Skip to content

When one hears of space technology, one probably immediately thinks of Neil Armstrong or The Star Wars. But recent developments in the field have shown just how beneficial space technology through remote sensing can be for agriculture. …(from businessdayonline)

Perhaps the most common and widely known way in which space technology can be used for agriculture is through weather forecasting and climate change analytics. This information, which also ascertains the impact of erosion, floods and droughts, is useful to enable farmers increase productivity by adjusting their farming practices accordingly. The implications for food security – one major goal in African agriculture – are enormous.

Remote sensing – using aerial technologies to detect, classify and analyse soils, landforms and other objects on earth – can be used to acquire estimates of crop production as well as identify saline soils. Remote sensing can also be used to map out wastelands, monitor them and provide useful information on how these lands can be reclaimed. Satellites can be a useful source of information when it comes to the diversification and intensification of crops and correct planning of planting and husbandry projects. In the area of fisheries, fisheries zones can be mapped out based on the chemical composition and temperature of water bodies. Interpretation of these data will have useful commercial implications for fishermen.

In its most developed form, space technology can be used for precision agriculture – a high-tech way of generating data on optimal levels of soil input by using space and other biotechnologies. For example, informatics can provide insight on the levels of pesticides, fertilisers, weeds, etc in relation to the crop and soil requirements and characteristics. These can lead to near-accurate prescriptions on the best way to improve yield and effectively manage and maximise the soil.

In line with its National Space Policy, Nigeria has launched three earth observation remote sensing satellites NigeriaSat-1, NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, which all can be used for agriculture. This was done with an aim to use space technology to alleviate poverty and “[promote] food security through [the] efficient exploitation and management of the nation’s natural resources.” Furthermore, in the Vision 20:2020 agenda, a special focus has been given to the “intensive use of satellite imagery to predict weather and/or climatic changes that affect agricultural production.”

But this has not been all rhetoric. So far, the Nigerian Space Agency (NASRDA) has developed several initiatives to use satellite technology for agricultural development, in collaboration with a host of national and international institutions. This has led to various developments on the agricultural front. These include: (i) The development of the Fadama Land Information Systems (FLIMS) to boost rice production in Nigeria: This project was conducted in collaboration with the Satellite Application Centre and the Centre for Industrial and Scientific Research located in South Africa; (ii) The development of models for cassava yield predictions which was achieved through the joint effort of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan; (iii) An assessment of environmental and other relevant factors for optimum and improved cocoa production conducted in partnership with Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State; (iv) The mapping out of nomads’ routes and grazing reserves across the country in a bid to resolve infringements and other social conflicts between the farmers and the nomads. The University of Ibadan has been a key partner in this project; (v) The implementation of the NigeriaSat-1 and other satellite data to assist farming systems – a joint effort involving National Cereal Research Institute as well as the IITA. These data have also been used to develop early warning systems for food security in the country with the help of the University of Nigeria Nsukka.

But, do all these projects translate into practical results for agriculture? According to Timiebi Aganaba, a Nigerian analyst with Euroconsult, a space consulting firm based in Montreal Canada, while there are many examples of successful projects in Nigeria where satellite technology has been used for food security, “the challenge is to move from pilot projects to operational services that can impact society in a practical way.”

In an interview with Aganaba, she shared the following thoughts: “India is a good example of a developing country that successfully uses space technology beyond the pilot phase for the development of agriculture. For example, following the success of the Crop Acreage and Production Estimates (CAPE) project, which used remote sensing data from satellite sensors to forecast acreage and yield of kharif rice and wheat grown in India, the methodologies developed were standardised for integration into the main system leading to pre-harvest acreage and production estimates being derived every season for up to eleven main crops and disseminated to the ministry of agriculture for use in policy decision making. I believe the steps Nigeria is taking in this regard are important steps which can be translated into practical benefits for the agricultural sector.”

