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(February 26, 2014) MUNICH, GERMANY – European Space Imaging (EUSI) today announced their agreement with Emirates Space Imaging (ESI) to host a ground station and deliver products and services from the new Skybox Imaging (Skybox) SkySat constellation.

ESI has given European Space Imaging the distribution rights for Europe, North Africa and CIS countries. EUSI’s parent company Space Imaging Middle East (SIME) has also entered into a similar arrangement for the Middle East region. Both companies will soon start delivering global, timely, sub-meter resolution satellite imagery and high-resolution, high-definition video to a wide range of customers.

Under this agreement, European Space Imaging will host a compact ground station, named SkyNode, that consists of a 2.4 meter antenna and two racks of supporting equipment. European Space Imaging’s SkyNode for the direct tasking of the SkySat satellites is currently under construction at the Oberpfaffenhofen premises of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and is expected to be operational by May 2014.

Directly accessing this small-footprint system through a suite of easy-to-use software applications will enable EUSI to schedule, task, image, downlink, and process imagery and video products captured from the Skybox constellation of up to 24 satellites and deliver to customers with record speed and efficiency.

“Through these partnerships we are pleased to bring Skybox’s capabilities to these pioneers in high resolution imaging and video business to the European, Middle Eastern and North African regions. The vision of Skybox and the future applications and information that it will bring to the market is very exciting,” said Skybox Senior Director, International Sales, Brian Leslie. “Working with these experienced regional data providers will allow us to introduce Skybox’s new generation remote sensing into their regions offering frequent access to full-motion video and imagery.”

“As a leading provider of geospatial solutions in Europe for more than a decade we have a reputation for offering excellent service combined with accessing the most advanced satellite technology available.” said European Space Imaging Managing Director, Adrian Zevenbergen. “This agreement will give a boost to the European market by providing our customers access to a comprehensive suite of satellites offering timely, high-resolution, high-quality imagery and video products and allowing multiple daily access and simplified tasking and ordering services.”

SkySat-1, Skybox’s first satellite of the planned 24-satellite constellation, was successfully launched on November 21, 2013, and is currently undergoing calibration. SkySat-1 captures sub-meter resolution color imagery, as well as high-resolution, full motion video.

SkySat-2 and SkySat-3 are planned for launch in mid 2014 and early 2015, with the first block launch of 6 additional satellites planned for late 2015.

About European Space Imaging (EUSI)
European Space Imaging is the leading supplier of very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery across Europe and North Africa. European Space Imaging is the only European satellite data provider operating an own multi-mission capable VHR ground station, enabling optimized collection strategies, flexibility and real-time weather assessments throughout Europe and North Africa. Since 2002 European Space Imaging has provided access to the latest, most advanced VHR satellites available and services to customers throughout their region. For more information, visit www.euspaceimaging.com.

About Emirates Space Imaging (ESI)
Emirates Space Imaging offers geospatial solutions and innovative products, solutions and services from Skybox Imaging in both the Middle East and Europe. It also has a diverse network of technological and commercial partners. For more information, visit www.emiratesspaceimaging.com.

About Skybox Imaging (Skybox)
Skybox Imaging empowers global businesses to make better decisions with timely, high fidelity imagery and infinite analytics. By combining the power of web technologies and a constellation of high-resolution imaging satellites, Skybox is generating a unique data source describing daily global activity with timely, accessible, sub-meter color imagery and high definition video of the Earth. Founded in 2009, Skybox Imaging is backed by leading venture firms and comprised of internet and aerospace professionals. For more information, visit www.skybox.com.

To learn more about this project, please contact:
Penelope Richardson, Marketing Manager
European Space Imaging
Arnulfstrasse 199, Munich 80634
Tel: +49 (0) 89 13014255
Fax: +49 (0) 89 13014222
prichardson@euspaceimaging.com
www.euspaceimaging.com

The global challenge for the future is how to have less impact on the land while supporting the sustainability and improving living conditions.

