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A consortium led by GeoVille has been awarded an ESA contract to develop a methodology for the extraction of small linear features from high resolution satellite images (IMAGE2006).

The resulting data will be used for monitoring small landscape elements as part of the EEA’s environmental assessments of ecosystem services and Green Infrastructure.

Source

News about: Support To Topology, Filling the gap in landscape mapping or Gisat contribution to EEA-FOEN report on landscape fragmentatoin in Europe


Support To Topology

How to use topological relationships and rules during image classification?

The need of classifying remotely sensed images and characterize the image informative contents in terms of objects and their characteristics is becoming an urgent problem to solve for Earth Observation discipline, especially with the support of automated tools. The more the resolution of satellite sensors increases and the more the level of detail becomes higher and higher; not only the identification and characterization of the smallest possible object that can be detected in one image is important, but also the possibility to correctly group together small objects to create larger and more complex objects is of paramount importance.

The Support to TOpology (STO) project aims at analysing the latter aspect, identifying from users the needs and the methodologies to group together simple objects, and analysing them with experts in the topology domain to verify how the user requests can be satisfied with the theoretical topological approach.

STO is an research project run in the frame of ESA’s Basic Technology Research Programme (TRP). The project consortia is led by SISTEMA GmbH (Austria) having three research partners: UNIAQ (Department of Electrical and Information Engineering of the University of L‟Aquila, Italy), UBA (Austrian Environment Agency) and Gisat (Czech Republic).

Find more information at ESA project website rssportal

Filling the gap in landscape mapping

Gisat participates in the ESA project aiming at mapping of landscape linear features structure

Thanks to the recent developments in the GMES Land monitoring domain several pan-European mapping projects will be run to complement Corine Land Cover dataset. They have thematic focus to bring more detailed and more accurate spatial information about sealed areas, forest, grassland, wetlands and water bodies. However, none of them deals with monitoring of landscape small linear features (SLF). The missing information about this aspect of the European landscape represents for EEA a considerable data gap in its integrated assessment approach.

Linear features structure landscape in different ways, playing altogether and in different proportions the roles of connector, interface and habitat, and often of barrier. This is true for rivers, the borders of different systems as well as for transport networks. In that respect, the small linear features, natural (small streams, riparian forests) as well as artificial (hedgerows, small walls or lanes bordering fields…) are an important component of landscape diversity and biodiversity.

GeoVille (AT) together with Gisat have responded to the need of European Environment Agency (EEA) to acquire additional land cover dataset with specific focus on landscape small linear features. The proposal has been submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA) in the frame of the Value Added Element of the EO Envelope Programme. The main goal of the project is to set-up prototype mapping service to detect and categorize small linear features based on EO imagery. The products will be developed in close collaboration with EEA so that they may be directly ingested into the analysis and environmental models run by the EEA’s experts.


Example of the grid based Landscape heterogeneity index

The pilot mapping will be run on several test sites in different bio-geographic regions selected by EEA. From the temporal point of view, change potential of service will be demonstrated using IMAGE2006 and IMAGE2009 datasets. The service aims to allow consistent and comparable temporal analysis on user defined analytical units by change indicator. Small linear features project results are expected to play an important role in the EEA activities related to the land monitoring information system and in land and ecosystem accounting.

Fragmented Europe

Gisat participated on the award winning EEA-FOEN report on ‘Landscape fragmentation in Europe’.

Gisat has cooperated, in the frame of the European Topic Center for Spatial Information and Analysis (ETCSIA), in three years project recently published as the joint EEA-FOEN report by EEA in September. This report is the result of collaboration between the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). The Swiss FOEN provided funding for the work on this report, with contributions from the EEA via ETCSIA. The report takes the method of fragmentation analysis that has previously been applied to Switzerland, where the results are used in various monitoring systems, and applies it to 28 countries in Europe. For the first time, this report presents the extent of landscape fragmentation across an entire continent using a scientifically sound method. It also reveals the most relevant driving forces behind fragmentation, demonstrating that varying factors are relevant in different parts of Europe. This report provides a foundation for environmental monitoring and protective measures for those landscapes that are not yet fragmented. The problem of landscape fragmentation is considered by the recently-adopted European Union Strategy on Biodiversity and Ecosystems, where green infrastructure features prominently

