point?

In the early days of GIS, ‘silos of excellence’ were created around domains and tailored to suit the specific needs of large organizations. With a lack of universally open standards, these were designed using proprietary formats. There was also a culture of protecting and hoarding data, but little understanding of the benefits of sharing. However, there were glimmers of an ‘open’ movement brewing, akin to those that drove the success of the Internet and World Wide Web, where the geospatial community realized that interconnectivity and interoperability would increase utility and drive innovation.

During this time, if there was a need for data to be shared between multiple GIS systems, the only solution was to write custom code — a costly and time-consuming exercise. One pioneering solution was to have the government community align on a single implementation of GIS. GRASS — a Unix-based GIS created by the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) — was an initial choice; free, modular, and maintained in a process driven by user input. GRASS was eventually released to academic community and then moved into Web-based open source maintenance in 1997.

But as the geospatial industry expanded with more choices of GIS tools and as geospatial content became more broadly available to serve public and private sector interests, the issue of data sharing became a more important industry-wide issue. Actual “technical interoperability” — a commonly understood communication of data and instructions between two different systems — was an idea only a few had explored in the community, but was a challenge in need of a solution.

In 1994, the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (now the Open Geospatial Consortium) was founded as an international voluntary consensus standards organization. The goal was to bring together the rapidly expanding community of GIS developers and users to achieve true “interoperability” between geospatial information sources and associated software tools. The OGC vision was one of diverse geoprocessing systems communicating directly over networks by means of a set of open interfaces based on the “Open Geodata Interoperability Specification” (OGIS).

This vision led, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, to the birth and maturation of a framework of OGC Open Web Services standards that allowed geographically separate servers and processes to interconnect with each other.

Disparate silos to a standards-based industry

A global take up of these standards further progressed GIS’ utility, and transformed the industry from disparate silos to a standards-based, interoperable collection of geospatial information sources, process and end user tools.

Governments rapidly began realizing the benefit of opening data and sharing it across government agencies and industry, and this period saw the inclusion of open, interoperable standards as a foundational component of National Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs), as well as a growing body of policy and law favoring, and even mandating, open standards for geospatial implementations in government. Examples of countries advancing SDIs underpinned by standards include Canada, New Zealand, India, US, with regional SDIs exemplified by INSPIRE in Europe.

The sharing of authoritative, government data resulted in a broad global advancement of OGC-based geospatial product offerings from industry. Software vendors developed products that served content through OGC standards to augment their proprietary service architectures and data providers began populating large databases to be served through commercial and open source OGC-compliant implementations.

Benefit to the society

This is one area where the adoption of open, interoperable standards not only helped propel the geospatial industry forward, but also had a notable impact on society, as these spatial data services have enabled rapid support to responders during natural disasters, maritime issues, and other critical tasks — bringing tangible benefit to the global community, and even helping save lives.

With a consistent baseline of enabling standards established, government agencies, especially those representing the defense, public safety, and emergency management and response communities, became focused on the need to establish shared situational awareness with their partners via ‘common operating pictures.’ A number of these communities began to take leadership roles in standards development organizations (SDOs), including the OGC, to achieve the standards-based interoperability necessary to make this goal a reality. These SDOs, in turn, formed liaison agreements to align their efforts and provide consistent standards across their respective user communities. For instance, many OGC standards move into the ISO process to become ISO Standards and the two bodies work wherever possible to align their efforts in geospatial standards creation.

With the expansion of the Internet in the mid 2000s, browser-based maps — as well as free Web-connected desktop software like NASA World Wind and Google Earth — increased in both utility and popularity. Having such broad availability of maps and map services on the Web — thanks again in part to open and interoperable standards — allowed a single mapping application to draw on data from many different sources. This meant that non-experts, including the general public, were for the first time contributing to the creation and maintenance of spatial data, whether it be through participation in the crowd sourcing efforts such as the OpenStreetMap project, or by sending feedback reports while using Google Maps.

