Skip to content

(June 2014) Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) to directly receive new satellite mission radar data starting in late 2014

Airbus Defence and Space and Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) have signed a multi-million-euro agreement for the delivery and installation of a Direct Receiving Station (DRS) for TerraSAR-X and its twin satellite TanDEM-X in Norway.

Through data reception at KSAT’s premises in Svalbard and processing in Tromsø, this system – scheduled to be operational by the end of 2014 – will support a globally unique near real-time capability that will in particular significantly enhance maritime monitoring services.

“This agreement will strengthen our position as an independent, near real-time multi-mission service provider in the global market,” said Jan Petter Pedersen, Vice President of KSAT. “This high-quality radar data is particularly valuable for our global oil spill and vessel detection services and for Arctic services, where updated and reliable information about ice and ice conditions is the key.”

Airbus Defence and Space will equip KSAT with one of the first of its multi-mission DRSs, so that the station can receive and process data from Airbus Defence and Space’s satellite constellation, which includes the Pléiades twins, SPOT 6 and the upcoming SPOT 7, as well as PAZ (owned and to be operated by Hisdesat).

“While KSAT has chosen to receive TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X data only at this point, Airbus Defence and Space’s highly flexible and cost-efficient multi-mission DRS gives the company the option to extend its reception services. The agreement includes the option to draw on the future radar satellite PAZ, scheduled to enter into operation in 2015,” said Bernhard Brenner, Head of Airbus Defence and Space’s Geo-Intelligence programme line.

Access to this northernmost receiving station will provide Airbus Defence and Space customers with improved near real-time services particularly valuable for regular monitoring applications. In parallel, KSAT will now be able to widely distribute TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X SAR data to develop new and enhanced services on a global basis.

Among the many applications of the weather-independent TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X SAR satellites – owned by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and commercially exploited by Airbus Defence and Space – are maritime monitoring services like oil spill or vessel detection. They also support near real-time requirements for maritime safety during winter, given that X-band imagery enables precise detection, measurement and tracking of ice flows on a daily basis, including the prediction of future movements.

KSAT operates a ground station network consisting of the headquarter and the station in Tromsø, the high latitude stations at Svalbard and in Antarctica, and the four new mid-latitude stations in South-Africa, Dubai, Mauritius and Singapore. Combining the ground network capabilities and the near real-time value added services differentiates KSAT from other providers.

With this new DRS, Airbus Defence and Space extends its receiving station network of some 40 DRS worldwide – confirming its status as the largest in the world today.

About KSAT

KSAT is a commercial Norwegian enterprise, providing satellite services for;

  • Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C)
  • Global data dump

*Near real-time Earth Observation

The ground segment includes The Tromsø Station, Svalbard Satellite Station, TrollSat in Antarctica, The Grimstad Site in Southern Norway, and the new set of mid-latitude stations in Dubai, Singapore Mauritius and South-Africa. The turnover in 2013 was around 57 M euro and the company now has 130 employees. KSAT downloads data from more than 80 Earth Observation satellites per day. KSAT delivers near real-time satellite data and derived services, such as near real-time oil spill and ship detection, and develops new services tailored to user requirements. Satellite radar data is the main source for the EO services, and includes missions like Radarsat, Cosmo-Skymed and the new ones inlcuding TerraSAR/TandemX and RISAT. KSAT is also a prime operator of the ESA Sentinel Core Ground Segment, as well as for a national collaborative ground segment.

Contacts:
Jan-Petter Pedersen, +47 776 00 260
Marte Indregaard, +47 776 00 278

Kongsberg Spacetec is now offering its solution for Sentinel-1 (S-1) Collaborative Ground Segment (CGS) reception and processing system aimed to support national users in countries able to receive data for SENTINEL-1.

The system will do data reception at the ground station and process the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to level 0, level 1 and level 2.

The solution is based on Kongsberg Spacetecs integrated SAR processing system, which supports both the official ESA IPF solution together with an internally developed processing framework aimed to meet real-time requirements for user services.

Source

Companies call for innovative radar project submissions as part of the Earth monitoring Copernicus Masters Competition.

Madrid (Spain), June 25th, 2014.- Hisdesat, the Spanish government provider of satellite services, has an agreement with Airbus DS to promote the development of innovative ideas for applications using satellite radar images. This challenge is part of Copernicus Masters Competition. The challenge is the use of high resolution SAR data (synthetic aperture radar), from the constellation of the PAZ satellite and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X Hisdesat. The integration of data from other sources will also be taken into account. Both companies are seeking creative ideas that include maritime monitoring, security applications or change detection.