Given the Indian emerging success story, it is evident that this challenge is not insurmountable for Nigeria. But as with any other bureaucratic institution in Nigeria, care must be taken to ensure that certain structures do not undermine institutional capacity to make timely decisions with great impact at the grassroots level. It is important for all key stakeholders to be brought together under an umbrella at this stage in order to effectively map out turf and strengths of each. Moving to the next level will also require a lot of funding and success will depend, in part, on how much funds are available and how effectively they are allocated for research and development. Furthermore, this endeavour should be closely aligned with the present presidential initiative – the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) – in order to effectively reach farming communities according to their needs, adequately exploit existing resources and technologies, and maximise the impact of these two programmes.

All in all, these inroads into space technology are a welcome development for Nigeria. It is hoped that through thorough planning and effective implementation, these developments will change millions of lives and livelihoods, conferring on Nigeria the status of a food secure and self-sustaining nation and, ultimately, a food basket of the continent.

Source

e-GEOS, an ASI/Telespazio (Finmeccanica/Thales) company, has been named “Earth Observation Operator of the Year 2011” by Euroconsult, the leading global research and analyst firm specializing in the satellite sector. The award was presented to Marcello Maranesi, e-GEOS’ Chief Executive Officer, at the 4th Symposium on Earth Observation, held on September 13-14 in the French capital during World Satellite Business Week.

The award is made annually by Euroconsult based on an analysis of the performance and contribution of companies and their management to innovation and development in the Earth Observation sector. The “Earth Observation Operator of the Year” award was conferred on e-GEOS by a panel of experts chosen by Euroconsult, who assessed companies on both quantitative (financial performance, revenues) and qualitative criteria (business strategy, innovation, international partnerships and infrastructure development).

For e-GEOS, the award is international recognition of the work, expertise and dedication of the its employees, who have helped make the company one of the global leaders in the geospatial information sector.

e-GEOS was established for the worldwide commercialization of data and applications of the COSMO-SkyMed system, a radar satellite constellation financed by the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defense. e-GEOS has inherited Telespazio’s 35-year expertise and knowhow in Earth Observation, as well as acquiring Eurimage’s commercial capabilities.

Today e-GEOS, together with its German subsidiary GAF, is a leader in Europe for services provided to the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Programme; particularly for maritime surveillance, emergency response, land mapping and for the acquisition and processing of Sentinel satellites data. All this is made possible by a growth strategy which has prioritized investments for the development of applications and services.

For the future, e-GEOS is working closely with the Italian Space Agency and Telespazio on the development of the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, a constellation that in a few years will provide advanced application solutions in support of integrated telecommunications services, satellite navigation, and Earth Observation.

Source Eurospace & Geoplace

(20 September 2012) The international space organisation that makes timely satellite data available to rescue authorities is now offering ‘Universal Access’ to the data for emergency response purposes, strengthening its contribution to disaster management worldwide.

Founded by ESA and the French and Canadian space agencies, the Charter is an international collaboration between the owners and operators of Earth observation missions. It provides rapid access to satellite data to help disaster management authorities in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

Through the Charter, satellite data were used to create maps and aid rescue efforts following disasters such as the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the February 2011 earthquake in New Zealand and the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Building on over a decade of success in making satellite data available to users for disaster response, the International Charter is now opening its doors even wider.

To do this, the Charter has adopted the principle of universal access: any national disaster management authority will be able to submit requests to the Charter for emergency response. Proper procedures will have to be followed, but the affected country will not have to be a Charter member.

Universal access benefits national disaster management authorities in countries – beyond those of the 14 Charter members – that were previously unable to make direct requests to the Charter during emergency situations.

National disaster management authorities interested in participating in the Charter will be required to complete a registration form. The entire application process is explained in the Universal Access Information Brochure available together with its registration form.

This process will validate the ability of national authorities to access and use Charter assets for disaster response, in accordance with Charter operational procedures.

(source: ESA)

(18 September 2012) A grant of INR 50 crore has been sanctioned for developing India’s geo-imaging satellite or GISAT. The 1,000-kg satellite will be put in space by a PSLV rocket. GISAT will provide images of the areas of interest on near real time basis. It will also keep a watch over the country’s sensitive borders.