More about the EEA Report No 2/2011

Meanwhile, the report has been already awarded with the Infra Eco Network Europe (IENE) Project Award 2011. IENE is a European network of authorities, institutes and experts involved in the phenomena of habitat fragmentation caused by the construction and use of linear transport infrastructure, especially roads, railways and canals (waterways). It addresses decision makers, planners and researchers as well as the public, by providing an international and interdisciplinary arena to encourage and enable cross-boundary cooperation in research, mitigation and planning. More information concerning the award can be found on CBM.

Source Gisat

New NSR Report Forecasts EO Market to Grow to $10.5 Billion Over Next Decade

CAMBRIDGE, MA — (Marketwire) — 10/06/11 — NSR’s Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 3rd Edition, released today, indicates that last year the global Earth Observation (EO) market grew by 9% and is set to grow to $10.5 billion by 2020.

“Despite uncertainty created by the current budget crisis and financial debt of many countries, and the fact that a privately-funded EO operator recently went bankrupt, EO satellite operators have been growing their revenues lately,” said Claude Rousseau, Senior Analyst for NSR and report author. “With 14 new satellites offering commercial data in the coming three years that are driven by higher resolution imagery demand, sub-meter imagery is set to become the primary source of revenues in the industry, more than doubling in the coming decade,” he added.

Commoditization of space technologies is also dropping the average price tag of a high-performance satellite to less than $100 million. With the lower price tag and the quicker turn around, private sector companies and countries with developing space programs find entering the EO market a more attractive proposal.

Major programs such as the NGA’s EnhancedView or the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) of the EU are large contributors to the market revenues, but may also be a target for cuts as their justification could be questioned within larger government spending reduction efforts.

Government policies will also play a role in the EO market. Regulations that limit high-resolution data distribution to third parties, policies to freely give away EO data from publicly-funded satellites and export controls of satellite technologies are all actively affecting the EO market.

Even if satellite imagery prices have fallen over the past decade, depending on the resolution and type of imagery and the region, data revenues have grown, and these should be even higher than Value-Added Services (VAS) for part of the next decade due to the NGA EnhancedView contract kicking into higher gear when new satellites are launched.

About the Report

Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 3rd Edition is a multi-client report now available from NSR. The report provides a complete and comprehensive analysis of demand trends for the EO market in all regions and forecasts operational satellites and new satellite manufacturing revenues, as well as EO data and VAS revenues for the government/military and commercial markets for the period 2010-2020.

About NSR

NSR is an international market research and consulting firm specializing in satellite and wireless technology and applications. NSR’s primary areas of expertise include emerging technology, IP applications, and broadcast services. With extensive expertise in all regions and a number of broadband sectors, NSR is a leading provider of in-depth market insight and analyses.

Copyright @ Marketwire
Source and Source

(3 October 2011) DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions, and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. jointly announced today they successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for DigitalGlobe’s next generation remote-sensing satellite, WorldView-3.

The successful CDR was completed in late August and keeps WorldView-3 on schedule for a planned launch in the middle of 2014. WorldView-3 will expand DigitalGlobe’s orbiting constellation to four remote-sensing satellites, all of which were manufactured by Ball Aerospace.

“As they have so many times in the past, Ball continues to impress us with their consistent professionalism and highly effective execution,” said Walter Scott, executive vice president and chief technical officer. “Having built WorldView-2, WorldView-1, and QuickBird, Ball has amassed an unmatched level of knowledge and experience. This ultimately results in lower risk and higher efficiency in the design and manufacture of WorldView-3, keeping us consistently on-plan and on-schedule for a mid-2014 launch.”

The CDR verified design modifications between WorldView-3 and WorldView-2, previously built by Ball for DigitalGlobe. This included validation of cost and schedule documentation and verification of test requirements that will allow Ball Aerospace to proceed into the final manufacturing, integration and the testing phase of the program.

“The successful CDR puts us on the path to bus integration in mid- to late-2012 followed by instrument integration in 2013,” said Cary Ludtke, vice president of Ball’s Civil and Operational Space business unit. “Our mission success with DigitalGlobe is built on our proven spacecraft bus and schedule performance.”

