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HERNDON, Va., July 13, 2012 — GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY), a leading source of geospatial information and insight, announced that it recently signed seven-figure agreements with two international partners in the Middle East and Asia for both the renewal and expanded use of GeoEye imagery products.

The Middle East affiliate has signed a new agreement for access to GeoEye-1 sub half-meter imagery, which is the highest resolution commercial imagery available globally. This affiliate has had an ongoing agreement with GeoEye for IKONOS satellite imagery collection and distribution since 2000. The agreement with the government customer in Asia renewed their access to GeoEye-1’s highly precise imagery products. This customer has had an agreement in place for GeoEye-1 satellite imagery collection since 2009.

Both partners have indicated they will integrate GeoEye-1’s high-resolution imagery with their own systems to support regional security and peace missions.

“Both the Mideast Regional Affiliate and the Asian government customer have been trusted and valued partners for many years,” said Paolo Colombi, GeoEye’s vice president of International Sales. “We appreciate the extension of our partnerships and the expansion of our global footprint that these agreements represent. We look forward to supporting our partners’ mission critical requirements by delivering superior-quality location intelligence regarding these highly sensitive and dynamic regions of the world.”

GeoConnexion

The sixth call for proposals under the Space theme of FP7 was published on 10 July 2012.

The deadline is set on 21st November 2012 (at 17:00:00 – Brussels local time). Evaluation is foreseen in December-February 2012/2013, proposal negotiation in 2013.

In the sixth Space call, the focus is on research topics in climate change, critical technologies, Earth analogue R&D preparing for space exploration missions, space weather, and space debris and collision threats. Proposals with international cooperation are solicited in particular with China and Ukraine. SME specific research is funded to enhance technology transfer.

For further information, visit the Research & Innovation Participant Portal

(07/06/12) TRE has produced a c-band co-seismic interferogram and deformation map of the recent earthquakes that occurred on 20th and 29th May 2012 in Emilia-Romagna, Italy with magnitudes 5.9 and 5.8 respectively.

The analyses were performed using two Radarsat-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired over the area affected by the seismic swarms, both before and after the two earthquakes.

TRE has been continuously acquiring Radarsat images over the entire Italian territory since 2003, which has allowed a complete archive of imagery to be immediately available for such analyses.

The results of the analyses have been delivered to the Italian Civil Protection Authorities and the National Geological Survey for further analysis and interpretation.


Displacement map: shows the extent of ground movement that occurred between the acquisition of the two SAR images used for the analysis (learn more).


Displacement map: shows the extent of ground movement that occurred between the acquisition of the two SAR images used for the analysis (learn more).

More information

Images used in the analysis:
Date (UTC+0): Satellite: Track: Geometry
12/05/2012 (05:23): RSAT-1: 54: D
05/06/2012 (05:23): RSAT-1: 54: D

(Munich, May 23rd, 2012) GAF AG announced today that it has made a successful contribution to Ambatovy’s biodiversity programme by applying Earth observation technology to the monitoring of forest habitats. The information derived contributes significantly to knowledge about prevailing deforestation rates along Madagascar’s eastern rainforest corridor, parts of which have World Heritage status. The investigation clearly demonstrated the utility of Earth observation technology for monitoring losses and gains in biodiversity associated with large mining projects.

Ambatovy in Madagascar is one of the largest mining and processing projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. With a planned production of 60,000 tonnes of refined nickel and 5,600 tonnes of refined cobalt per year, Ambatovy will soon rank among the largest lateritic nickel mining entities in the world. The mine is located 80 km east of Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo at the southern end of the eastern rainforest corridor, an area of humid forest with unique flora and fauna. A large and complex mosaic of forest and agricultural land surrounds the mine, including the Torotorofotsy Ramsar Wetland, the Analamazoatra Special Reserve and the Mantadia National Park – all of which feature high biodiversity. The project’s industrial sites (plant, tailings management facility and harbour extension) are located 130 km to the northeast of the mine site, at the port city of Toamasina. A pipeline connects the mine to the processing plant, which transports the slurry, a mixture of ore and water. Several forest conservation areas are situated within the Ambatovy Project region. These are located around the mine site, on the pipeline corridor and in the Ankerana forest, an off-site offset area located northeast of the mine and linked to the eastern rainforest corridor.