Penelope Richardson asks how eco-friendly farming techniques can be verified so that they give farmers positive economic benefits in the marketplace
…

Download the full article here

Source

Satellite data is used by ADB teams to assess disaster risk, study water resources, forecast manifestations of climate change, monitor the state of agricultural and natural resources, measure city growth, and carry out many other assessments


EO Service Development

Can you describe in a simple way your daily work at the sustainable development offices of the Asian Development Bank?

Our work focuses on solving problems, developing business opportunities, and sharing knowledge, from clean energy to sustainable transport to education to food security. Our role is to connect research with action on the ground. We support ADB’s investments by piloting and embedding state-of-the art practices in our operations. We make certain that our operations are compliant with our safeguard policies. We also strive to share our know-how on these different topics with others through studies and training.

Could you explain how your team is assisting the sustainable development projects? How these units working in a particular project are coordinated?

We strive to take a nexus approach. We organize ourselves into multidisciplinary teams as the project requires. In addition to our department, we have 15 communities of practice that focus on diverse areas including urban, water, energy, gender, education and health.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been partnering for the purpose of increasing the use of EO in the ADB´s lending operations, across all sectors but especially in development work… Could you explain further about the initiative from the ADB point of view?

The ADB-ESA initiative provides a good opportunity to demonstrate to ADB’s clients how EO information can be used for development projects. Although EO has much potential to improve ADB’s operations, most staff members are not yet familiar with the technology, and EO applications have not been customized for ADB projects.

Does cooperation with other space agencies take a similar approach or is this one different?

For the collaboration between ADB and ESA, the focus is on improving project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation by using satellite-based information provided by ESA. For the collaboration with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the focus is more on introducing to client countries applications using satellite technology under the capacity development program. More than data or information, technical advice to support agencies in the countries on how to apply the technology is also provided.

Can you describe a typical project lifecycle and at what points geo-information data could be used?

A project starts out being part of a country partnership strategy between ADB and a particular client country, and then goes through the stages of preparation, approval, implementation, completion and evaluation. Geo-information data could be used for planning, monitoring and evaluating projects. If the project is designed to introduce the technology in a country, the data could be used even after the project finishes.

Which areas do you see as the priority and which can benefit most from Earth observation ? eg. water resources management, urban development, agriculture and forestry, natural resources management, climate change, environmental monitoring ……?

It’s difficult to say which area is the priority or could benefit the most. For design and construction of large infrastructure projects (transportation, energy, water, agriculture, etc.), high resolution satellite data is very useful for planning, monitoring and evaluating the project sites more efficiently and effectively. To use satellite data in a sustainable manner, free lower resolution data, which is good for agriculture, forestry, natural resources, environment, and water, is more suitable.

Which factors could be used to demonstrate the value of these services as useful tools to ADB teams? eg cost, improved delivery of aid, better involvement of the local; community…..

Some of the factors could include remote sensing information for dangerous or remote areas; objective information as an alternative source to unreliable content, such as a subjectively written report; cost effective wide coverage information could be good for national and regional scale information; freely available data to support the lack of ground data in a country; and quick data acquisition for disaster response.

What kind of support does ADB need to develop the capacity to use all types of space-based information in support of sustainable development projects?

We need technical advice and capacity development programs for our staff members to understand available applications, how to use them, and best practices. For our client countries, a capacity development program is needed to improve technical capacity, increase awareness and understanding of management of agencies to develop polices to allocate enough budget and human resources to sustain the use of EO by showing cost benefit analyses.

How can this kind of support be organised in the future?

A technical staff seconded from JAXA is at ADB to hold seminars and workshops. He is also implementing a capacity development technical assistance project for our client countries. ESA could consider seconding experts and support team to ADB to build a long-term sustainable partnership on EO for development in Asia through ADB operations.

COOPERATION & PARTNERSHIP WITH EO INDUSTRY

Do you have any views on the role we (EARSC) can play to help ADB?

