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The twin Sentinel-1 satellites have – for the first time – combined to show their capability for revealing even small deformations in Earth’s surface. Following its orbital manoeuvres, the recently launched Sentinel-1B satellite reached its designated orbit position on 15 June.

The satellite is now orbiting Earth 180 apart from its twin, Sentinel-1A, at an altitude of almost 700 km. With both satellites finally in the same orbit, together they can cover the whole globe every six days. The two-satellite ‘radar vision’ mission for Europe’s Copernicus programme carries an advanced radar to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface.

It has now been demonstrated that future images acquired by the pair can be merged to detect slight changes occurring between scans. This technique is particularly useful for generating accurate maps of surface deformation over wide areas, such as those caused by tectonic processes, volcanic activities or landslides.

It is also an ideal tool for monitoring glacier flow and changes in Arctic and Antarctic ice shelves. Sentinel-1’s first such paired ‘interferogram’ combined a Sentinel-1A scan over southern Romania on 9 June with a Sentinel-1B acquisition over the same area just one day before reaching its target orbit position.

Another interferogram over northwest Romania was produced shortly after Sentinel-1B reached its final orbit.

The rainbow-coloured patterns are related to topography, and they demonstrate that the two satellites’ identical radars are accurately synchronised, pointing in the same direction and that the satellites are in their correct orbits.

Once commissioning is completed in mid-September, the pair will be ready to deliver data for the systematic and routine monitoring of Earth surface deformation and ice dynamics.

“After the great success of generating the first radar image less than three days after liftoff, I am very happy to report another outstanding success as it is the generation of the first interferograms with Sentinel-1B on the same day that we reached the orbital position, 180 apart from Sentinel-1A,” said ESA’s Sentinel-1 project manager, Ramon Torres.

“It is of paramount importance to the mission that we have demonstrated, at the first try, that the two Sentinel-1 satellites work very well together.”

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A Horizon 2020 funded project, GEO-CRADLE is first and foremost an exciting opportunity to interconnect a regional community of geo-information actors.

The project aims to enable a better utilisation of Earth Observation (EO) data by bringing together a wide range of stakeholders. From academic and research organisations to SME, the project seeks to connect diverse and sometimes contrasting actors, within the data value added chain.

Consortium members include 23 organisations from 16 countries within the Balkans, North Africa and Middle East regions. Together they have joined forces to establish a multi-regional coordination network.

Looking to facilitate access to various types of data, the project will set-up a new Regional Data Hub. Acting as a one-stop-shop for data and open to all, the Hub aims thus to support the development of new geo-based innovative services.

Discover the project at geocradle.eu

Novi Sad Workshop

Taking place in the picturesque background of Novi Sad, the event will gather diverse organisations along the data value-added service chain.

The workshop will be a great opportunity for both private and public stakeholders, to discuss transformational issues affecting the uptake and use of geo-information services.

The round table discussions will bring together confirmed operational users of EO services and data providers, as well as interested and potential users with the aim of promoting knowledge transfer and cross-sector fertilization of good practices.

Furthermore, the session will showcase innovation incubators and funding opportunities for start-ups looking to develop info-information services.

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BENGALURU: For the first time, under the impetus of ISRO and the French Space Agency (CNES), space agencies of over 60 countries have agreed to engage their satellites, to coordinate their methods and their data to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

The COP21 climate conference held in Paris last December acted as a wake-up call in this context, according to a statement released by ISRO here today.

Without satellites, the reality of global warming would not have been recognised and the subsequent historic agreement at the UN headquarters in New York on April 22, 2016 would not have been signed, the space agency said.

Out of the 50 essential climate variables being monitored today, 26 – including rising sea level, said,

The key to effectively implementing the Paris Agreement lies in the ability to verify that nations are fulfilling their commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Only satellites can do that, it said.