In order to preserve the biodiversity of this unique environment, the Ambatovy Project has developed a comprehensive biodiversity mitigation and conservation plan. This includes the establishment of on-site and off-site conservation areas or “offsets”, thereby ensuring that impacts of the mining are minimised. Residual losses are offset resulting in no net loss and preferably a net gain in biodiversity over the operating time of the project.

In support of Ambatoy’s ambitious and innovative biodiversity offsets program, GAF performed a land cover analysis using recent and historic satellite data. The focus of GAF´s intervention was to evaluate prevailing forest change between 2006 and 2011 in the Ambatovy Project region and at target conservation sites. Analogue and digital land cover and land cover change maps were produced for the mine site, the pipeline corridor and the forest conservation areas. This information was then utilised to identify forest change, quantify the amount of forest loss, specify the land use classes to which forest was transformed and report on the success of conservation efforts. Data collected on-site were used for training and verification purposes.

“The investigation based on Earth observation data is a really valuable asset for our work”, said Andrew Cooke, environmental manager of the Ambatovy Project. “The data provide objective and reproducible information and enable a quantification of the results of conservation efforts. In particular for our off-site offset area, which is difficult to access, Earth observation data are the only means available for demonstrating achievement of the required biodiversity gains.”

About EIB – Luxembourg

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the financing arm of the European Union. All member states are shareholders and have jointly subscribed its capital. The aim of the institution is to provide long-term financing for investment projects inside and outside the EU that support the EU’s policy objectives. EIB is an institutional lender to the Ambatovy Project and has provided start-up financing for the monitoring programme described in this announcement under a tri-partite MoU between EIB, LuxSpace and Ambatovy.
More information is available at: www.eib.org

About LuxSpace – Luxembourg

LuxSpace is a daughter company of OHB AG of Bremen, Germany and located at Betzdorf in Luxembourg. The company provides expertise, products and services to the European and global institutional and industrial market in the fields of space and defence system engineering and application development. In the frame of the project, LuxSpace operated as the interface between the EIB, the Ambatovy Project and GAF, assisting EIB in the control and quality assurance of the service implemented.
More information is available at: www.luxspace.lu

About the Ambatovy Project/Madagascar

Ambatovy is a multi-national mining and processing enterprise with four joint-venture partners: Sherritt International Corporation of Canada, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, Korea Resources Corporation and SNC-Lavalin Incorporated of Canada. The project is supported financially by 14 lenders including government-sponsored export credit agencies, international development banks (including the EIB) and commercial banks from around the world, several of which are Equator Banks and require compliance with IFC performance standards on social and environmental sustainability. The Project’s aim is to develop and operate a nickel and cobalt mine and simultaneously adhere to stringent environmental and social requirements. Ambatovy has provided in-country logistical and technical support for GAF’s assignment and is committed to maintaining the forest monitoring program initiated by the EIB and LuxSpace.

More information is available at: www.ambatovy.com

About GAF – Munich/Germany

GAF AG, an e-GEOS-Telespazio company, is a globally active business with an international reputation as a skilled service provider. GAF designs, manages and implements projects and services in the fields of geo-information, satellite remote sensing and GIS consultancy for public and private clients. Over the past 26 years, GAF has been active in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia.

More information is available at: www.gaf.de

Contact details:
GAF AG | Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0 | www.gaf.de | info@gaf.de

Korea will start a new system in 2018 to monitor environmental conditions by launching the world’s first satellite for monitoring climate change over the Korean Peninsula.

The Environment Ministry and the National Institute of Environment Research said Monday in a statement, “We have recently begun to develop an earth environment satellite to monitor climate change and air pollution in Northeast Asia.”