GISAT will be fixed in a geo-stationary orbit, always looking over the same region and synchronised to the earth’s 24-hour rotation. GISAT will provide images every five minutes unlike other remote-sensing satellites, which view a particular area for barely ten minutes and do not visit the same place for the next one, three or five days

A 2012-13 Budget grants document for the Department of Space describes GISAT as a “multi-spectral, multi-resolution advanced remote sensing satellite.” Its nearly real-time imagery can speed up authorities’ response to calamities and troubles to almost immediately, Tapan Misra, Deputy Director at SAC’s Microwave Remote Sensors Area, told The Hindu.

Its electronically steerable camera can ‘see’ as small as a 60-metre area from its height of 36,000 km. It will be a marvel up there compared to what ISRO’s low-flying Earth observation satellites can do with their fine resolutions of 2 m, 1m and even less than one metre, said Misra.

“A single early-warning satellite, giving you constant, complete coverage of the country, is unique,” according to Dr. V.Jayaraman, former Director at ISRO’s Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre.

It would complement the advanced meteorology and remote-sensing satellite, Insat-3D, due to be launched in December this year, said Dr. Jayaraman, who was earlier Director, Earth Observation, ISRO.

GISAT, Misra said, will be built on ISRO’s technologies that went into Cartosat and Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) — “both of which were big technology leaps for the country.”

Source: The Hindu and geospatial World

(14 September 2012) By P. de Selding, Spacenews. Operators of three small commercial Earth observation satellite systems on Sept. 14 said they expect a negative impact on their business from the coming flood of free data from U.S. Landsat and future European Sentinel satellites, but that they are confident they can adapt to preserve their businesses.

Owners of the five-satellite RapidEye AG system of Germany, the five- or six-satellite DMC International Imaging of Britain and Spain’s one-satellite Deimos all will feel the effects of U.S. and European government policies that provide Landsat and Sentinel low- and medium-resolution satellite imagery free of charge as a way to stimulate value-added markets.

All three companies are focusing on differentiating their products to provide customers with value beyond the raw imagery coming off the free-access systems.

“The Sentinel and Landsat data coming onto the market will affect our sales, no doubt about it,” said Ryan Johnson, chief executive of Brandenburg-based RapidEye.

Addressing the World Satellite Business Week conference here, organized by Euroconsult, Johnson said RapidEye is adapting its commercial offer to focus on the system’s strength, which is collecting wide-area imagery in short order using the constellation’s full capacity.

He said RapidEye recently decided to end its practice of providing land-use assessments for agricultural customers, concluding that this is a chore best left to customers. RapidEye will focus on providing the raw data.

Ryan arrived at RapidEye in 2011 as part of a group of new owners that purchased the company following its financial reorganization under German bankruptcy law. He said revenue has nearly tripled in the past two years, to around 35 million euros ($45 million) anticipated this year.

Ryan said the business has not yet generated the amount of predictable recurring revenue that would enable it to finance a second-generation constellation without outside backing. An annual revenue haul of around 50 million euros, he said, would be sufficient to fund the business including eventual replacement satellites.

“A second-generation constellation is a high-risk investment,” Ryan said, adding that the company does not have much in-house expertise in purchasing and launching satellites. As an alternative, he said, RapidEye might determine that it should forgo the idea of operating its own satellites in favor of making bulk purchases of data from other satellite constellations.

RapidEye’s current satellites are expected to operate until 2018, meaning that the investment in a second generation of satellites could wait until 2014.

Ryan said that in the near term RapidEye hopes to take advantage of the expected merger of the two principal satellite Earth observation companies, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., and GeoEye Inc. of Herndon, Va., by hiring some of the employees likely to be dismissed when the merger occurs.

DMC Imaging International, a subsidiary of Guildford, England-based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., operates a five- or six-satellite constellation that distributes data free to governments and aid agencies in emergencies, and sells data on the commercial market otherwise.

DMC Imaging International’s core product is 20-meter-resolution wide-swath images for a market that overlaps RapidEye’s. The company’s managing director, David Hodgson, said 2011 revenue was about 35 million British pounds ($56 million.

Hodgson said that amount of revenue is sufficient to fund the business and to invest, when needed, in replacement capacity. He said he expected revenue for 2012 to increase by 20 percent over 2011.