Invited to New Delhi by ISRO and CNES on April 3, the world’s space agencies decided to establish “an independent, international system” to centralise data from their Earth-observing satellites through the ‘New Delhi Declaration’ that officially came into effect on May 16, ISRO said

“The goal now will be to inter calibrate these satellite data so that they can be combined and compared over time. In other words, it is to make the transition to closely coordinated and easily accessible big space data,” it said.

“It is overwhelming to see the unilateral support of all space agencies to use space inputs for monitoring climate change” ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said. “Earth observation satellites provide a vital means of obtaining measurements of the climate system from a global perspective.ISRO is committed for the continuity of earth observation data, through the thematic series of satellites, with improvements en-route, to meet contemporary as well as future needs,” Kumar said.

ISRO is also engaging with CNES, JAXA and NASA for realising joint missions for global climate observation with advanced instruments, he added.

CNES President Jean-Yves said this is a historic event that reaches far beyond the space sector and is a perfect example of the kind of success that can only be achieved through international cooperation.

“With this consensus among space agencies from more than 60 nations, including the world’s leading space powers, the international space community and scientists, now have the tools they need to put their talent, intelligence and optimism to work for the good of humankind and our planet”, he said.

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30 June 2016, Geneva, Switzerland – Cultural heritage around the world suffers from intentional attacks, collateral damage, looting and the effects of natural disasters. Reaching affected sites and areas quickly to monitor the situation, plan for restoration and prevent further loss often proves very difficult. Thanks to a partnership between UNESCO and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), satellite images developed through UNITAR’s UNOSAT programme in 2015 have been contributing to the work of UNESCO and heritage experts to evaluate and protect sites in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Nepal.

A new UNESCO-UNITAR summary report demonstrates how satellite imagery analysis is an increasingly important tool for assessing potential damage to cultural heritage sites.

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Empowered through GIT

10 June, 2016 Dhaka, Bangladesh – UNITAR’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) has completed the advanced training of 16 disaster management professionals from 10 line ministries of the Bangladesh government. The training was focused on advanced operational applications of Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The course was delivered in collaboration with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 29 May to 02 June 2016, in the Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO) premises.

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UNOSAT Encourages Girls to Consider Tech Career Choices

27 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland – When you are young, you imagine what your future could be and think about eventual career choices. Believe it or not, we still face numerous barriers when it comes time to choose a career path. One of them is linked to the high number of stereotypes based on gender. Many still think that women are more suited for the arts and support roles while men are better suited for math and engineering. This year, we, at UNOSAT, became directly involved in the Girls in ICT Day (Information and Communication Technology). This initiative from ITU (International Telecommunication Union) aims at raising awareness on empowering and encouraging girls and young women to consider studies and careers in ICT.

“Full article”: http://www.unitar.org/unosat-encourages-girls-consider-tech-career-choices

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ESA is inviting twenty Android and iOs app developers to a space app camp.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting, for the fifth time, 20 developers to a location in Italy for an intense space app camp. This event will be held from September 12.19, 2016 in Frascati, Italy. The objective is to create a variety of apps based on varied earth observations from the Copernicus programme.

Topics

The themes include; agriculture, environmental protection, lifestyle, tourism and health, smart cities and transport and logistics. ESA will provide access to satellite data for the development of Mobil applications in the Android and IOs operating systems. A dedicated API will allow developers to integrate satellite data into their apps.

Candidates

Participation in this project is open to adults with or without experience integrating earth observation data into apps. They must belong to one of the following countries; the ESA member states, countries involved in the Horizon 2020 programme and states participating in the Copernicus Space Component.

Prizes

Participants will chose the topic of their preference and apply individually or in groups of two or four. Eventually, the selected aspirants will form groups of four. After one week, the participants will present their project to a jury, who will decide on the winning team and present the cash prize of 2,500 euros.

Travel expenses and accommodation

The selected participants will be contacted around mid-August to organize travel itinerary and hotel bookings. Since this is an invitation from ESA, the programme is free of charge and the agency will pay for all travel and hotel expenses with full board. At the headquarters in Italy, ESA will provide working settings with internet and access to satellite data.