Ball Aerospace is providing the BCP 5000 for WorldView-3 and will integrate the remote-sensing instrument onto the spacecraft bus leading to system testing. The BCP 5000’s power, stability, agility, and data storage and transmission capability, together meet the requirements to deliver comprehensive Earth remote-sensing information.

The advanced Control Moment Gyroscopes provided for all the WorldView satellites afford the flexibility and agility to capture more imagery than ever before. Ball Aerospace previously built the trio of DigitalGlobe satellites currently on orbit including WorldView-2 launched in 2009, WorldView-1 launched in 2007, and QuickBird launched in 2001.

About DigitalGlobe

DigitalGlobe is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. Sourced from our own advanced satellite constellation, our imagery solutions support a wide variety of uses within defense and intelligence, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, Internet portals and navigation technology. With our collection sources and comprehensive ImageLibrary (containing more than one billion square kilometers of earth imagery and imagery products) we offer a range of on- and off-line products and services designed to enable customers to easily access and integrate our imagery into their business operations and applications.

About Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications.

About Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high quality packaging for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2010 sales of more than US$ 7.6 billion.

(source: DigitalGlobe)

On 29th June, the European Commission launched its communication on the Multi-Annual Financial perspective for 2014 to 2020. This sets out the budget for the EU over that period, the size of which has been a long running debate between the EC and the Member States. The Communication contained a core budget proposal as well as additional elements that would increase it. As most of you will know, GMES was excluded from the core of the MFF meaning that for the moment it has no funding allocated to it.

This news could barely come at a worse time. Just as the first Sentinels will be completed and ready to be launched there will be no funding to operate them and deliver GMES products. Many services have reached already a significant level of maturity based on existing satellites or contributing missions . Continuity to the Users is of key importance.

What will happen to these satellites and all the investment that has gone into them and the services? Will Member States pick up the bill? It would seem unlikely. It seems more likely that they will be moth-balled until the funding is sorted out; but when could this be?

The main argument of the European Commission is that the EU budget cannot tolerate the uncertainty in funding needs which has been the case with Galileo and is even more so with ITER. Consequently, Member States should carry the financial risk by funding GMES outside the MFF. But essentially this is what has already happened up to now. The risk element of space programme comes with developing new technology and new satellites. The Sentinel funding (some €3b for this generation of satellites) has been made through ESA by its Member States and significant investments made into preparing the services.

From 2014 onwards, the EU budget would be funding the operations of the Sentinels (including repeat satellite purchase), the purchase of data from contributing missions (mostly MS investments), the in-situ elements and the downstream services. This contains no risk and there can be full confidence that the proposed €845m pa is a ceiling cost and that the operations and services, as well as future infrastructure, can be scaled to fit within it.

The arguments for funding GMES out of the Community budget to me seem overpowering since it is clearly a programme that offers benefits to Europe as a whole. The information from GMES will inform at all levels of administration (local, regional, national, European, global). It will enforce the implementation of European Regulations (environmental and others). It will provide European treaty negotiators with access to independent validation information without which they will be dependent on that coming from those across the table with whom they negotiate. It will provide local administrations information on the extent of flood risk or actual flood events. It will provide many other types of information be it for fisheries, disasters, natural resources, health, environment, climate or other policies whether to serve the Spaniard in Bilbao or the Slovak in Nitra.

GMES will also be a source of innovation and economic benefits. The geo-spatial sector is growing at around 10% per annum and is a strong lever towards innovative services; many delivered through smartphones, tablet pc’s and other new consumer platforms. Convergence between maps, street images and location based services becomes more apparent every day. GMES has promised to be a stimulus for industry not just in the provision of governmental services but also increasingly into the private sector. Furthermore, the services industry has already been investing in new services but this cannot continue whilst there is uncertainty as to whether data will become available or that the governmental market will develop.