EARSC could encourage European EO application providers to develop applications and joint venture business plans with Asian partners to work on Asian requirements. You could share information on these applications and business plans with ADB.

We are organising a Portal which provides information on EO products and services to different end-user communities. Do you feel this could be useful for the ADB?

It would be useful if the portal could provide web-based browsing and analysis tools on examples of projects that are relevant to ADB’s client countries. Information on costs and design of sustainability would also be useful. Collections of results of EO applications in projects in different development organizations would be also useful.

Would any further joint initiative be appropriate to raise awareness of the capabilities of the European EO services industry?

Knowledge sharing about EO applications is not enough among development agencies. It would be good if European EO services could integrate the results with different partners and hold knowledge sharing events inviting different stakeholders.

How would you advise European-based service providers, which are mainly very small but highly innovative companies, to become better integrated in such a development and cooperation projects?

EO application is an interdisciplinary approach. Providing only data is not enough. If European service providers could work with non-space sector service providers and offer total solutions to meet development needs, I think they can provide more attractive and feasible solutions.

FUTURE & SOCIETY

At the end of the interview, we would like to ask you for your overall views on the future development of the geo-information service sector, and would like to ask to give some hopefully positive messages to the members of EARSC.

With the rapid growth in the variety of EO data and services and declining price for accessing them, I believe there will be more opportunities for the geo-information and earth observation industry to support the work of development organizations like ADB. To develop practical and useful solutions, dialogue between suppliers, partners, and end-users in developing countries in Asia is very important. Building on the experiences from the pilot initiative between ESA and ADB, members of EARSC can explore bright opportunities for significant EO applications in Asia in the future.

Mr. Woochong Um is the Officer in Charge and Deputy Director General for the Regional and Sustainable Development Department of the Asian Development Bank. He is currently overseeing ADB’s climate finance program with particular focus on leveraging private sector and carbon market financing. His responsibilities also include sustainable infrastructure, gender and social development, governance and public management, environment, and safeguards. Before his appointment as Deputy Director General, Mr. Um was the Director of the Sustainable Infrastructure Division of the RSDD. Mr. Um’s portfolio of initiatives included clean energy, energy efficiency, transport, water supply and sanitation, urban development, and information and communication technology.
Prior to this, Mr. Um was a specialist in charge of managing infrastructure projects in the in the Mekong Department. Most notably, Mr. Um led a team to prepare the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric project in Lao PDR in collaboration with the World Bank. He is ADB’s focal point for dams and development issues, as well as mega urban development projects. He was also involved in various bank-wide initiatives, including the establishment of ADB’s accountability mechanism.
Before joining ADB, Mr. Um worked as the Corporate Information Systems Specialist at Pfizer Inc. in New York, and as Lead Programming Analyst at Pitney Bowes Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.
Mr. Um, a Korean, has an MBA in finance and international business from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science/Management from Boston College.

Woochong Um
+6326325935
wcum@adb.org
www.adb.org

The Hartibaciu Tableland encompasses about 2,500 square kilometers in central Romania and is home to many rare species of birds, flora, and fauna.

It is an area susceptible to flooding and landslides, is subject to development pressure, and is experiencing population growth.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in cooperation with the Danube Carpathian program and European Union, commissioned a geographic survey to create land management plan for the region.

Preserving the Habitat of Unique Species

Nearly 50 percent of Romania is covered by natural and semi-natural ecosystems. The country contains some of the largest undisturbed forest land in all of Europe and is home to about 400 unique species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. At 2,500 square kilometers, the Hartibaciu region is an important site for habitat preservation. The World Wildlife Fund will use the data derived from this survey to create a land management plan to identify preservation strategies for the region moving forward over the next ten years.

