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News from February, March and April 2011…


A New Reseller for RapidEye: Hatfield Group, April 14, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today it has added Hatfield Consultants of Vancouver, Canada to its growing list of resellers. The recently signed contract between the two companies allows the Hatfield group to market and sell RapidEye products in Canada and the United States.

“This cooperation will help us to further strengthen our key position in the geo-environmental industry; not only in North America, but also in Africa and Asia,” commented Joerg Widmer, Market Manager USA West. “We are very happy to begin working on new opportunities around the globe with Hatfield Consultants and their network. We will specifically concentrate on sectors like REDD and carbon sequestration; industries which we feel have great growth potential for the future. One of RapidEye’s strongest selling points is our ability to image large areas of the globe in a very short time period. This will help Hatfield monitor rural developments and detect important environmental changes.”

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Iunctus Geomatics Joins RapidEye’s Distribution Network, April 7, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that the Canadian company Iunctus Geomatics Corporation will join RapidEye’s growing distribution network. The agreement authorizes Iunctus to distribute RapidEye products in the United States and Canada.

“We really look forward to our new partnership with Iunctus,” said RapidEye’s Vice President John Ahlrichs. “They have a great sales team with deep partnerships in the government and commercial sectors that should result in sales for RapidEye. In addition, as a diversified company, we see many opportunities to develop future business partnerships.”

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RapidEye Signs Distribution Agreement with African Company Ramani, March 31, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that it has signed a distribution agreement with Ramani Geosystems located in Kenya.

The contract allows Ramani to distribute RapidEye products throughout the entire continent of Africa except Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara.

“Ramani is our first sub-Saharan distributor and we are very excited about expanding our awareness an finding new customers on this continent,“ commented John Ahlrichs, Vice President of RapidEye. “Ramani’s market position in East Africa, their willingness to form partnerships with other companies and their interest in agressively promoting our data products were impressive and significant factors in our decision making process.“

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RapidEye Has Collected ‘Lion’s Share’ of Africa, March 29, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that it has recently completed an extensive imagery campaign over Africa.

The campaign, which ran for 25 weeks from September of 2010 until March 1, 2011, produced over 107 Million km² of the continent of Africa which is now available for purchase from the RapidEye Library.

“This is another amazing demonstration of what our system is capable of achieving,” commented Michael Oxfort, RapidEye’s Head of Engineering. “We tasked our satellites to acquire over 4,200 takes over the entire continent of Africa. Many areas of rainforest, such The Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been collected with great success and very little cloud cover.”

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RapidEye Satellites Immediately Directed to Japan, March 12, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that the first images of Japan following the tsunami and the preceding 8.8 magnitude earthquake are now available.

The Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) which is part of the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) contacted RapidEye shortly following the breaking news of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on Friday. The DLR is a member of the International Charter which is an organization working towards providing a unified system of space data acquisition to those affected by natural and man-made disasters.

The International Charter was activated on Friday by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). They will be using all the imagery and resulting analysis to provide as much knowledge about the disaster to the relief and governmental agencies who need it.

Additional before and after images available here

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Fugro NPA RapidEye’s First Distributor in the UK, March 11, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that Fugro NPA Ltd. has signed an agreement with RapidEye to be its first reseller in the UK covering the territories of Britain and Ireland.

John Ahlrichs, Vice President of RapidEye commented, “Fugro NPA is a great addition to our distribution network. Their long history supporting the British market in addition to their leading role as a geospatial center of excellence with the Fugro Group will increase availability and use of our imagery worldwide.” David Morten, Managing Director of Fugro NPA said, “We are pleased to have been selected to be part of the RapidEye distributor network and expand our satellite data solutions, in particular our ability to offer enhanced monitoring service capabilities.”

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RapidEye Completes Second Coverage of China in Two Years, February 17, 2011

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that the second coverage of China for the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) in as many years has been delivered.

The imagery campaign, which ran from August 1, 2010 through January 11, 2011 was intended to cover almost 5.8 Million square kilometers; 60% of the country. The project was successfully delivered and accepted by the MLR in the first week of February.