As we described in our July position paper just after the news broke, whether GMES is now financed inside the MFF or not, the uncertainty created will undermine the uptake of these services which industry has been preparing over the last 5 years and more. Users expect and need sustainability. This alone places a question-mark over the future market. Thus we need to act rapidly to ensure that users convince policy makers that GMES is deserving of Community funding. That without it many public services will go un-developed. That the policies and operations of many of our European agencies (EEA, EMSA, Frontex etc ) are placed in jeopardy or else will cost more. Whilst for our sector a good business opportunity will be lost, the greater loss will be for the public sector users who could have access to timely and effective geo-spatial information. Over the next few months, we need to work together with our clients to explain to the European decision makers why GMES is critical to their mission.

It will be a long battle, but one we should win for user organisations, public and commercial customers, our industry and for Europe.

Geoff Sawyer,
EARSC Secretary General

UN-SPIDER September 2011 Updates.

UN-Spider news

  • UN-SPIDER supports the Russian Federation’s efforts to boost the use of space-based information for disaster risk management and emergency response in Central Asia
  • UN-SPIDER’s RSO in Ukraine tests new approaches to flood hazard mapping
  • UN-SPIDER’s RSO in the I.R. of Iran supports upcoming World Space Week Activities
  • UN-SPIDER’s RSO in Romania organises a Summer School on Crisis Management and Emergency Response
  • UN-SPIDER’s RSO in Pakistan publishes a monthly Bulletin on Crop Monitoring
  • UN-SPIDER’s RSO in Algeria provides maps of areas sensitive to desertification
  • ADRC, a UN-SPIDER RSO, organises a Training Course for Central Asia and the Caucasus
  • Regional Training Activity on the use of Remote Sensing and GIS for disaster management in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
  • Africa and China step up cooperation on drought risk
  • UN-SPIDER contribution to the Second Meeting of ITU-D Study Group 2
  • Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to Sri Lanka
  • UN-SPIDER participation in the 3rd Anniversary Celebration of HJ-A/B Satellites
  • UN-SPIDER supports APSCO’s “Third International Symposium on Earth Quake Monitoring and Early Warning by Using Space Technology” Beijing, 13 to 15 September, 2011
  • Progress on the VALID Project: Extended support and first stakeholder feedback

Community News

  • International Charter develops geographic tool to provide information about satellite data used for activations
  • New Oil Monitoring research project coordinated by KSAT of Norway
  • Monitoring Volcanic Ash and Impacts on Agriculture: CSA, NASA and World Bank Cooperation
  • Uganda plans early warning ICT system
  • The Philippines to use sophisticated geohazard map for disaster reduction
  • NASA Satellites Busy at the Peak of Hurricane Season
  • Sentinel Asia assists in response to five disasters
  • International Charter activated for Flood in Japan and Earthquake in India
  • The UNLock project

Upcoming UN-SPIDER Outreach Activities

Upcoming UN-SPIDER events

  • Second UN-SPIDER International Expert Meeting: Crowdsource Mapping for Preparedness and Emergency Response, Geneva, 16 November 2011
  • United Nations International Conference on Space-based Technologies for Disaster Risk Management “Best Practices for Risk Reduction and Rapid Response Mapping”, Beijing, 22 – 25 November 2011

Upcoming events supported by UN-SPIDER

  • Pacific Island Countries GIS/RS User Conference, Suva, 28 November – 2 December 2011
  • “APSCO Training Course on Environment and Disaster Monitoring Through Space Technology” Dhaka, Bangladesh, 22 November to 1 December 2011

This publication will also be accessible at UN-Spider September2011
Source UN-SPIDER Team

In the middle of September 2011 ReSAC won a tender and signed a contract with the Basin Directorate for Water Management in the Danube region to the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water

The task of the contract is to consult the institution in preparing the preliminary assessment of the flood risk, in reference to the Directive 2007/60/EC for flood risk estimate and management, that entered into force on the 26th of November in 2007.

The first step in preparation of the management plans is a preliminary assessment of flood risk. It does include description of floods, occurred in the past, with significant disadvantageous impacts on human health, environment, cultural heritage, technical infrastructure and economic activities, which can be expected to occur in the future.

Besides the conclusions of the preliminary assessment of the flood risk along with maps of area with possible flood risk including maps under current flood risk, the Management plans regarding the flood risk in the Danube region will contain a description of the purposes of flood risk management, and short performance of the measurements for achieving the related purposes.