A second-generation DMC constellation of three satellites providing 1-meter imagery in panchromatic mode is scheduled for launch in 2014 following the agreement of a Chinese company to guarantee the purchase of $170 million of imagery.

Spain’s Deimos Group, which operates a single satellite with a 20-meter resolution in color and a swath width of 620 kilometers, generated about 5 million euros in revenue in 2011, a figure that covers the company’s costs, said Deimos Group Managing Director Miguel Bello Mora.

Mora said Europe’s Sentinel 2 medium-resolution optical satellite, set for launch in 2014, “will take some of our business, that’s for sure,” and that the addition of the Deimos-2 high-resolution satellite in late 2013 should help diversify the company’s portfolio.

Deimos-2 will carry a 75-centimeter-resolution imager provided by Satrec Initiative of South Korea. Spain’s government-owned Inta will perform satellite integration of the 300-kilogram Deimos-2. Deimos has booked a launch aboard the Dnepr converted ballistic missile operated by Kosmotras of Moscow.

Deimos’ corporate parent, Elecnor of Madrid, has agreed to underwrite much of the 60 million euros in anticipated Deimos-2 costs, a figure that includes the satellite’s construction, launch and insurance. Spain’s Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade is picking up 20 percent of Deimos’ costs.

Deimos-2 will have a 12-kilometer-diameter swath and be able to swivel 30 degrees off nadir to each side, and 45 degrees in the event of a special order.

Source

The highest resolution image ever published of a city at night is helping German researchers measure how much light comes from different types of land use

Researchers from Berlin have published an 878 megapixel aerial mosaic image of Berlin at night. With one pixel per square meter, the resulting map is the highest resolution image ever published of a city at night. The ecologists from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and physicists from Freie Universität Berlin used the image to measure how much light comes from different types of land use areas, such as streets or parks. Their findings were recently published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. The mosaic image is freely downloadable at the PANGAEA data publisher.

The scientists are studying light pollution, the modification of natural light levels in the nocturnal environment due to artificial light from cities.. Their goals are to understand both what the sources of upwards directed light are, and to identify patterns in the distribution of the lights. To do this, they stitched together a total of 2647 aerial photographs taken from the research aircraft of Freie Universität Berlin’s Institute for Space Sciences. The photos were taken in a series of 14 tracks at 3 km above the city in September of 2010.

A total of 42 percent of Berlin’s area, including all of the city’s central neighborhoods, was analyzed by comparing the light emitted from each point to land use information about the city. The scientists found that more than one third of the upward directed light came from streets, which are lit by streetlights, auto headlights, and advertisements. The city’s sources of light were found to be unevenly distributed, with half of the total light coming from only one quarter of its area. Part of the reason for this is that Berlin still contains large unlit areas such as the Havel River, Grunewald, and Tempelhofer Park. The researchers noted that these areas are important dark resources for nocturnal animals. In total, the researchers found that such natural areas accounted for almost one third of the study area, but emitted only 6 percent of the total light.

The research was funded by two interdisciplinary projects, MILIEU (Freie Universität Berlin) and “Verlust der Nacht,” a joint project of Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and Freie Universität Berlin. “Verlust der Nacht” is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Senate Department for Economics, Technology, and Research.

Source

There’s now a quick and easy way to check that your data is right, rather than waiting for a problem to tell you it’s not. What’s more, this service is completely free of charge.

Dotted Eyes, one of the UK’s leading GIS service providers, is pleased to announce the launch of yet another valuable service on its cloud platform – MISO. Data Validator, delivered in partnership with 1Spatial, is a new validation service that means not only can you get your data prepared, styled and optimised on MISO but you can now get it validated too.

Data Validator makes data quality accessible to you without any cost of ownership or on-going fees! It also enables you to have real confidence in the data you use and share, saving you the headache of discovering data problems once a project is well underway, by which point a data fix can be significantly trickier and take much longer to resolve than if it had been identified at the outset.

Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes, commented: “We’re delighted to be partnering with 1Spatial to deliver this highly valuable service to our customers, especially as it brings Dotted Eyes another step closer to making MISO a one stop shop for all your data needs. It also fits perfectly with MISO’s goal to make a GIS professional’s life easier by giving them real confidence in the data they use.