“The MLR was so impressed with RapidEye’s quick coverage and delivery of the country during the 2009-2010 growing season that when discussing an additional coverage this year, RapidEye was the obvious choice,“ said Sun Bing, CEO of Beijing East Dawn Information Technology Co., Ltd (EDIT), RapidEye’s Chinese distributor.

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About RapidEye AG

RapidEye is an ISO-certified geospatial information provider focused on integrating customized and industry specific solutions into the workflow of global customers in agriculture, forestry, energy, infrastructure, government, security and emergency.

RapidEye experts and the satellite system – a constellation of five satellites capable of downloading over 4 million km² of high resolution, multi-spectral imagery per day, and a ground segment for processing and archiving data – allow for cost-effective customized services. The unique combination of large area coverage, high spatial resolution and the possibility of daily revisit to an area provide for superior management information solutions. Currently, more than 130 experts from more than 20 countries are employed by RapidEye.

For more information about RapidEye, please visit www.rapideye.de.

Contact
RapidEye AG
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14776 Brandenburg a. d. Havel, Germany
Toll Free (US): +1 800 940 3617
Phone: +49 3381 8904-0 | Fax: +49 3381 8904-101 | info@rapideye.de | www.rapideye.de
press@rapideye.de
Follow us on Twitter @rapideye_ag and be informed about all latest news and updates from RapidEye.

The UK Space Agency has officially become an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with an annual budget of £240million.

The association will be responsible for devising and implementing British policy in orbit and will target areas that can deliver the greatest economic benefits, scientific excellence and national security.

Priority areas include developing scientific advancements in space technologies, gaining a better understanding of our planet through Earth observation spacecraft and nurturing the next generation of space scientists and researchers.

“The UK space industry is worth an estimated £7.5billion and is an important driver for economic growth,” said David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science. “This is why we’ve earmarked £10million in the Budget to start a national space technology programme and committed to reducing the regulatory burden on industry.

“The establishment of the UK Space Agency will provide a focal point for this work and bring together our very best talent. This will help us concentrate efforts on advancements in space science and satellite technology and ultimately give us a better understanding of our own planet.”

UK Space Agency Chief Executive David Williams, added: “Today represents 12 months of hard work from agency staff and from colleagues at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, Technology Strategy Board, Natural Environment Research Council and other partners in industry and across Whitehall.

“Now established, we need to use the upcoming months to set the direction of travel for the UK space sector. That means concentrating on encouraging growth and engaging with industry, academia and other Government departments to make sure we’re developing in the right way.”

As part of the Budget and Growth Review, the Government also highlighted its commitment to reforming the Outer Space Act, which will introduce an upper limit on the third party liability of UK satellite operators. It will continue to work with the international regulatory authorities to enable space tourism operations in the UK and define regulations for novel space vehicles that could offer low cost access to space.

Author, Laura Hopperton
Supporting Information
http://www.bis.gov.uk/

(April 2011) Space technology and exploration could be used to help mitigate loss of life and damage caused by natural disasters, a conference in Brussels was told.

The event on Monday heard that last summer’s devastating fires in Russia, which killed thousands of people, would have been “even worse” but for the use of technology normally used in outer space.

Musa Manarov, a Russian cosmonaut, said, “The international community ought to be giving more attention to the possible application of space technology in such circumstances. It can be used not only to mitigate the consequences of earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters but, possibly, also predict these events. It has great potential”.

He was speaking by satellite from Moscow in a debate in Brussels with senior officials from the EU institutions to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight.

Manarov, who is now a member of the defence committee of the Russian Duma, or parliament, said the fires in Russia, caused by one of the country’s hottest heatwaves on record, were “catastrophic”.

He added, “Even so, without the system of monitoring, prediction and warning that was deployed through space technology the situation would have been much worse”.

He said space technology application in this way “knows no boundaries or national borders”. As such, he said, the benefits of space exploration “fully justifies the enormous efforts and costs” involved.

Speaking at the same event, Thomas Brandtner, of the council of the EU, agreed that the space technology could “increasingly” be used to help predict both natural and man-made disasters such as the recent earthquake in Japan.

“This, and last year’s Russian fires, are a good example of how space exploration can impact on everyday life back on earth and how ordinary people can benefit from the use of satellites to transmit data.”