The pace and impact of OGC and related ISO geospatial standards deepened within the last decade.

⇒ Systems Integrators increased their commitment to open standards including OGC geospatial standards on behalf of their clients, moving away from closed technology solutions towards standards-based interoperability. This work enables their clients to more flexibly extend their service solutions by virtue of open standards architecture.
⇒ IT solution providers broadened their adoption of OGC and ISO standards in response to the growing user community preference for open standards and to position spatially enabled products and services for application across new markets.
⇒ Geodata content discovery and access from government and commercial providers improved as open standards facilitated exchange and sharing. DigitalGlobe, exactEarth, and other commercial satellite providers leverage OGC standards for distribution to the community. The Group on Earth Observations advances a Global Earth System of Systems (GEOSS) Common Infrastructure emphasizing OGC, ISO and complimentary open standards to enable interoperability across the myriad of national EO assets.
⇒ As the geospatial industry undergoes consolidation, OGC standards have become an important enabler to assist companies in achieving interoperability across previously separate vendor product lines, and in integrating acquired products.

Advancing standards

Today, “location” has become an underpinning to countless business functions, products and services; and the focus of startups and where geospatial information and technologies have become a crucial enabler of broader IT business decisions. Through the mid 2000’s, OGC was focussed largely on advancing standards to establish fundamental interoperability across applications, systems and networks. Today, however, a significant amount of OGC work is committed to assisting user communities in developing standards best practices to enable interoperability across their community of interest, and with other communities of interest.

With the spatial industry’s growing capability and reach across public and private sector communities, OGC is placing emphasis on advancing standards to address the changing technology marketplace, as well as assisting in the identification and adoption of common standards frameworks that assure greater levels of interoperability.

Yet challenges remain

Interoperability and consistency in service of data has been tailored to powerful computing resources. Users now consume and create geodata on handheld devices, limited in computational power and bandwidth. The OGC is working with its members and many alliance partner SDOs and community associations to develop more lightweight standards to facilitate data sharing across diversely-capable devices: the OGC GeoPackage standard is an example of a flexible, low-overhead mechanism to store and exchange geospatial content.

It is also important to consider that as geospatial data becomes more common and useful to all aspects of commerce and personal activities, users will demand increasingly simple ways to access content. Expect lightweight APIs, such as the OGC SensorThings API for the Internet of Things, to advance. SDOs will need to redefine some of their processes to accommodate a rapidly-changing technology workplace where innovation occurs in months, not years.

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ACRI-ST is a member of the ACRI Group established in 1989, comprising companies that provide services the scope of which spans from satellite remote sensing, ocean & land surveys to hydraulic civil engineering through environmental research Computational Fluid Dynamics and dynamic similitude. The ACRI group consists of a hundred people spread across all office sites.

ACRI-ST, through its subsidiaries established in France and worldwide, is a supplier to space agencies (simulation of space-based sensors; operational chains development; processing, archiving and mission performance centres) and develops/operates environmental Copernicus services to end users.

Born from a research company, ACRI-ST sustains a strong R&D in satellite remote sensing of the ocean, coastal waters, shoreline, continental waters, land cover and land use, as well as features and dynamics modelling and data assimilation in models. Innovation feeds the services in data collection, processing, archiving and distribution, in information design including environmental risk assessment, health changes and ecological mitigations (e.g. air quality, water quality, storm water collection – drainage – sewage, rivers restoration), as well as support to economic activities (e.g. aquaculture and shellfish farming, shipping and off-shore activities, insurance).

In the group, ACRI-ST specializes in

  • Earth Observation (EO) mission specifications and End-to-End simulations; design of sensing equations, algorithm and data processor development; operation of components of EO mission Ground Segments
  • Environmental monitoring – the so-called EO Mission user segments
  • ITC research and data services for EO missions’ ground segments and environmental engineering

ACRI-ST

by Mike Gruss — May 18, 2016. ORLANDO, Florida – The director of the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and operates the country’s spy satellites, said May 18 that the intelligence agency, known for its gigantic satellites, intends to increase its use of cubesats in the near future.