Muncons SRL Tapped by WWF for Project

Muncons SRL has been a WorldView Global Alliance reseller for three years. Muncons serves dozens of customers in government, defense and intelligence, mining, natural resources, oil and gas, and humanitarian and conservation agencies. When the WWF was seeking a partner to complete a topographical survey of the Hartibaciu region, it chose Muncons for its deep experience in high-resolution imagery projects. The ultimate goal of the project is to create land management plans and develop territorial planning guidelines in the region by integrating the components of biodiversity, conservation in territorial development, and natural resource use.|

Building a Framework for Land Management

To build the necessary framework for proper management and preservation of the land, species, and habitats, Muncons deployed DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 8-band multispectral satellite. The resulting images were used for automatic and semi-automatic habitat classification, including land, water courses, infrastructure, and developed areas such as buildings, roads and industrial zones. Muncons also created an integrated GIS solution to map species and habitats. The supplemental web portal included interactive maps of endangered species distribution, areas of vegetation, agriculture, preservation lands and environmental hazards.


Grassland classificaton map – Hartibaciu, Romania. © European Space Imaging / DigitalGlobe

“The goal was to create a comprehensive solution that the WWF, Nature 2000 and other stakeholders could use to create a far-reaching land management plan that could be used in many ways to promote conservation and preservation,” says Horia Munteanu, Director, Muncons SRL.

A Cost-Effective Solution

The use of WorldView-2’s high-resolution multispectral imagery and automatic image analysis resulted in rapid classification of habitats. The World Wildlife Fund was able to save a significant amount of money because fewer field specialists were required to complete the project.

“We provided authorities, investors and other stakeholders with a tool that allowed them to quickly, easily, and cost-effectively identify areas of endangered animal and vegetative species. We are clearly achieving the goals of increasing the involvement of a variety of stakeholders to create a land management plan to protect the environmental integrity of the region.” Horia Munteanu, Director, Muncons SRL.


Hartibaciu, Romania. © European Space Imaging / DigitalGlobe

About Muncons SRL:
Muncons SRL, a WorldView Global Alliance authorized reseller based in Romania, serves dozens of customers in government, defense and intelligence, mining, natural resources, oil and gas, and humanitarian and conservation agencies for their satellite imagery and analysis needs.

About European Space Imaging:
European Space Imaging is the leading supplier of very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery across Europe and North Africa. They are the only European satellite data provider operating a multi-mission capable ground station, enabling optimised collection strategies, flexibility and real-time weather assessments for new collections. Since 2002 European Space Imaging has continued to provide access to the most advanced VHR satellites available and related services to customers throughout their region. They are a founding member of the WorldView Global Alliance. Working closely with government and industry European Space Imaging provide optimised VHR imagery solutions to meet the diverse project requirements of their extended customer base.

CHALLENGE:
Create a solution to provide various stakeholders with the data and tools to create a comprehensive land management plan to protect the sensitive habitat of Romania’s Hartibaciu region.
SOLUTION:
European Space Imaging partner Muncons SRL deployed WorldView-2 high-resolution satellite imagery with an integrated GIS solution and web portal to develop a land management plan used by a variety of stakeholders.
RESULTS:
An accurate, cost-effective solution that has been used by the WWF and Natura 2000, the EU’s nature and biodiversity policy group to raise awareness of the environmental sensitivities of the region.
Source

DG-WWF-CS-WEB_0.pdf

(Feb 2014) By Adam Keith, director of Space and Earth Observation, Euroconsult (www.euroconsult-ec.com), Montreal, Canada.] From 2003–2012, 164 Earth observation (EO) satellites, including those for meteorology purposes, were launched by civil government and commercial entities from 32 countries. This number is expected to expand to 360 satellites from 2013–2022, generating $35.8 billion in manufacturing revenues. New government and commercial entrants also are anticipated, with 42 countries expected to launch at least a first-generation EO satellite by 2022.

Overall civil government investment in EO totaled $7.7 billion in 2012, representing four years of continued investment growth. Absolute figures show that $5.5 billion (71 percent) of total investment in 2012 was attributed to North America and Europe. However, budget pressure through austerity measures has been felt across both continents.