Registrations will open from June 1 to July 22, 2016 and the selected participants will be notified from August 7-14, 2016. App developers are expected to arrive at their hotels on September 11, 2016 and develop their apps from September 12-19, 2916, leaving the camp on the last day-Sep 19, at the headquarters.

App developers are expected to bring their own wireless devices.

Google’s free online mapping service is bringing the world into better focus with an updated version of Earth that takes advantage of photos from a US Landsat 8 satellite.

The Internet giant introduced a “cloud-free mosaic” of this planet three years ago at Google Earth, and on Monday began rolling out a new version that uses new techniques to process sharper images gathered by the satellite sent into orbit in 2013, as part of a collaboration between NASA and the US Geological Survey.

Google Earth previously relied on images from a Landsat 7 satellite, which encountered a hardware problem that resulted in large diagonal gaps in pictures, according to program manager Chris Herwig.

“Landsat 8 captures images with greater detail, truer colors and at an unprecedented frequency,” Herwig said in a blog post.

Google Earth creates unobstructed views of the surface of the planet by analyzing millions of images and stitching together the clearest bits, according to Herwig.

Google Earth is part of free online mapping services offered by California-based Alphabet.

Landsat has observed the Earth from space since 1972, gathering a wealth of information on the changes to the Earth’s surface over time.

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On 10 September 2016 about 2000 citizens from 22 European countries will participate in the first Citizens’ Debate on Space for Europe. In the course of the day, citizens will have the opportunity to learn, debate, have their say and participate by suggesting priorities on all aspects of current and future space programmes.

This consultation on an unprecedented scale will take place simultaneously in all 22 Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA). Missions Publiques, the company that has been brought in by ESA to organise this consultation and conduct the debate, will gather approximately 100 citizens per Member State at various locations. Those selected will be as representative as possible of the population of their country according to socio-demographic criteria. The results of the consultation will be collated – as early as 48 hours after the debate takes place – and communicated to ESA.

Referring to this initiative, ESA Director General Jan Woerner, emphasised his commitment to ESA being more open to society and to further engaging in a dialogue with European citizens, and said, “Spaceflight, space science, exploration, Earth observation, telecommunication, satellite navigation, space technology and innovation can all help respond to societal challenges and be a source of inspiration to future generations. European citizens can help us better asses our priorities”.

The Citizens’ Debate on Space for Europe is a major first – never before has the future of space activities been addressed in such an event held across so many countries.

For more information, and to apply to take part in the debate, visit http://citizensdebate.space

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, of whom 20 are Member States of the EU.

ESA has established formal cooperation with seven other Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes.

ESA develops the launchers, spacecraft and ground facilities needed to keep Europe at the forefront of global space activities.

Today, it develops and launches satellites for Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications and astronomy, sends probes to the far reaches of the Solar System and cooperates in the human exploration of space.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

About Missions Publiques

Missions Publiques is a company specialised in citizen participation and policy dialogue with more than fifteen years of experience in this innovative field. Its team has expertise at local, national, European and global level. Missions Publiques has cooperated with 20 different organisations in helping to implement the Citizens’ Debate on Space for Europe across ESA Member States.

For further information, please contact:
Nathalie Meusy
ESA Citizens’ Debate Project Manager
Email: contact@citizensdebate.space

[Via Satellite 06-28-2016] Geospatial big data startup Orbital Insight has raised $20 million in funding through a $15 million Series B round and an investment and development agreement from In-Q-Tel. GV, formerly Google Ventures, led the round, with participation from CME Ventures, and existing investors Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, and Bloomberg Beta.

With this new round of funding, Orbital Insight plans to continue refining its ability to extract analysis from satellite imagery. The company will also work to expand its range of detectable signals, and hire more experts in the machine vision and data science fields.

Orbital Insight works at the intersection of big data and the commercialization of space. To obtain its imagery, the company has developed partnerships with DigitalGlobe, Airbus, Planet Labs, Rapid Eye, and UrtheCast. According to the company, these contracts enable testing and development of algorithms on a higher volume of imagery than almost any organization in history.