The ministry said the U.S. and Europe observe air pollution and global warming via a low-earth orbit satellite. It floats about 700 kilometers above the Earth’s surface and its orbit crosses the Arctic and the Antarctic. Therefore, it can seamlessly monitor air pollution in a region and its movement as well as climate change patterns.

For more information click here

Source: The Dong-A Ilbo

(10 May 2012) US: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) released its latest Broad Agency Announcement (DARPA-BAA-12-35) for the programme, Space Enabled Effects for Military Engagements (SeeMe). Bidders will be competing for approximately USD 45 million to be distributed via multiple awards.

The goal of this programme is to provide needed on-demand imagery directly to the warfighter in the field from a very-low-cost satellite constellation in a timely manner. Such a programme will fill current gaps in critical information prior to, during and after military engagements.

There are obvious significant advantages in closing this information gap with persistent coverage and on-demand delivery in terms of driving up mission success probability and reducing personnel risk.

If successful, the SeeMe programme will provide reliable and persistent information by using small, short-lived, very-low-cost satellites at very low altitudes, integrated into existing communications systems and handheld platforms.

The challenge here is to provide full constellation coverage over a selected latitude band at a cost that is only a fraction of current airborne costs. This roughly translates into a satellite unit cost of no more than USD 500,000, exclusive of launch and ground operations.

Today, the warfighter in the field is unable to obtain on-demand satellite imagery in a timely manner due to unavailability of satellite over-flight opportunities, lack of information distribution channels, prioritization conflicts, and/or classification restrictions. The BAA pointed out: “At the same time, insurgents that operate against US warfighters worldwide have the ability to utilize commercial imagery services to obtain information, effectively providing them with an asymmetric advantage.”

Source: “Space Daily”;http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/DARPA_SeeMe_Program_Has_Arrived_999.html

(1June2012) The launch is expected to occur upon the conclusion of current negotiations between Russian and Kazakh officials over drop zone issues.


“We are confident that the authorities of both countries involved will resolve their remaining issues in the near term and that the launch will proceed with minimal delay,” said Peter Mabson, President of exactEarth. “We are excited about strengthening our constellation with EV1, which will be the highest performance commercial AIS satellite ever launched.”

EV1 is one of two exactEarth satellites expected to be launched in 2012, with two additional launches scheduled for 2013. exactEarth also continues to pursue other options and initiatives to further enhance overall system capacity and data service quality.

About exactEarth Ltd.

Based in Cambridge, ON, exactEarth Ltd. is a data services company that leverages advanced microsatellite technology to deliver monitoring solutions characterized by high performance, reliability, security, and simplicity. exactEarth’s service, exactAIS, is a global vessel tracking and monitoring system based on world leading satellite-based advanced AIS detection technology. exactEarth is jointly owned by Com Dev International Ltd (TSX: CDV) and Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos S.A.

(source: exactEarth)

News on Oil traces on satellite images, Satellite-based monitoring, Space imagery realities and prospects, Space crowdsourcing… etc

(2012-07-13) Oil traces on satellite images of the Novorossiysk bay

(2012-07-13) Symbols of the millennium are painted on the building roofs in near Moscow

(2012-07-12) Satellite-based monitoring: no serious changes in Neberjaevskoye water reservoir surface area detected

(2012-07-12) “Space imagery realities and prospects: materials of the “Earth from Space…” magazine, issue #12, are available now”:http://www.scanex.ru/en/news/News_Preview.asp?id=n15313781

(2012-07-09) Internet and information openness symbols are being painted on the roofs of the Rumyantsevo business-park in Moscow Region

(2012-07-04) Space crowdsourcing: search for An-2 plane is ongoing

(2012-06-30) ScanEx RDC – the GeoEye’s Top International Performer for the second year in a row

(2012-06-01) Symbols of the millennium festival: final composition for the roof is ready

(2012-06-01) Blooming Black Sea. Satellite data

(Publish Date: 15 May 2012) Abuja, Nigeria: The newly-launched earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2, is now set for commercial activities.

Director-general of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Mohammed Seidu disclosed this on Friday in Abuja, adding that Nigeria’s first satellite in orbit NigeriaSat-1 is to be decommissioned soon.