For example, the European Space Agency received a budget lower than requested for its EO program during the 2012 Ministerial Council, and questions still remain over the long-term funding commitments of Copernicus—formerly the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) spending on its next-generation systems also is under scrutiny and has given rise to propositions from the private sector to support meteorology and environmental monitoring data collection. NASA already cancelled two of its “Tier 1” missions in 2011 due to budget constraints.

Conversely, other regions and EO programs are growing significantly. Investments in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Middle East, Africa and Asia have been growing more strongly than the global average. Russia, India and China have ramped up their spending to support ambitious programs spanning myriad application areas. Their goal is to support national policy interests, such as autonomy in space-based applications and the continued development of a national industrial base.

In addition, emerging EO programs continue to develop as first-generation satellites advance to more capable second-generation systems, requiring increasing investment. These budget patterns will alter the EO investment landscape while vastly increasing global data supplies.

Why Invest in EO?

Space technology development often accelerates a country’s social development, with benefits for user populations, various industry sectors, education and research. Most emerging space programs have integrated the inception of their EO/space program with a wider national plan for science and technology aimed at developing a country’s high-tech industries, science and innovation, rather than aiming only at space infrastructure.

Assessing the benefits of EO requires governments to analyze national and international markets, which can help them determine system specifications. At the national level, a complete review of user requirements is essential to meet user needs and determine secure conditions for future use. Projects pushed by a government or space agency without consulting a system’s users can fail to meet those users’ needs.

Countries often begin an EO program to test and demonstrate technology. Following such initial missions, countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Algeria seek to develop next-generation satellites with operational data supply, meaning data are collected with end users in mind who return for services. By supporting other government departments, EO satellites benefit wider policy objectives within a country, such as monitoring natural resources, supporting infrastructures and strengthening defense.

Engaging end users isn’t an easy task, especially given the cost of space technology. In addition, no single EO satellite can support all sector requirements.

For example, defense users have a strong requirement for high accuracy and ground resolution, whereas resource-monitoring users focus more on wider image swath and greater spectral attributes. In all cases, end users who aren’t accustomed to using EO data require a cost-benefit analysis to ascertain the data’s value.

Ongoing Commercialization

As EO programs become more developed, data commercialization promises a return on investment. The global EO data market continues to grow, reaching a market value of $1.5 billion in 2012.

However, most revenues associated with commercial data relate to high-resolution, high-accuracy systems from companies such as Astrium and DigitalGlobe, which primarily serve government defense needs. Nonetheless, data demand also is increasing for natural resource monitoring applications, which require fewer constraints on data parameters and can be provided at a lower cost.

For example, Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency commercializes data collected by THEOS-1, and the agency is expected to commercialize THEOS-2 data. Chile intends to sell some SSOT-1 imagery, and Astrium will commercialize data from two Kazakhstan EO satellites. Although the return isn’t the same as the revenues generated by the commercial operators, revenues can provide support to next-generation systems or service development.

Technology Transfer

Another important benefit of an EO program is more affordable access to space capabilities than that of other space applications. Launching a communications payload or supporting a space science program comes at a much greater cost, which poses a dilemma in procuring an EO satellite. The lowest-cost solution is to purchase a satellite built on an established low-cost platform and payload. However, direct procurement doesn’t allow local industry to participate in development. Therefore, countries may wish to pay a higher price or use technology transfer or technology localization as a bargaining tool within the program.

South Korea is a good example of such a process. Surrey Satellite Technology contributed to the country’s Satrec Initiative by developing, jointly with Korean engineers, the Kitsat-1 satellite. The Satrec Initiative now exports to countries willing to develop their own satellites through technology transfer, such as Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Turkey has created its Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Center, following earlier technology transfer with Surrey to develop Bilsat in 2003. Other countries, such as Nigeria, Algeria and Malaysia, also are moving closer to autonomous satellite manufacturing.

Additional domestic capabilities will grow in the coming decade as countries develop satellite missions. Ultimately, new industry players will take their experiences and compete internationally for satellite manufacturing. A skilled workforce often leads to an autonomous high-tech manufacturing capability and potentially the development of a space program.