Brandtner, head of unit for competitiveness and industry policy in the council’s general secretariat, said that Europe already had its own system for monitoring such events with the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), the European programme for the establishment of a European capacity for earth observation.

He added, “Once GMES is fully operational we hope to gradually increase our cooperation on these issues with countries like Russia.

“But I believe that we are already on the same wavelength with Russia when it comes to the use of space technology,” said Brandtner.

Also participating in the video conference was Theo Pirard, director of the Space Information Centre in Belgium, who said, “The ability to map the earth from space has totally changed what society is capable of”.

Source

“We are already on the same wavelength with Russia when it comes to the use of space technology” Thomas Brandtner

Toulouse – April 7, 2011 – Astrium GEO-Information Services (formerly Spot Image) is pleased to announce the release of one of our latest SPOTMAPS coverage, SPOTMAPS Saudi Arabia.


  • SPOTMAPS Saudi Arabia, a 2010 coverage at 2.5 metres resolution, is now available
  • In the past 3 years, Spot Image, part of the GEO-Information division of Astrium Services, has produced more than 80 million square km of SPOTMAPS, seamless, natural colour and orthorectified 2.5m mosaics
  • Off-the-shelf SPOTMAPS covering more than 100 countries can be purchased by the square kilometre. Updates and fresh data are made available regularly

870 tiles were processed from 962 SPOT 5 cloud free scenes, acquired in 2010 at a resolution of 2.5 metres.

SPOTMAPS are mosaics made from SPOT 5 satellite images acquired at 2.5 metres. Coverages are seamless and uniform over the territory of a country or even several countries. SPOTMAPS is the best georeferenced basemap used by our clients in mapping, defence, agriculture and forestry markets. Thanks to SPOTMAPS you can easily produce or update zoning plans and map, perform logistics planning or environment impact studies.

New mosaics are available regularly, with our production of 20 million square km more or less per year. We are at the moment covering more than 100 countries, representing more than 80 million square km available off-the-shelf, ready to be received by our clients a few hours after ordering.

Have a look at our SPOTMAPS Saudi Arabia poster available on www.spotimage.com/saudiarabia

. A high resolution version of this image is available from cheryl.billson@commacomms.com

Taking full advantage of the fully-integrated combined resources and skills of its Spot Image and Infoterra subsidiaries, the GEO-Information division of Astrium Services has become a recognized world leader in the geo-information market by offering decision-makers sustainable one-stop-shop solutions to increase security, protect the environment, and better manage natural resources. It has exclusive access to SPOT and TerraSAR-X satellite data, while also calling on a full gamut of space data sources and airborne acquisition capabilities, enabling it to offer an unrivalled combination of Earth observation products and services. Its portfolio spans the entire geo-information value chain.

By building on the synergy of Astrium Services’ extended skills and know-how, the GEO-Information division can also develop innovative solutions combining Earth observation, navigation and communications applications at competitive prices.

Contacts:
Cheryl Billson (Astrium Services GEO-Information division) Tel: +44 (0) 7791 720460
Jennifer Newlands (Astrium Services GEO-Information division) Tel: +33 (0) 5 62 19 40 09

www.astrium-geo.com

For more information about SPOTMAPS:www.spotimage.com/spotmaps

Order SPOTMAPS online at: http://spotmaps.spotimage.com

Improving the safety and daily lives of European citizens thanks to radio navigation, guiding tractors by satellite for high-yield crops, optimizing response to humanitarian crisis… This is not science fiction but just a few examples of innovations related to space technologies developed today.

This crucial role of space is reflected in the European Commission communication presented today as a first step of an integrated Space Policy to be developed with the new legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty.

The new Communication aims at reinforcing Europe’s space infrastructure and calls for increasing support for research to increase European technological non-dependence, foster cross-fertilisation between the space sector and other industry sectors, and boost innovation as a driver of European competitiveness.

Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: “Space is strategic for Europe’s independence, job creation and competitiveness. Space activities create high-skilled jobs, innovation, new commercial opportunities, and improve citizens’ well-being and security. This is why we need to reinforce European space policy to best exploit its social and economic opportunities for industry and SMEs. In order to achieve our goals, Europe needs to keep an independent access to space.”