“We look forward to developing further exciting solutions with 1Spatial.”

Duncan Guthrie, Strategic Alliance Director at 1Spatial, commented: “Dotted Eyes have been a trusted and highly valuable supplier of solutions to the Government market place for a number of years. Their understanding of the market’s needs is exceptional and we are extremely pleased to be working in partnership with them. Leveraging 1Spatial’s powerful, cloud based rules engine for data validation within the MISO environment is a perfect fit and delivers the first of a number of business focused applications.”

To find out more about Data Validator or MISO, please contact Dotted Eyes on info@dottedeyes.com or +44 (0) 121 232 8000.

Source

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, August 27, 2012 – RapidEye, the leader in high-resolution, wide area repetitive coverage of Earth through its constellation of satellites, announced today that it is part of the Natural Resources Imagery Grant Program along with Esri, PCI Geomatics and MDA.

The grant program will provide software, data, and training for detecting and analyzing land-cover change through the combined use of geographic information system (GIS), image processing, and remote-sensing technologies.

The aim of the program is to foster innovative approaches that solve natural resource management problems. A total of 20 grants will be awarded, valued at $100,000 each and includes:

  • Esri GIS software and training
  • PCI Geomatics imagery processing and analysis software and training
  • MDA RADARSAT-2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery
  • RapidEye 5-meter multispectral imagery

Applications for the Natural Resources Imagery Grant Program will be accepted beginning in September 2012 and ending November 16, 2012. Additional information can be found at http://www.esri.com/grants/image-grant-program/.

About RapidEye
RapidEye is a provider of quality high-resolution satellite imagery and derived geo-information products. With a constellation of five Earth Observation satellites, RapidEye images over 4 million square kilometers of Earth every day, and has amassed over 2 billion square kilometers in its archive in just over two years of commercial operation. With an unprecedented combination of wide area repetitive coverage and five meter pixel size multi-spectral imagery, RapidEye is an obvious and cost-effective choice for many industries and government agencies.

Contact
RapidEye AG
Molkenmarkt 30
14776 Brandenburg a. d. Havel,
Germany
marketing@rapideye.com

Source

(29th August 2012) DHI hosted a conference themed “Best Environmental Practices for the Marine Industry” last 24-25th September 2012 in Singapore.

GRAS was chairing a dedicated remote sensing session where applications of earth observation data relevant to the wider maritime industry were presented. Applications included operational satellite observations for EIA’s, estimation of metocean conditions from satellites and mapping of bathymetry from satellites.

The main purpose of this conference was to present and discuss planning and operational tools and methods required to work with the environment and develop more sustainable solutions for the maritime industry. The conference participants were managers, professionals and researchers working within the wider maritime industry, who were involved in planning, construction and operation of ports and other coastal and offshore structures.

Read more about the conference here

Source

(August 2012). GRAS is increasing the level of activity within the Oil & Gas industry offering mapping and monitoring services based on earth observation data. Remote sensing is relevant in all stages of the oil & gas lifecycle, including exploration, appraisal, development, production and restoration.

Examples of services currently provided to companies in the O&G industry are; * Suspended sediments baseline mapping and operational monitoring * Shallow water habitats and bathymetry mapping * Coastline dynamics assessment * Inland vegetation and land cover mapping * Detailed change detection within upstream activity areas

By applying remote sensing analyses knowledge and insight into long term dynamics can be achieved in a cost-effective manner. For baseline purposes a satellite based approach is often the only way to access information about historical conditions in a project area, including long term trends, seasonal and inter-annual variations, frequency of extreme events and sources and nature of suspended matter.

Furthermore, earth observation satellites facilitate instantaneous and systematic mapping of large areas. This enables the user to monitor both the dynamics of ocean parameters such as chlorophyll-a or suspended sediment concentrations and coastal changes including bathymetry and submerged vegetation.
In onshore areas land cover maps can assist in searching for surface indicators of subsurface oil and gas as well as generating up to date topographic maps for planning of seismic surveys for exploration drilling. Moreover, the access to historical data and the continued supply of new image data allow clients to monitor existing facilities and assess environmental conditions within operational areas.

Source