Skip to content

New standards of Earth Observation data paving the way for frequent, very high resolution commercial imaging opportunities

Earth-i (www.earthi.space), the innovative distributor of imaging and data services from the DMC3 / TripleSat constellation, has new detailed sample imagery available for assessment by customers who wish to take advantage of the constellation’s unique combination of optical and temporal resolution. The company is already supplying data to early adopter customers and anticipates a significant ramp up of commercial delivery early in 2016.

Commenting on the rapid and successful commissioning process of the recently launched constellation of three satellites Owen Hawkins, Operations Director at Earth-i, said: “We are delighted with the speed and success of the satellite commissioning carried out by our associates SSTL and 21AT.  The definition, quality and integrity of the data has exceeded our expectations.” He continued: “Even before this wider release of sample data, users on our beta-testing programme have been impressed by the flexibility and quality of the system, wishing to make use of the unique capabilities delivered by the constellation.”

The DMC3 / TripleSat constellation sets new levels of performance in terms of frequency of imaging opportunities and delivers a unique combination of very high spatial and temporal resolution with imaging opportunities even at any point of the equator every day.

Hawkins is part of the highly experienced and expert team that has been assembled at Earth-i, ensuring the successful initiation of imaging services from the constellation and bringing its unique benefits to the earth imaging market. Owen has spent most of his professional career in the space industry, with globally respected satellite manufacturing and imaging companies including Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and DMC International Imaging. His current responsibilities include the technical development and delivery of Earth-i’s image and data services. Whilst at SSTL, Owen was instrumental in helping to deliver services to customers throughout Africa, South East Asia and to the UK security and defence sectors.

Dr. Steve Mackin, Remote Sensing Specialist and a well-known and highly respected figure in the Earth Observation sector, also commented on Earth-i’s newly released sample data saying: “To ensure quality imagery a rigorous commissioning process must followed.  This is clearly evident in the high standard of the imagery.”

To request a sample data set of DMC3 / TripleSat data visit

About Earth-i Ltd:
Earth-i is a British company dedicated to facilitating the distribution of data from the DMC3 / TripleSat Constellation. As the master distributor appointed by 21AT, Earth-i provides a portal for data users wishing to take advantage of the advanced data and services made possible by this uniquely capable Earth Observation satellite constellation.

Earth-i is co-located on the Surrey Research Park in the UK with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the manufacturer of the DMC3 / Triplesat constellation. www.earthi.space.

For further information, please contact:
Richard Blain
Chief Executive, Earth-i Ltd
Phone (24hrs): +44 (0)333 433 0015
7 Huxley Road,
Surrey Research Park
Guildford, GU2 7RE
United Kingdom
E-mail: richard.blain@earthi.co.uk

© earth-i
Ref: EAH012/A

Esri and NASA are collaborating to improve access to imagery and raster data stored in the cloud using a combination of two technologies, Meta Raster Format (MRF) and Limited Error Raster Compression (LERC).

MRF is an Open raster format originally designed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to optimize web access to rasters. LERC is a highly efficient algorithm that provides fast lossless and controlled lossy compression of image and raster data. LERC is especially suitable for geospatial applications. Esri was recently awarded a US Patent for LERC, and is making the patented LERC technology freely available to the geospatial and earth sciences community.

By sharing MRF and LERC with the community, NASA and Esri will enable organizations to lower storage costs and gain fast access to imagery and data as web services. Speedy and accurate web access to imagery will help improve the way people understand and analyze changes in the Earth.

“We have been working with NASA to improve the MRF format, but want to take this a step further and release our patent on LERC,” said Esri president Jack Dangermond. “By contributing the LERC algorithm to the geospatial community, we hope to inspire innovation and encourage problem solving.”

NASA has had notable success using MRF as an image raster format and is collaborating with Esri on improvements to the format. In addition, Esri has contributed code improvements to the Open Source geospatial data abstraction library (GDAL) implementation of MRF. This work is focused on access to rasters stored in the cloud on object stores.

“We’ve been using MRF to create and distribute imagery for a number of years, but we are only now starting to explore browser access to these datasets,” said NASA Earth Science Data Systems program executive Kevin Murphy. “Our collaboration with Esri and the release of Esri’s patent on LERC ensures that more people can enjoy efficient, accurate transmission of imagery and data over the web.”

LERC is being released as Open Source under an Apache2 License and will also be included in the NASA MRF Open Source project.