This challenge reaffirms the strong spirit of collaboration and innovation that exists between Airbus and Hisdesat DS. At the end of this year, the Spanish satellite PAZ (owned and built by Airbus Hisdesat DS), will join the virtually identical satellites TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X Airbus in the same orbital plane. In combination with the identical picture modes offered by these three satellites, this concept makes it possible to harness the potential of a satellite constellation with high revisit rates, increased coverage and improved service.

Proposals will evaluate, among other factors, innovation, customer potential and economic benefits. Their ability to integrate satellite radar data will be considered, and the relevance within the Copernicus program.

The competition monitoring Earth, Copernicus Masters, aims to support the development of commercial applications based on data from Earth observation. Each year since 2011, awards grants to innovative solutions for business and society in the context of observation. It is part of the European Copernicus program (formerly known as GMES-Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), designed to create a modern and qualified service infrastructure of Earth observation and geo-information. Participants, whether students, entrepreneurs, developers and SMEs, to submit their proposals by July 15, 2014, through the website of Copernicus Masters: http://copernicus-masters.com/index.php?kat=challenges.html&anzeige=airbus_hisdesat.html

Hisdesat

Hisdesat was founded in 2001 as operator of government services by satellite to act primarily in the areas of defense, security, intelligence and foreign affairs. Since 2005, the company provides secure satellite communications to government agencies of different countries and is currently developing new satellites in two areas: Earth Observation and Information of the worldwide maritime traffic by satellite (AIS). More information: www.hisdesat.es

For further information:
Araceli Serrano
PR Communications Manager
Tel: +34 91 4490149
aserrano@hisdesat.es

Better data retrieval and access, greater interoperability of data and improved coordination across the EU top the list of benefits perceived by both data producers and users of spatial information on the environment. Key changes suggested refer to improving communication and coordination, and to reducing the complexity of technical specifications as much as possible.

These are some of the findings of a public consultation carried out by the JRC and the European Commission’s Directorate General Environment (DG ENV) to support a mid-term evaluation of the 2007 INSPIRE Directive which sets the guidelines for the sharing of spatial data for environmental policies and the creation of a pan-European platform by 2020. INSPIRE stands for Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community.

The results of the consultation were presented at the 8th annual INSPIRE Conference, organised by the JRC, DG ENV and the European Environment Agency, which took place from 16 to 20 June in Aalborg, Denmark. Over 550 participants, from 44 countries, came together to discuss their different national INSPIRE implementation strategies and initiatives.

Read more

Source: Joint Research Centre – European Commission

and EOportal

Researchers have figured out a new way to predict which rivers are most at risk of dangerous flooding.

To do so, they measured how much water was stored in a river basin months ahead of the spring flood season.

“Just like a bucket can only hold so much water, the same concept applies to river basins,” said lead study author J.T. Reager, an earth scientist at the University of California, Irvine. When the ground is saturated, or filled to its brim, conditions are ripe for flooding.

Reager and his colleagues looked back in time using satellite data, and measured how much water was soaking the ground before the 2011 Missouri River floods. The researchers found their statistical model strongly predicted this major flood event five months in advance. With less reliability, the prediction could be extended to 11 months in advance, the researchers said.

Source: Live Science

in conjunction the OGP’s EO Subcommittee Workshop

It has long been recognised that one of the prime mechanisms for the maturation of an industry is the identification and generation of industry norms and standards, increasing both the confidence that customers have in the products and services of the industry and the ability of companies to meet customer needs for the future.

To this end the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), in conjunction with ESA, set up an Industry Best Practice Working Group (IBPWG) to work on the subject of standards and certification for the industry. This resulted in April 2013 in a certification workshop held at ESA premises in Frascati, Italy where is was agreed to publish an industry certification guideline, a Document Requirements Specification (DRD) for EO Product Specifications, run a pilot study to assess the management system requirements identified by the IBPWG and report on the pilot study to the stakeholders invited to the conference.

The pilot activities shall conclude in October 2014 with the assessment of two volunteer companies against the management requirements by an accredited third party certification body.

The objective of this workshop is to report on the above actions, and identify the way ahead for the industry with respect to certification.