Faced with important economic, societal and strategic challenges, today’s communication sets out priorities for the future EU space policy:

  • Pursue the achievement of the European navigation satellite programmes Galileo and EGNOS. For example, a service that was recently introduced under EGNOS enables precision approaches and renders air navigation safer (IP/11/247).
  • Implement with Member States the European Earth Monitoring Programme (GMES) which is designed for land, ocean, atmosphere, air quality and climate change monitoring, as well as emergency response and security, with the objective to become fully operational from 2014;
  • Protect space infrastructures against space debris, solar radiation and asteroids by setting-up a European Space Situation Awareness (SSA) system;
  • Identify and support actions at EU level in the field of Space exploration. The Union could notably explore options to work with the ISS ensuring that all Member States participate in it;
  • Pursue a Space Industrial policy developed in close collaboration with the European Space Agency and Member States;
  • Support research and development to increase European technological non dependence and ensure that innovation in this field will be of benefit to non-space sectors and citizens. Communication satellites play a key role in this context;
  • Strengthen the partnerships with EU Member States and the European Space Agency (ESA) and implement improved management schemes.

The Commission will pursue the dialogue with its key partners United States and Russia and will initiate discussion with other space faring nations such as China in order to develop more synergies. Space should become an integral part of the EU’s external policy in particular to the benefit of Africa.

Finally, the Commission is looking into the possibility of presenting a proposal for a European space programme in 2011. Taking responses to this communication into account, it will decide on its approach as part of its June proposal on the next multi-annual financial framework.

The economic importance of European space manufacturing industry

European space manufacturing industry represents a consolidated turnover of 5.4 B€ and a highly qualified workforce of over 31,000. The 11 major satellite operators in Europe operate 153 communication satellites and represent 6000 employees and have a 6 billion euro per year turnover, with a downstream effect on 30,000 employees. It is estimated that, already, 6-7% of GDP in Western countries, i.e. € 800 billion in the EU, is dependent on satellite radio navigation.

The space service markets are growing rapidly. For instance, GNSS applications markets annual turnover worldwide is expected to reach around € 240 billion by 2020. Moreover, as a result of the advantages of Galileo and EGNOS compared with the other competing systems, they are expected to generate economic and social benefits worth around € 60-90 billion over the next 20 years.

According to OECD, the world market for Earth Observation commercial data which was $ 735 millions in 2007 has the potential to raise to around $ 3 billions in 2017.

SSA (Space Situational Awareness System) would help reduce the quantifiable estimated loss for European assets due to collision with debris and space weather, which, on the basis of available data, amount to ~€332million on a yearly basis on average.

These costs are almost certainly a small fraction of possible non-quantified consequences and costs that may result from the absence of a European Space Situational Awareness System. For example the loss of a satellite may result in the loss of critical satellite communication capacity in an emergency situation resulting in loss of life. Destruction or complete failure of a satellite can result in serious disruption of economic activity (banking relies increasingly on satellite communications) and could have an impact on client business through loss of service. At present there are no reliable figures for estimating the value of such loses. Similarly, it is impossible to quantify the consequences of Near Earth Objects impacting on the Earth.

Background

Article 189 of the Lisbon Treaty gives the European Union an explicit role in designing a policy for the exploration and exploitation of space in order to promote scientific and technical progress, industrial competitiveness and the implementation of its policies. Space policy is a key element of Europe 2020 strategy and an integral part of the industrial policy flagship initiative (IP/10/1434). It supports the objectives of a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy by creating high-skilled jobs, commercial opportunities, boosting innovation and improving citizens’ well-being and security.

For more information:

Communication “EU Space Strategy at the service of the citizen” (COM/2011/152)

DG Enterprise and Industry: Space policy

European Commission GMES website

DG Enterprise and Industry: Satellite navigation

SOURCE EUROPA

Other links

Europolitics

Directionsmag

legal

Spacedaily

Aviationweek

IEWY

Defense-Aerospace

(n°16 – 6th April 2011). This E-News is published by the SWIFT project whose aim is to support information dissemination in the framework of the European Commission GMES initiative.
SWIFT is a Coordination and Support Action funded by the European Commission / Directorate General Enterprise and Industry under the 7th Framework Programme.