Attendees of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, on December 17, can hear more about this as Lucian Plesea, Esri Web GIS developer, presents a talk from 11:20 AM–11:35 AM in Moscone West #2020, titled: Formats and Network Protocols for Browser Access to 2D Raster Data.

For more information on MRF and LERC, please visit the Esri ArcGIS blog at blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world’s mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms.

Visit us at esri.com/news

Sourvce

China is planning to build a remote sensing satellite network with global coverage by setting up more ground stations overseas.

China is planning to build a remote sensing satellite network with global coverage by setting up more ground stations overseas. The move will enable China to provide diversified data to foreign users in a timely manner and to better serve social and economic developments.

Yin Liming, president of China Great Wall Industry, the country’s sole provider of commercial satellite launch services, told the Third Aerospace Internationalization Forum in Beijing that China is willing to work with foreign space agencies and international organizations to establish the network, which will mainly depend on Chinese-made satellites.

“By now, we have several ground stations in South America and Africa. We also installed a data applications station on the icebreaker Xuelong,” Yin said. “Next, we want to set up more stations globally, namely on every continent as well as one in the Arctic, to promote the use of Chinese remote-sensing satellites and to speed up the transmission of satellite data.”

In addition, China will establish ground application centers for its Beidou Navigation Satellite System in more foreign countries to further share navigation and positioning information.

Pakistan and China are partnering in a host of satellite data application programs in the country and that the efforts have been helping with telemedicine, agricultural forecasting, an early warning system for disaster and other public welfare services.

Source

Axelspace Corp., a space business venture originating from the University of Tokyo, will attempt to place into orbit 50 microsatellites from 2017 to 2022 to provide image data covering many parts of the globe.

The satellite image data are expected to find wide-ranging applications, including crop forecasts for large-scale farms in North America and the surveillance of oil fields in oil-producing countries.

It will be the first Japanese company to offer such a service using a number of small satellites.

Axelspace has developed 80-kg microsatellites that are 60cm by cm 60 by 80 cm in dimension each. A cluster of 50 such satellites will cover 45 percent of all land on Earth and make daily updates to information on almost all geographical areas where economic activities are carried out.

A single microsatellite can be manufactured for only one-100th of the production cost of a large satellite. Thanks to the low cost, the prices of the planned satellite image service are expected to be 10 percent lower than similar services.

By analyzing accumulated data, Axelspace also plans to provide a service to predict future developments in many fields, officials said.

The company plans to send into orbit three microsatellites in 2017 and start providing image data the following year.

A group of investors will kick in ¥1.9 billion to help finance the start of the service and will work with Axelspace to operate it. The investors include Tokyo-based venture capital Global Brain Corp., major trading house Mitsui & Co., broadcast and communications satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. and weather information service provider Weathernews Inc.

“We’re looking at a stock listing in the future,” Axelspace President Yuya Nakamura said of financing plans for the launch of the microsatellites.

The satellite image data to be supplied by Axelspace will have a resolution that is able to identify automobiles on land, but cannot recognize human faces.

The market for high-resolution images capable of facial identification has seen intensified competition among U.S. businesses. In addition, handling such images involves privacy protection and other problems.

While steering clear of the competition and to reduce risks, Axelspace anticipates demand for its service in a wide range of areas, including weather observation and studies on traffic volumes.

Source

XICHANG, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) — China on Tuesday launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country’s high-definition (HD) earth observation project.

Gaofen-4 was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 00:04 a.m. aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It was the 222th flight of the Long March rocket series, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

Gaofen-4 is China’s first geosynchronous orbit HD optical imaging satellite and the world’s most sophisticated HD geosynchronous orbit remote sensing satellite, according to Xu Dazhe, head of SASTIND and China National Space Administration.

The successful launch of Gaofen-4 was the 19th space mission in this year. It will be used for disaster prevention and relief, surveillance of geological disasters and forest disasters, and meteorologic forecast, according to Tong Xudong, the chief designer of the Gaofen project with SASTIND.

The Gaofen project aims to launch seven high-definition observation satellites before 2020.

Gaofen-1, the first satellite of the project, was launched in April 2013.

Different from Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-2 in low orbits (600-700 km) around the earth, Gaofen-4 is located at the orbit 36,000 kilometers away from the earth and moves synchronously with the earth.

It can “see” an oil tanker on the sea with a huge CMOS camera, reaching the best imaging level among global high-orbit remote sensing satellites, according to Li Guo, chief designer of Gaofen-4.