Full programme EARSC certification in conjunction the OGP’s EO Subcommittee Workshop
OGP_EO_Workshop_19Nov14_Draft_Agenda.pdf

Certification part
1. Recap of the scheme
2. Report on actions undertaken
a. Publishing of certification guideline and DRD
b. Implementation of pilot
3. Report from pilot companies
a. Flyby
b. Planetek
c. AnsuR
d. Stevenson Astrosat
4. Report from Certification Body
5. Question and Answer session
6. Wider picture
7. The way forward
8. Close

Venue: Head office. Tullow Oil plc 9 Chiswick Park 566 Chiswick High Road London W4 5XT United Kingdom
Ground floor meetings rooms within reception area. Security/registration instructions will be provided
Tullow Oil London-location

For the first time Sentinel-1A satellite was operationally used to support emergency management operations in the Balkans, where prolonged heavy rainfalls and widespread flooding since the 15th of May 2014 triggered the declaration of the State of Emergency.

In order to provide fast and complete map product delivery it is crucial to take into account and use all available sensors.

Although the radar sensor carried by Sentinel-1A is still in commissioning stage, its data was integrated into the Copernicus EMS flood maps of the Sava river in the Balatun area in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although the processing chain in use have not yet been tuned to process Sentinel-1A data, and despite the tight timelines for map production, new procedures have been put in place to exploit Sentinel data and to combine them with the pre-event analysis achieved from Spot 6.

Sentinel-1A was launched on April 3rd from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and it is the first in a fleet of Sentinel satellites developed for European Copernicus programme.

e-GEOS Space Centre in Matera supported the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the Sentinel-1A satellite and verified that the operation ensured the sound functioning of the platform and the radar platform and instrument on board the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth observation satellite Sentinel-1A. In the early hours of the morning of Sunday April 6 (05:53 CET), the first on-board telemetry and navigation data in band-X was received.

The Matera Space Centre is one of the Core Ground Segment’s three ground stations built under the leadership of the ESA for European environmental monitoring program Copernicus. Matera was chosen as the first station to be involved in the delicate LEOP phase and commissioning of the mission, which began immediately after the launch of Sentinel-1A.

Sentinel-1A satellite aids flood relief in the Balkans
Title: Flood map
Released: 28/05/2014 10:17 am
Copyright: ESA/European Commission, produced by the Copernicus Emergency Management Service
Flood delineation map over the village of Balatun in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina based on Sentinel-1A data. Serbia lies to the north of the Sava river

Within the Balkan floods in the end of May Civil Protection authorities involved in in-field operations brought aid using disaster maps issued by the European Commission’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service soon after the first floods.

e-GEOS is the Service Provider of the Emergency Management Service leading an international team that includes GAF (Germany), ITHACA (Italy) and SIRS (France).

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service is funded and coordinated by European Commision. Since the 16th of May the production teams worked day and night to perform geospatial analysis of the newly acquired satellite data over Balkan areas.

The most affected areas of Doboj, Zenica, Vlasenica in Bosnia, Ljubovija, Lazarevac, Paracin in Serbia, and Zupanija in Croatia have been closely monitored by the Emergency Management Service. About 60 delineation flood maps (and about 40 reference maps) have been produced thanks to the combined efforts of a pool of more than 25 people.

All maps are available on the GIO (GMES Initial Operations) Emergency Rush Portal managed by the JRC.

Source

(20 June) The GEO-Intelligence team of Airbus Defence and Space hosted their 2014 Channel Partner Conference (CPC) from 13-14 May 2014 in Toulouse, France. During this event, DHI GRAS was awarded the ‘Best New Comer’ award for the Northern Europe and Middle East region.

It’s been two years since the very first partnership was signed between the two organisations. This award is the direct product of DHI GRAS’ commercial success and proactive attitude in their work.

“The best part of DHI GRAS’ team was their expertise, professionalism, customer care and satisfaction provided to deliver projects on time and budget,” said Martin Holt, Regional Sales Director at Airbus Defence and Space, Geo-Intelligence. “They have been instrumental in helping us open new sales channels for all of our product range including optical imagery such as Pléiades and SPOT6 as well as for radar data such as TerraSAR-X and even Elevation1 & 4 high-resolution Digital Elevation Model.”