Betty Sapp, the head of the NRO, rarely grants interviews and her annual speech at the GEOINT conference is one of the few, if only, unclassified opportunities to better understand how the agency is operating.

While the NRO is often associated with some of the space industry’s heaviest and largest satellites, Sapp said the NRO is also launching cubesats, and not just as experiments or technical demonstrations.

“Now, we’re using them for actual mission application,” she said.

The NRO has sponsored more than 15 cubesats on various launches over the last five years.

“Cubesats, smaller sats, combined with affordable launch, are a huge enabler for us,” she said. “It’s exciting.”

The new technology allows the NRO to “chase” missions that otherwise would have been too expensive, she said. Because NRO budgets and missions are classified, Sapp declined to offer additional details on the cubesat missions.

Sapp also said the NRO’s next-generation ground control architecture, a common ground system that would allow the intelligence community to operate the nation’s spy satellites from one platform, would move away from ground systems built for individual programs.

The new system would take “full advantage” of the private sector by improving processing speeds and data encryption. As such, it could automatically redirect NRO satellites to gather additional data as well as “notice the unusual hidden among the host of the usual (and) anticipate the next move, not just respond to the one just made,” Sapp said.

Those comments were the most specific remarks Sapp has made on the next-generation program known as the Future Ground Architecture.

Sapp first mentioned the idea for the architecture in an interview with Signal Magazine last year. Among the ideas is that the system would work with the space architecture as a whole and predict where to aim space assets, some of which were tested in its Sentient Enterprise Program in recent years.

In addition, Frank Cavelli, the NRO’s principal deputy director, mentioned the new ground system in written testimony before the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee March 15.

“Our Future Ground Architecture will transform our ground architecture into an integrated enterprise which empowers users of all types with the capabilities to receive, process, and generate tailored, timely, highly-assured, and actionable intelligence,” Cavelli said.

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European national, regional and local public authorities are using satellite data and signals in their everyday activities. They rely on satellites to monitor the environment, improve the efficiency of agricultural practices, better prevent and manage natural hazards, ensure the reliability of transport networks, and for urban planning purposes, among others.

The new Eurisy publication “Satellites for Society: Reporting on operational uses of satellite-based services in the public sector” analyses more than 100 replies submitted to the Eurisy survey for public authorities in 2015.

Public managers were asked why they started using satellite-based services, how much the services cost and how the uptake was financed, which challenges they face, and how the satellite solutions help them saving time and resources while improving the quality of public services.

You can download “Satellites for Society”, as well as the reports describing the results of the case-study analysis that preceded the Eurisy survey, by clicking on the link Access

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Kathy Fey. Space mining company Planetary Resources has plans to refit its asteroid prospecting satellite system to create an Earth observation platform.
According to Gizmag, the observation system, named Ceres, will involve the company’s Arkyd spacecraft being outfitted with infrared and hyperspectral sensors. The craft will monitor Earth industries and resources from orbit.

Planetary Resources has raised $21.1 million for the project, which will put ten satellites into low-Earth orbit. The refitted Arkyd space telescope will be turned toward Earth to provide lower-cost, on-demand information about natural resources and industrial activity anywhere on the surface.

The next-generation Arkyd satellite will be delivered into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster.

“As we continue toward our vision of the expansion of humanity and our economy into the Solar System, our team has been working on the critical technologies required to detect and identify the most commercially viable near-Earth asteroids and their resources,” Chris Lewicki of Planetary Resources said in a statement. “To characterize these resources, it required more than just a picture, and our team has developed advanced spectral sensors to serve this need. We have also created new technologies for onboard computing, low-cost space platforms, and are now applying these transformative technologies in additional markets.”

The craft will collect data in 40 color bands ranging from the visible to near-infrared spectrum. Ceres will also have thermal and night imaging capabilities.