Source
Earth Imaging Journal

In February 2014, EDISOFT signed the new partner and reseller agreement with BlackBridge.

For our company, this partnership represents more than a mere continuation of a similar agreement with the formerly known RapidEye, but is expected to enable EDISOFT to boost up its activities in the GIS markets both in and beyond Portuguese borders and to offer new earth observation based services to a variety of markets such as environment, forestry, agriculture etc. as well as public security and defence.

With a constellation of five Earth Observation satellites, BlackBridge’s RapidEye satellites image up to 5 million square kilometres of Earth every day and reached 5 billion square kilometres in its archive in January this year. Apart from its traditional offer relying on an unprecedented combination of wide area repetitive coverage and five meter pixel size multi-spectral imagery, the integration of RapidEye into the BlackBridge group has stimulated the inclusion of new value-added products into the portfolio, namely country mosaics, extended ortho suit products and very recently digital surface models from Intermap NEXTMapWorld 30 DSM.

Source

(Rome, 27 February 2014) OpenGeoData Conference “Istruzioni per il RI-uso” (Instructions for Re-use), Centro Congressi Frentani

e-GEOS’s objective, commented Maranesi, in making this data available is to encourage the public sector and companies to make greater use of services and applications based on Earth Observation data, which would also benefit the public

visit the dedicated REALVISTA website

(Jan 2014) Fishing is an essential activity for the development of the territories covered by the COI, which groups France (with Reunion Island), the Union of the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles. To improve the management of its marine resources, the COI has asked CLS to set up a satellite- based fishery management system.

Under the terms of this contract, CLS will be installing a regional fishing surveillance centre at COI headquarters in Mauritius, which will enable local authorities in the sub-region to monitor the activities of about 1000 boats licensed for fishing. The contract also includes the upgrading of the National Centre in Madagascar.

Whereas the maritime fishing sector of the COI was traditionally small-scale, it has developed over the last 20 years into an important economic sector: the number of jobs has doubled, activities such as processing and exporting have been created and fishing now accounts for the second biggest export sector after agricultural production such as sugar cane farming on Reunion Island. However, the fishing industry is fragile as its resources are under heavy pressure.

In order to protect marine resources and fisheries which rely on them, the commission is relying on satellite technology and CLS, which will be setting up a regional information system for permanent communication of fishing ship positions (VMS – Vessel Monitoring System). CLS has also been called upon in this region for the detection of illegal fishing by means of satellite radar. Given the vast maritime territory covered by the COI, only satellite technology is capable of providing an all -inclusive view of off – shore fishing activities in real time.

The regional Information System will consist of a regional center for fishing surveillance which will receive real- time positions of fishing vessels operating in the exclusive economic zones of the COI. Since 2000 CLS has been working to protect marine resources in the Indian Ocean. The Toulouse – based company has already set up a system to combat illeg al fishing in the southern hemisphere, on behalf of CROSSRU. The system has proven its effectiveness as it has eradicated illegal fishing around the Kerguelen, Heard and McDonald Islands. The system will soon be extended to cover all COI territory using a SEAS-OI satellite radar imagery receiving station , installed by CLS on Reunion Island in 2010 as well as another station installed in Bali. These two stations will provide real – time access to data in these exclusive economic zones.

CLS key figures

  • 490 employees around the world including 325 in France
  • 17 offices and subsidiaries
  • Turnover:€90M in 2013 (€79M in 2012)
  • 80 data-processing instruments flown on 40 satellites
  • 15,000 radar images processed
  • 6 million locations provided each day
    Source

(5thMarch2014) Our Satellite Rapid Response System catalog has reached the incredible amount of 550.000 satellite images!!!

After 7 years of uninterruptible service we stored more than half million of images including ESA missions like ASAR and MERIS, NASA instruments like MODIS and VIIRS, EUMETSAT mission AVHRR and CSA SAR images from Radarsat2.

If you want have a look, follow this link Satellite Rapid Response