Orbital Insight has developed algorithms to count and measure cars, roads, airplanes, clouds, haze, freshwater lakes, agricultural fields, buildings, and oil tanks using satellite and drone imagery to provide a big-picture understanding of the world. To date the startup has worked with more than 60 asset management firms, several U.S. government agencies, and two global non-profit organizations.

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As reported by Milly Lin and Elizabeth Hsu of Focus Taiwan News Channel, Taiwan will seek to use Japan’s satellite services until the country’s newest satellite, Formosat-5, can be launched later this year, this according to Science and Technology Minister Yang Hung-duen.

In a hearing of the legislative Education and Culture Committee, Yang said the launch of Formosat-5 has been delayed because of a failed rocket test in June 2015 by the U.S. company commissioned to launch the satellite. Formosat-5, therefore, will not be launched until around October, Yang said, although the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) had said the launch was postponed from the first quarter of the year to June. Yang said that until Formosat-5 is put into service, Taiwan will rely on Japan for satellite services.

Formosat-5 was scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the first quarter of the year to replace Formosat-2, which has been conducting remote sensing imaging since May 2004. However, the rocket test failure by SpaceX, the American company commissioned to launch Formosat-5, delayed that firm’s services to all its customers, including NARLabs. NARLabs said the postponement would not have been a problem had another of the four reaction wheels on Formosat-2 not failed on June 21.

With two of its reaction wheels malfunctioning, Formosat-2 has not been able to perform its imaging tasks and its movements cannot be accurately controlled, said NARLabs, which is in charge of Taiwan’s space program. The reaction wheels are used primarily for attitude control and are particularly useful when a spacecraft must make very small adjustments that are required, for example, to keep a telescope pointed at a star.

Formosat-5, which will carry a payload including an Optical Remote Sensing Instrument completely designed and developed by Taiwan for the first time, was designed to take over the remote sensing imaging mission of Formosat-2. Since Taiwan began its space program in 1991, it has sent three satellites into space. Formosat-1 was decommissioned in 2004, while Formosat-2 and the weather satellite Formosat-3 remain in orbit.

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1st July 2016, Today, an important milestone has been passed in the commissioning of the US-European Jason-3 ocean-monitoring mission launched on 17 January 2016 with the release of the near-real time (NRT) Operational Geophysical Data Records (OGDR) and the non-time critical (NTC) Interim Geophysical Data Record (IGDR) to all users.

The OGDRs include estimates of significant wave height, wind speed, and a first estimate of sea surface height based on orbit data and atmospheric corrections available in real time.

They are disseminated to users within three hours of observation. IGDRs are distributed within two days of observation and provide more accurate estimates of sea surface height thanks to improved orbit determination.

Over recent months, engineers from CNES, EUMETSAT, NOAA and NASA and scientists from the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team have been evaluating the Jason-3 OGDRs and IGDRs.

During this period, Jason-3 was flying in tandem with Jason-2, approximately 80 seconds apart, for the purpose of cross-calibration of sea surface height measurements at sub-centimetre level.

The OGDR and IGDR products will now be used worldwide for sea state forecasting, monitoring of marine environment and assimilation into models of the ocean or the coupled ocean-atmosphere system for ocean and seasonal forecasting.

Dr Saleh Abdalla, a scientist at ECMWF, said: “The assimilation of Jason-3 OGDR sea surface height and significant wave height into the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System improves the operational medium- to long-range weather forecasts and surface wind speed and total column water vapour measurements are important for model verification.”

During the first Jason-3 verification workshop on 21 June, the European and US partners in the programme also decided to switch the operational service from Jason-2 to Jason-3 and to move Jason-2 to an interleaved orbit in Mid-September, to increase space and time coverage in line with user needs.

EUMETSAT Director of Operations and Services to Users Livio Mastroddi said: “This milestone opens EUMETSAT’s delivery of operational Jason-3 data services to the EU Copernicus flagship Earth observation programme.”

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