Sourvce
Source

(21/12/2015) Satellite images are playing an increasing role in our daily lives. They are now a fundamental part of climate-change studies and they also provide us with cartographic information on any part of the world to help us improve our security, manage natural disasters and improve governance of the land and its resources in light of the information they provide.

For some time now GMV has been working very actively in the earth-observation applications market, adding value to satellite images. For example is it currently developing services for precision agriculture and environmental activities.

As an expert in remote-sensing and earth observation, GMV has recently been invited to take part in the “Discovery Day Session: The value of Geospatial information for improving land governance”. The event was held in the head office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and broadcast round the world in an endeavor to show the advantages and applications of geospatial information.

Antonio Tabasco, head of GMV’s Remote Sensing Applications and Services, presented a paper on how applications of remote sensing systems can help in decision-taking on food-security and infrastructure-development matters. His speech stressed how technology and agriculture can be brought together in high-precision systems based on satellite images.

The event was organized jointly by The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), DigitalGlobe and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Source

On Jan. 12, 2016, the Philippines and two Japanese universities will hand over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) the country’s first Filipino-assembled satellite for launch in space.

Officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Tohoko University (TU), and Hokkaido University (HU) will be doing the handover after the completion of the assembly and testing in December, 2015, of the 50-kg Philippine Earth Observation Microsatellite, nicknamed “Diwata.”

In a text message yesterday, DOST Secretary Mario Go Montejo confirmed to the Manila Bulletin the launch of Diwata will push through in the first quarter of 2016.

He said the uses of Diwata include improved weather detection and forecasts, disaster risk management, detecting agricultural growth patterns, and monitoring of the forest cover and of the territorial borders of the Philippines.

The DOST chief expressed confidence the government “can develop a lot more uses for the microsatellite if we keep on improving its capability to expands its applications.”

Montejo said the space program of the DOST has two components, namely, the development of the Diwata and the Philippine Earth Data Resources and Observation (PEDRO) Center.

DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) funded the government’s three-year (2015-2017) satellite program with around P1.2 billion, said Dr. Carlos Primo David, PCIEERD executive director.

Source#

While the Philippines had satellites in the past, Diwata is the first “eye-in-the-sky” developed and assembled by Filipino scientists and engineers now in Japan in cooperation with their Japanese counterparts, he said.

“We, together with the two Japanese universities, will hand over the microsatellite to JAXA on Jan. 12,” Dr. David said on Friday in a mobile phone interview.

JAXA will send the microsatellite to the United States, where a spaceship will carry it to the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting 400 kms. above Earth, for launch in space, he added. Diwata will be launched either from California or Florida.

He said Diwata marks a milestone in the Philippines space program. DOST hopes it will hasten the establishment of a Philippine Space Agency, he added.

ESA’s Member States have selected FLEX as the eighth Earth Explorer mission, upon recommendation from the Earth Science Advisory Committee. The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission will map vegetation fluorescence to quantify photosynthetic activity.

The conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy-rich carbohydrates through photosynthesis is one of the most fundamental processes on Earth – and one on which we all depend.

Information from FLEX will improve our understanding of the way carbon moves between plants and the atmosphere and how photosynthesis affects the carbon and water cycles.

In addition, information from FLEX will lead to better insight into plant health and stress. This is of particular relevance since the growing global population is placing increasing demands on the production of food and animal feed.

Although most people have heard of photosynthesis, the process involves an extremely complex chain of events.

Working in sequence, there are two different ‘solar power systems’ inside plant and algae cells. They collect energy in sunlight and produce chemical energy for photosynthesis, heat and a faint fluorescence, subject to environmental conditions and the health of the plant.

So far, it has not been possible to measure photosynthetic activity from space, but FLEX’s novel fluorescence imaging spectrometer will observe this faint glow, which serves as an indicator of photosynthesis.

The FLEX satellite will orbit in tandem with one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites, taking advantage of its optical and thermal sensors to provide an integrated package of measurements.

Jan Woerner, ESA’s Director General, said, “FLEX will give us new information on the actual productivity of vegetation that can be used to support agricultural management and the development of a sustainable bioeconomy. It will therefore help to understand our ecosystem.”

“With the selection of the FLEX mission, ESA Member States have continued to show their determination to provide essential data to the scientific community to better understand our planet while at the same time serving society.”

Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, added, “The selection of FLEX is an important milestone in our series of Earth Explorer missions.