Seidu, who was giving a rundown of the activities of NASRDA, said the testing of Sat-2, launched in August 2011, had been completed and commercial activities would take off soon.

Seidu, declared the agency’s current financial status as the most poorly funded among its contemporaries globally, said Nigeria would be saved over two billion dollars on high resolution imagery annually by NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X.

He said that NASRDA was currently proposing a policy to the National Assembly which would compel companies within Nigeria to first patronise Nigerian space technologies and only look outside when the technology was not in Nigeria.

The director general, who did not disclose the specific time for decommissioning NigeriaSat-1 and the takeoff of commercial activities for the NigeriaSat-2, cited security reasons as why he could not divulge the information.

Nigeria became the third African country to have a presence in space after South Africa and Algeria with the launch of NigeriaSat- 1.

Source: Xinhua

(June 2012) UK consortium to help fight global deforestation through REDD+

UK satellite imaging company DMCii has successfully led a multi-disciplinary consortium to win a place on the Department for International Development (DfID) Forest Governance Markets and Climate (FGMC) Framework Agreement. This means they will be able to bid for projects to monitor forest governance and deforestation globally, and its effects on local communities.

Coordinating a constellation of remote Earth observation satellites, DMCii has the unique capability to survey and classify vast areas of forest and to monitor changes in land use over time. This highly effective imaging system has been employed by the Brazilian space agency (INPE) since 2005, helping the authorities to quantify deforestation in the Amazon Basin and pro-actively intervene to deter illegal logging – itself advising the consortium. It is this expertise that has been crucial in helping the consortium win a place on the framework agreement.

Professor Jim Lynch, DMCii Forestry Director, commented, “We are delighted to have been accepted to the FGMC – helping reduce poverty in developing countries while combating climate change is the reason we formed our consortium. We look forward to addressing the many challenges of such rewarding and innovative projects.”

The UK’s FGMC programme supports developing countries in strengthening their governance of forest resources. Under the FGMC Framework, the consortium can now compete for projects to monitor land use and forests, to understand and build methods for forest protection, to introduce a financial results-based payment system for carbon, and to analyse the impact of forest management scenarios. This could help support communities whose livelihoods depend on forest resources, whilst supporting broader UK efforts to Reduce Emissions Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and the EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan.

The inFORm consortium comprises commercial and academic partners, providing a nucleus of relevant expertise with which to develop local capabilities and support for sustainable forest management in communities around the world. Members complement each other with skills such as forest mapping, deforestation assessment, broad ranging Earth observation technologies, carbon accounting, timber tracking, policy development, new ideas for financial environmental markets – and a proven track record in the development of native capabilities in countries such as Colombia, D.R Congo, Indonesia and Nigeria.

Notes to editor:
1. Find out more about REDD+ here http://www.un-redd.org/
2. DMCii press releases can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/dmciipr and satellite imagery is available upon request.
3. The consortium is made up of:
DMCii International Imaging Ltd: Satellite Data and value-added services provider and consortium lead.
• Helveta: Leader in supply chain and asset management software.
• World Resources Institute: Non-profit environmental think tank with goal of protecting the Earth and improving people’s lives.
• Astrium GeoServices: Provider of radar/optical data, GIS products and services.
• University of Leicester: University leading in research into the nature and dynamics of human-environmental systems.
• University of Surrey: The inter-disciplinary Centre for Environmental Strategy (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) has a global focus, and works closely with the Faculty of Management and Law.
• Carbon Auditors: Expert in carbon monitoring and verification in Land Use Change and Forestry sector.
• Z/Yen: Commercial think tank promoting societal advancement through finance and technology.
• Quarry One Eleven: Geospatial sales and marketing agency.
4. DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK-based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMCii’s data is used extensively in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping. In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the Disaster Monitoring Constellation with the support of the UK Space Agency and in conjunction with the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation Consortium member nations listed above.

DMC International Imaging Ltd is not affiliated in any way with Intergraph Corp., Z/I Imaging Corp., or their registered trade mark DMC.