The company anticipates being able to provide analysis for a number of industries, including mineral prospecting, agriculture, gas, oil, forestry and industrial operations. The system will also be able to provide data on algae blooms, wildfires, and water pollution.

“With Ceres, Planetary Resources has leapfrogged traditional images for monitoring Earth’s natural resources, creating far-ranging opportunity. It’s a seismic shift for the new space economy,” Bryan Johnson of Planetary Resources said.

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Geospatial technology is aggressively helping in various sectors in India. The key to its usage lies in data acquisition and visualisation. The report “India’s Geospatial Market and Prospects” is an in depth study and analysis of geospatial industry in India. It provides a detailed view of the market; its behaviour and trends related to the consumption and applications of geospatial technology in the region.

The report focuses on various sectors like infrastructure, urban development, agriculture, electricity, disaster management, water, environment, forestry and climate change. These sectors are analyzed based on parameters like GDP growth, government initiatives, programs, investments by the government and private sector, technology application areas, growth segments, benefits and challenges. The current level of adoption of geospatial technologies in the country and the future business prospects of the technology are highlighted in the report.

Key features:

  • 500+ users surveyed for the report
  • Professional and in-depth study on the current status and future growth drivers of Geospatial Industry in India
  • 200+ tables and figures in the report provide key statistics on the state of the industry and acts as a valuable source of market insight
  • Overview of the industry including ecosystem, growth sectors, market behavior, major programs/schemes and initiatives, investment areas, challenges and user’s perspective on the applicability of the technology in different sectors, spheres and industries
  • Market analysis for India including development trends, sectors, opportunities and major focus areas in various industry sectors
  • Key statistics on the state of the industry which can be a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market

Key Findings

  • Though it’s not in an advanced stage of implementation in most sectors, the applications of geospatial technology has definitely found new avenues in recent times.
  • Satellite imagery and GIS are two of the most used technologies in the agriculture sector. Increased demand of onboard sensors for mapping and monitoring is visible.
  • Policy mandates drive usage of GNSS, remote sensing and GIS in the areas of disaster management Visualization and interpretation of disasters is the key to usage of digital maps.
  • GIS is widely used for asset management and network planning in electric utilities. Availability of real-time/updated information about assets and consumers is a key driver in usage of geospatial technologies.
  • Majorly geospatial technologies are implemented for forest cover assessment and environmental modelling.
  • Infrastructure development is aided by surveying & mapping related technologies like total stations and GNSS.
  • Higher adoption of geospatial technologies in urban development is towards data creation, followed by monitoring.
  • Usage of GIS, GNSS deriving helps in project management and resource allocation in the water sector.

Respondents Profile

To understand the market dynamics and strategies in detail, a primary research and analysis has been carried out with more than 500+ organizations across the country. The distribution of the stakeholders participated in the primary research is provided below:
Scope of the Report

The research report categorizes the Indian Geospatial Market into the following segments:

Geospatial market by technology
– Aerial imagery
– Electronic total stations
GIS
GNSS
– LiDAR/Laser Scanning
– Radar
– Satellite imagery
UAVs/Drone

Geospatial market by industry verticals
– Agriculture
– Disaster management
– Electricity
– Forest, environment and climate change
– Infrastructure
– Urban development
– Water resources

Geospatial market by application areas

  • Assets and resource management
  • Data acquisition and visualization
  • Information systems
  • Monitoring
  • Planning and analysis
  • Surveying and mapping

Benefits of usage of geospatial technologies

  • Better precision and accuracy
  • Enhanced data safety, security and control
  • Faster decision making
  • Improved cost efficiency
  • Improved productivity
  • Increased transparency and planning

Challenges in usage of geospatial technologies across various levels

– Data
– Field level
– Operational
– Organizational

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Written by Monika Hohlmeier on 1 June 2016 in Opinion. The EU is in need of a strategic vision that can enable the development of space-based applications and services, argues Monika Hohlmeier.