After the Water Amendment Act, the Basin Directorates to the Ministry of Environment and Water will prepare Management plans of flood risk. With these amendments, the aim is to create conditions to prevent or reduce harmful effects on human life and health, environment, cultural heritage and economic activities, related to the harmful effects of water.

The Danube River Basin Directorate administrates the following catchment areas of the rivers – Iskar river, Erma river, Nishava river, Ogosta river and west of Ogosta river, Vit river, Osum river, Yantra river, Russenski Lom river and other rivers in Dobrudzha region, which are the main area or interest of the contract.

During contract implementation, not only the requirements of the European and National legislation will be followed, but the documentary of ICPDR and the results of the project “Danube Floodrisk” also. The collected data and analysis, will be used in the Danube strategy in terms of its further development.


Project Unities of the Basin Directorate for Water Management in the Danube region

Source RESAC

September 22, 2011 – Industry pays tribute to winners at Symposium on Earth Observation as part of World Satellite Business Week

(Paris, September 22, 2011) – Euroconsult, the leading global research and analyst firm specializing in the satellite sector, announced the recipients of its Annual Awards for Excellence in Earth Observation Business during the Symposium on Earth Observation Business (Sept 15/16).

The annual international event features leading executives of satellite operators, data distributors, manufacturers, and government and private users.

These awards are bestowed upon leaders and their companies for outstanding accomplishment in the sector. Euroconsult pays tribute to the winners each September in Paris during the World Satellite Business Week, the industry’s annual senior executive event, now in its 15th year. Our industry experts use rigorous quantitative_1_ and qualitative_2_ standards to select the winners. This year, winners from the Earth observation community were celebrated from the following three categories during the Symposium:

Earth Observation Operator of the Year – DigitalGlobe
Strategic Transaction of the Year – GeoEye
Strategic Partnership of the Year – Astrium Services & ScanEx

“The Euroconsult awards recognize companies and their leaders who, through their vision, innovation, and performance have significantly impacted the industry in the past year,” said Pacôme Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult. The Earth observation comes together at the Symposium on Earth Observation as part of the World Satellite Business Week to recognize the winners and the achievements shaping the industry.”

The distinguished winners shared their thoughts:

Earth Observation Operator of the Year

Jeffrey R. Tarr, President & CEO, DigitalGlobe

“From all of us at DigitalGlobe, I’d like to extend ou thanks to the committee and to Euroconsult for this honor. Receiving this award sends a clear message that we are succeeding where it matters most — using our leading-edge satellite imaging and analysis capabilities to help our customers save time, save resources and save lives.”

*Strategic Transaction of the Year *

Matthew O’Connell, President & CEO, GeoEye

“I would like to thank Euroconsult for this award recognizing GeoEye’s acquisition of Spadac – a brilliant team of predictive analytics experts. It’s exciting to offer our customers a full range of costeffective geospatial solutions. Our ability to collect, process and analyze massive amounts of geospatial data allows our customers to quickly see precise changes on the ground and anticipate where events may occur.”

Strategic Partnership of the Year

Eric Béranger, CEO, Astrium Services

“I am honoured to receive this prestigious award alongside our partners ScanEx, whom I thank for their confidence in our EO capabilities. It recognises our long term commitment to partnership with the geo-information services marketplace and delivering it unrivalled levels of service. By partnering with a leading player like ScanEx, we will achieve one of our key objectives of developing the footprint of our ever improving geo-information services and products offering across the whole Russian federation in a strong mutually beneficial relationship.”

Olga Gershenzon, Vice-President & co-owner, ScanEx

“It is a great honour for us to receive this strategic partnership award. We thank Euroconsult and other industry experts for this recognition of our recent efforts and achievements. For us, as data and end-solutions provider, partnerships are all that our business is about. And this particular deal with Astrium is true progress in our mutual relations and is generating very important opportunities for both companies on the regional market.”

About ‘World Satellite Business Week’ & ’Symposium on Earth Observation Business’

The World Satellite Business is the unique executive meeting place for the global satellite business. It includes Euroconsult’s flagship World Summit for Satellite Financing and the Symposium on Earth Observation Business. Throughout the week, the summit brings together over 120 top-level speakers and 600 senior executives from the industry and the financial community.