FLEX will give us a better understanding of an important part of the carbon cycle and provide important information about the health and stress of the planet’s vegetation.

“Through this, FLEX might make a contribution to the understanding of feeding the increasing population of our planet.”

The planned launch date for the FLEX mission is in 2022.

About ESA’s Earth Explorers

The Earth Explorers are a series of satellites developed to further our understanding of Earth. Three missions in orbit are providing new insight into Earth’s cryosphere, soil moisture and ocean salinity, and the magnetic field. Future Explorer missions will provide new insight on wind, clouds and aerosol impact on the radiation budget, and global forest biomass.

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

©ESA

The Satellite Applications Catapult is leading the COSMO-SkyMed Radar Science and Innovation Research (CORSAIR) programme for the UK. The move will facilitate access to data obtained from the COSMO-SkyMed satellites for research and development (R&D) activities.


The CORSAIR programme follows the contract awarded to the Catapult and Telespazio VEGA UK to install a ground system to order, receive and process high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Italian COSMO-SkyMed (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation) mission. A bilateral agreement between the UK Space Agency and Italian Space Agency (ASI), will, for the first time, allow, COSMO-SkyMed data to be delivered directly to the UK for processing.


Real-time Applications

The COSMO-SkyMed system is a constellation of four identical X-band SAR satellites owned by ASI and the Italian Ministry of Defence, and operated commercially by e-GEOS, an ASI/Telespazio company. Its data is used on a global basis for near real-time applications such as extreme weather impact assessment, environmental crisis management, and security monitoring both on and offshore. The four-satellite constellation with its high revisit frequency and rapid response time is ideal for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) applications, such as monitoring ground displacement resulting from volcanoes and earthquakes.


The CORSAIR programme is open to any UK research and development activities looking to develop proof of concepts, demonstrators, prototypes or trials for scientific research, products or applications.


Benefits for UK R&D

Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult, said: “The COSMO-SkyMed constellation is equipped with SAR instruments, capable of operating in all visibility conditions at high-resolution. Its ability to see through cloud and at night enables researchers to accumulate data over a wide area in a very short time. A key benefit of this programme is that it gives the UK research community access to data with which to develop new applications or services for commercial applications, as well as for scientific research.”


Applications to CORSAIR

After the success of the first round of the CORSAIR programme, we invite academia and business to apply for COSMO-SkyMed data. Applications for the CORSAIR programme can be submitted at any time through the Catapult website (http://www.sa.catapult.org.uk/CORSAIR) which also contains more information.
We are currently accepting applications and the next round of reviews will take place after the closing date of 1 February, 2016. After this time applications will be accepted and be peer-reviewed at three monthly intervals by an external evaluation team.

  • Period 2: 1 February 2016
  • Period 3: 1 May 2016
  • Period 4: 1 August 2016
    Further dates will be communicated after June 2016


CSK Himage (3m) Multitemporal RGB composite over Wallingford, UK. 2013: R: May 15th G: Aug 19th B: Nov 23rd COSMOSkyMed Product – © ASI 2013. All rights reserved. Distributed by e-GEOS, processed under licence from ASI by Telespazio VEGA UK Ltd.

Article first appeared in the November issue of GeoConnexion UK
Author: Terri Freemantle, Satellite Applications Catapult, Earth Observation Specialist

(Nov 2015) ESA and the Canadian Space Agency have signed an agreement that facilitates access to the Sentinel satellite data primarily for users from Canada.

The agreement includes the deployment of Collaborative Archiving and Dissemination Centres and a National mirror site, all under the lead of the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation.

Since the launch of Sentinel-1A in April 2014, data from the Sentinel satellites and contributing missions to the Copernicus programme are freely accessible.

This dedicated agreement will facilitate Sentinel data exploitation through the Canadian Collaborative Archiving and Dissemination Centres.

The Collaborative Data Hub will soon coordinate ground segment activities in the country – such as hosting, distributing, ensuring access and archiving Sentinel data – and act as an interface between ESA and national Canadian initiatives. This will be done through a ‘national mirror site’, under the lead of the Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation.

The agreement also established ESA’s role as coordinator of the Copernicus ‘space component’. The Agency will ensure direct access to Sentinel data, provide technical advice on the setting up of data acquisition and dissemination, and make data processing and archiving software available to national initiatives.

Canada is the ninth Participating State to have signed the agreement, following Greece, Norway, Italy, Finland, Germany, France, UK and Sweden.

Source