Space is a strategic key growth sector, where Europe is firmly established in a leadership position. With more than €12bn of investments in the current financial framework both for research and for its flagship programmes, the European Union expects to boost growth and job creation by creating new market opportunities for European businesses and SMEs.

How can Europe capitalise on its investment? How can we bridge the gap between investment in space technology development and its concrete contributions to the lives of people across Europe, the economic and social growth of member states and the competitiveness of our companies?

The answer is a comprehensive European space strategy which takes into account the new challenges and market opportunities that are changing the global space industry. There is an urgent need to set strategic objectives and concrete targets on market share, revenue, job creation and emerging opportunities.

Recent technological innovations have shaken up the competitive landscape, enabling an increasing number of private players – using space-borne data – to develop new products and services. In this respect, Europe is behind the United States, which has anticipated change and has already developed and implemented national strategies to support their space industries. In a time of budgetary constraint, even Russia, China and Japan are providing support.

This has successfully increased their industries’ market share of downstream services and applications, all thanks to massive funding for research and development, a friendly regulatory environment and public procurement support. We lack such a comprehensive framework in Europe.

In addition, the full implementation of Europe’s flagship Galileo and Copernicus programmes is expected to create tremendous downstream market opportunities. However, in a global competitive environment, these are not necessarily going to benefit Europe’s businesses and create jobs.

Unless Europe manages to get a considerable share of the downstream market, such benefits will profit other players and Europe will fail to achieve a positive return on its investment. This is why we have to strengthen our efforts.

With the development of connectivity and the digital economy, Galileo will offer fantastic prospects for European downstream players. New generations of connected vehicles and driverless cars, the Internet of Things and sophisticated apps with indoor positioning all rely on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

For Europe to grasp the unexplored opportunities for new GNSS applications and services, policymakers must make efforts to support businesses, including SMEs and the downstream industry.

Copernicus is already providing huge amounts of accurate and easily accessible data, which could be used to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and safeguard civil security.

Nevertheless, there is a gap between research and availability of information and operational capability. It is striking that the EU, a pioneer in climate change policies, does not yet possess its own emissions monitoring and measuring systems and remains dependant on other space nations.

With the imminent multiannual financial framework mid-term revision in front of us, it is now the right time for the European Parliament to get involved in the priority setting of European space policy. Supported by the sky and space intergroup, the Parliament will be an active player bringing its full support to ensure that Europe benefits from its investments in space.

About the author
Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, DE) is Chair of Parliament’s sky and space intergroup

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This ambitious plan is beginning to take form, now that the three companies have been named to begin work on building the 900 satellites.

OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture equally owned by Airbus Defence and Space and OneWeb, has selected the first three top-tier subcontractors. The supply contracts have been signed with:

  • MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) from Canada
  • Sodern from France
  • Teledyne Defence (a business unit of Teledyne Microwave Solutions) from the United Kingdom.

To equip each of the 900 satellites forming the OneWeb fleet, MDA will provide on board antenna systems, Sodern has customized to constellation its star tracker technology, while Teledyne Defence has designed communications repeater equipment derived from its high volume manufacturing heritage.

With this milestone OneWeb Satellites is pursuing its industrial development and rapidly moving forward. In April it was announced that Florida is the site for its high volume satellite manufacturing factory.

The space segment of OneWeb will initially comprise a constellation of 648 operational satellites and replacement satellites, all of which will be identical. Each satellite will weigh approximately 150 kg and will operate in low Earth orbit. Arianespace and Virgin Galactic will begin launching the spacecraft in 2018 after which the satellites will be moved to their operational orbits using electrical propulsion.

OneWeb Satellites was set up following the selection in June 2015 of Airbus Defence and Space as the industrial partner of OneWeb to design and build OneWeb’s satellites. The constellation to be operated by OneWeb will provide high-speed Internet services with global coverage. The joint venture will also be able to produce satellites, platforms or equipment to be marketed by Airbus Defence and Space for the benefit of other operators of future constellations.

http://airbusdefenceandspace.com
http://oneweb.world

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