Top business leaders participate in this must-attend summit to discuss strategy, make deals and strike partnerships. www.satellite-business.com

About Euroconsult

Euroconsult is the leading international consulting and analyst firm specializing in space applications, satellite communications and Earth observation. Euroconsult provides strategic consulting and analysis, develops comprehensive research reports and forecasts, and organizes events including the annual World Satellite Business Week, the industry’s leading executive-level gathering, including the World Summit for Satellite Financing and the Symposium on Earth Observation Business (www.satellite-business.com).

With 25 years of experience Euroconsult has over 560 clients in 50 countries, including leaders throughout the satellite industry; satellite operators and service providers; government agencies; satellite manufacturers and launch service providers; equipment providers and integrators; media and broadcasting companies; and banks and investors.

The company has completed 500 satellite-related consulting projects. Euroconsult is based in Paris with offices in Montreal and Washington, DC. www.euroconsult-ec.com.

1 Financial performance indicators, such as overall revenue & revenue growth, commercial or export revenue
2 Innovation, strategic initiatives, impact Strategic Transaction of the Year

Source Euroconsult

Government demand continues to drive the market, but remains concentrated in a handful of countries

(Paris, August 25, 2011) – Euroconsult, the leading international research and analyst firm specializing in the satellite and space sectors, forecast today that an estimated 1,145 satellites will be built for launch during the next ten years (2011-2020), 51% more satellites than the previous decade_2_. These projections come from Euroconsult’s just-released “Satellites to be Built & Launched by 2020, World Market Survey.” According to the report, now in its 14th edition, revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,145 satellites will be worth $196 billion worldwide, of which 70% can be attributed to government demand.

“Governments continue to dominate the space market, as satellite systems are critical infrastructure for communications and geo-information solutions for civilian and military users” said Rachel Villain, Director for Space for Euroconsult and editor of the report. “The government market is worth more than double the commercial market, but is largely closed to non-domestic manufacturers. However export opportunities for manufacturers exist with governments in countries with no space industry.”

Government agencies from 50 countries will launch a total of 777 satellites in the decade ahead, though more than 80% of these satellites will come from the six major space powers ( i.e. the United States, Russia, the European countries, Japan, China, and India). Accounting for this 80% is the fact that established space countries are replacing systems that have already been operational, in addition to launching new satellites, whereas newcomers are only building and launching new systems, as they are not yet at the stage of replacing existing satellites.

Over two-thirds of the government satellites to be built for launch in the coming decade are for civilian and dual-use; dedicated military satellites remain concentrated in a limited number of countries (the US, Europe, Russia, China, Japan and Israel). Defense and security agencies generally favor proprietary systems for secure communications and imagery intelligence, but budget constraints for defense spending are leading to more public-private partnerships (PPP) and government payloads hosted on commercial satellites. An even more limited number of countries will launch space surveillance and missile defense satellite systems to be used in combination with ground networks.

Civilian government agencies are expected to procure more satellites for operational missions in Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, and communications. In most countries, communications satellites (comsat) are no primarily acquired by private companies for commercial services, but several governments continue to fund comsat technology development domestically to ensure they have cost-effective systems when needed. As more national and multilateral agencies require imagery for a variety of purposes, Euroconsult expects over 200 government Earth observation satellites to be built for launch over the decade, making it the largest civilian government satellite application. The Euroconsult report also indicates that governments will develop more missions for space science and exploration (up 30% over the previous decade), with missions varying widely in terms of complexity and cost.

In the commercial space business there are approximately 50 companies operating communications and broadcast satellites in geostationary orbit, and an additional ten companies operating satellites in lower altitude orbits for communications and Earth observation services. This market is driven primarily by established operators’ investment cycles for replacing in-orbit capacity (representing 70% of orders in the past), and to a lesser degree by new systems for newer commercial companies and governments.

Euroconsult forecasts 203 commercial communications satellites with a market value of $50 billion will be launched into the GEO arc over the next ten years. Some of these satellites were recorded in satellite manufacturers’ order books during the flurry of ordering activity over the past five years.