He continued, “This is a typical example of a win-win partnership that enables the complete portfolio of Airbus products to reach new customers and industries within Denmark and beyond. So we obviously look forward to capitalising on the current business momentum created by DHI GRAS in Denmark and will continue to support them in delivering best-in-class products and services to their growing client base.”

Rasmus Borgstrøm, Project Manager at DHI GRAS commented, “At DHI GRAS, we’re of course very delighted about this recognition given by Airbus Defence and Space, and we look forward to continuing this fruitful collaboration. We do see quite a big potential for further dissemination of the excellent products that Airbus DS can provide our clients and partners with.”

Source

Efficient project delivery using the example of fire monitoring
RSS GmbH develops individual solutions in the areas of environmental monitoring, resource management and digital cartography and therefore integrates the use of aerial and satellite images and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for national and international projects.

Read more about CLOUDEO Partner Reference Case: Fire Monitoring.

1.DESCRIPTION

As long as fire is under our control, it serves a lot of useful purposes, but, once it goes out of our control, it can create a lot of destruction. Wildfires in the vegetated areas of Australia, Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, the tundra, forested areas of the United States and Canada have an effect on climate change, increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere and inhibiting vegetation growth.

In other areas of the world manmade fires like the slash-and-burn agriculture provokes fires and promotes the growth of flammable brush, creating a cycle that encourages more burning.

Fires generate ash, destroy organic nutrients, cause an increase in water runoff, and produce large amounts of CO2. To monitor these fires, identify their causes and define effective measures it is important to know exactly when and where the fires are occurring, which areas are affected and the intensity of fires and related CO2 emissions.

2. APPROACH

Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH (RSS) is a company known for environmental monitoring, resource management and digital cartography. RSS customers like governments and non-governmental organizations (NGO) require detailed information about the areas affected, the timing and the intensity of the fires and estimates of resulting CO2 emissions.

Remote sensing by satellites is the key technology that delivers basic data on fire and burned area monitoring in order to determine the source and the progress of fires. Of special importance is an in- time assessment of the burned area for providing a detailed proof of the localization of the fire and the affected land cover and land uses.

In order to fulfill this task, RSS has to quickly acquire recent data, and has to invest in processing infrastructure and according software licences.

To simplify this task for service providers CloudEO offers Geo-IT as a Service. It comprises fast data access of multiple vendors like Airbus Defence & Space, DMCii, DEIMOS, Intermap and many others, professional geo Software of Hexagon Geospatial Services, Trimble and Exelis Visual Information Solutions, and scalable processing power within a private cloud in a certified hosting environment. Latest technology is available, when needed and costs only occur when the service is used.

In addition, CloudEO offers the possibility to evaluate data in detail prior to buying. RSS used the CloudEO workbench to evaluate the benefits of fire monitoring for their customers. Through the private ftp on CloudEO they uploaded their RapidEye data and their analysis application which is based on ERDAS IMAGINE, IDL and eCognition. CloudEO and its partners provided the Software and the processing infrastructure. Within one hour RSS was able to use the CloudEO workbench without changing established workflows and technologies.

The data was analyzed using the significant processing power of the CloudEO workbench and a shapefile was generated that indicate the fire affected areas.

More information available at the following link
Source

Indonesia: Satellite images have found that Indonesia’s ancient forests, a cradle of biodiversity and a buffer against climate change, have shrunk much faster than thought, scientists said. Between 2000 and 2012, Indonesia lost around 6.02 million hectares of primary forest, an area almost the size of Sri Lanka, they reported.

Primary or ancient forests are distinguished from managed forests, which are plantations of trees grown for timber and pulp.

The researchers found that primary forest loss accelerated during the period under review, reaching an annual 840,000 hectares by 2012 ― nearly twice the deforestation rate of Brazil, which was 460,000 hectares in the same year.

“Indonesia’s forests contain high floral and faunal biodiversity, including 10 percent of the world’s plants, 12 percent of the world’s mammals, 16 percent of the world’s reptile-amphibians and 17 percent of the world’s bird species,” said the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Extensive clearing of Indonesian primary forest cover directly results in habitat loss and associated plant and animal extinctions.”

The research, led by geographer Belinda Margono of the University of Maryland, looked at long-term satellite images.

During 2000-2012, total forest cover in Indonesia retreated by 15.79 million hectares, of which 6.02 million, or 38 percent, was primary forest, the investigation found.

Source: Korea Herald
See more at