Commercial satellite services outside the geostationary orbit will get a boost over the next decade with a total of 165 satellites to be built and launched into medium and low Earth orbits (MEO and LEO). Three quarters will be communications satellites to replace the first LEO generation satellites (operated by Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm) and for O3b’s first- generation system, which will be the first commercial constellation launched into MEO. In addition, about 40 satellites will be launched into LEO for commercial optical and radar imagery (e.g. Astrium Services, GeoEye). According to Euroconsult, the market value for manufacturing and launch of these 165 satellites will be one fifth the figure for GEO comsat satellites. This is largely because they are smaller and launched at lower altitudes.

Report Profile

The 14th edition of Satellites to be Built & Launched is the landmark study for all industry actors concerned with satellite systems and their launches. The report provides all information key to understanding the global space market, present and future. The report includes exclusive 10-year forecasts including breakdown by customer and by orbit, number & mass of satellites to be manufactured and launched and market value. The report offers a review of strategic issues from both supply (industry) and demand (customers) perspectives and a performance analysis for ten leading suppliers. It also includes a comprehensive and detailed demand database for commercial and government satellites including: application, launch date, satellite platform, manufacturer, launch provider.

About Euroconsult

Euroconsult is the leading international research and analyst firm specialized in space, satellite applications and Earth observation. Euroconsult develops comprehensive research reports and forecasts; provides strategic consulting and analysis; produces world summits; and offers customized training. With 25 years of experience and more than 350 satellite-related consulting assignments, Euroconsult is a worldwide reference. Euroconsult has over 560 clients in 50 countries, including leaders throughout the satellite value chain: satellite operators and service providers; satellite manufacturers and launch service providers; equipment providers and integrators; space institutions; media and broadcasting companies; and banks and investors. For more information visit: www.euroconsult-ec.com

Source Euroconsult

In the framework of the POR FESR 2007-2013 (Regional Operational Programme of the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013) Puglia Region has approved SHIRA Program Agreement. SHIRA Program is focused on the study of a high-resolution thermal infrared Earth Observation satellite and the design of a Data Fusion Centre located in Puglia.

The project is entirely managed and realized by a Consortium of Apulian Companies with a consolidated experience in Earth Observation fields: Mel Systems Srl, MerMec SpA, Planetek Italia Srl, Sitael Aerospace Srl, VVN Srl, and IMT srl.

SHIRA High-resolution InfraRed Satellite Application, the name of the space mission, will operate in the thermal infrared frequencies, a bandwidth not very used by the current satellite missions.

The thermal infrared band, sensitive to temperature and humidity, is useful for applications related to environmental monitoring, agricultural monitoring, urban planning, analysis of heat waves and climate change, monitoring of natural disasters (volcanoes, forest fires, coastal flooding) and in the field of maritime and border surveillance.

The second strong element of SHIRA project is the design of a Data Fusion Center (DFC). The DFC is a centre that integrates multiple Earth Observation data acquired by satellite and aerial platforms and ground sensors. The operative goal of the DFC is the provision of value-added services and products able to support all public and private companies and regional administration involved in the environmental monitoring and security.

According to the directives of Apulian Aerospace District Development Plan, the Data Fusion Center will be one of the main regional instruments that will integrate the highest scientific and industrial local excellences, becoming the major regional infrastructure for aerospace research and development.

The implementation of a Data Fusion Centre located in Puglia is compliant with the actions indicated in the Programmatic Agreement between the Puglia Region and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) that prompt the realization of a local centre for the integration and interpretation of remote sensing data collected by satellite and in situ sensors.

According to the European Directives focused on safety and environmental monitoring (eg. Europe 2020, the Water Framework Directive, etc.) both the new mission SHIRA and the innovative services provided by the Data Fusion Center will contribute to the periodic operational monitoring activities which all EU Member States are bound. SHIRA program, therefore perfectly meets the European technological and political trends in the space and environmental fields.

Contact: Planetek Italia s.r.l.
Via Massaua 12, I-70132 Bari
Tel.: +39 0809644200 Fax: +39 0809644299
buonavoglia@planetek.it – http://www.planetek.it