1. European Commissioner for Climate Action Emphasizes the Role of Space
2. The GlobCover Project
3. Workshop on Maritime Monitoring for Coast Guards
4. EU Study Reveals the Plight of Baltic Sea Ecosystem
5. UK Accorded Time Extension to Comply with the Air Quality Directive
6. Climate Change Threatens European Forests
7. Water Scarcity and Droughts in Europe: State of Play
8. Consultation on Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management
9. Reminder: Call for Expressions of Interest Concerning GMES Projects and Services
GMES Project Corner:
10. Newly launched GMES projects
11. MACC Project: Recent Achievements
12. G-MOSAIC: Recent Activations
13. Latest Activations of the GMES Emergency Management Service

1. European Commissioner for Climate Action Emphasizes the Role of Space

On 2 February 2011, a Hearing on “Space Systems and Key Assets for Climate Change Monitoring and Adaptation Strategies” took place at the European Parliament. European Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, stressed that Earth observation is of the utmost importance for monitoring, tackling and adapting to climate change, and pointed to satellite navigation as an important space tool. Moreover, she is working together with Vice-President and Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, in order to develop a joint strategy on space and climate.

Read More…

2. The GlobCover Project

On 9 February 2011 took place the final meeting of the European Space Agency’s GlobCover project at the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (JRC IES) in Ispra, Italy. The objective was to make an assessment of both the strengths and limitations of the project, as well as to present the new GlobCover 2009 Map. The GlobCover project has developed a service capable of delivering land cover maps on the basis of satellite images, thanks to observations from the 300m MERIS (MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) sensor on board the ENVISAT (“Environmental Satellite”) mission.

Read More…

3. Workshop on Maritime Monitoring for Coast Guards

On 10 February 2011, a training workshop on the latest space technologies for maritime monitoring and surveillance was held at the European Space Agency’s Earth observation centre in Frascati (Italy). This course served as a platform to agree on future collaborative projects and to provide coast guards with an improved understanding of the technical aspects behind operational systems that make wider use of satellite data. New developments, currently under verification, were also presented.

Read More…

4. EU Study Reveals the Plight of Baltic Sea Ecosystem

In a recently study, EU-funded researchers at the Geological Survey of Finland have found that the sea surface temperature of the Baltic Sea was warmer in the past than at the present time and that the oxygen depletion was stronger than current figures show. In this context, the INFLOW project (one of the sixteen BONUS+ projects) is developing a model for natural variability in marine ecosystems that will clarify how the changes will affect the Baltic Sea in the long term.

Read More…

5. UK Accorded Time Extension to Comply with the Air Quality Directive

On 11 March 2011, under a temporary and conditional exemption, the European Commission granted the United Kingdom additional time to comply with the European Union’s air quality standards for airborne particles (known as “PM10”) in the Greater London Urban Area. The decision approves the time extension provided that the UK adapts its air quality plan for this zone.

Read More…

6. Climate Change Threatens European Forests

Europe’s forests face threats from climate change. Global warming and extreme events will probably make disappear some tree sorts from certain areas. In response to this concern, the European Commission issued in March 2010 a Green Paper on “Forest protection and information in the EU: preparing forests for climate change”. Following this, Kriton Arsenis – Greek Socialist Member of the European Parliament (MEP) – wrote a draft report on the Commission Green Paper that was adopted by the European Parliament (EP) Environment Committee at its meeting of 16 March. The indicative date for the vote in plenary is 9 May 2011.

Read More…

7. Water Scarcity and Droughts in Europe: State of Play

On 21 March 2011, the European Commission published the “Third Follow up Report to the Communication on water scarcity and droughts in the European Union”. In the run up to a major water policy review in 2012, the report presents the water management measures introduced by Member States to tackle water scarcity and droughts and highlights the areas in which further action will be needed in the future.

Read More…

8. Consultation on Maritime Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone Management

On 24 March 2011, the European Commission launched a public consultation in order to seek views on how to reduce pressure on coastal and marine areas in the European Union. The questionnaire is aimed at collecting background information for the Impact Assessment which the Commission launched in December 2010 on options for action on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), as well as at obtaining thoughts about the future of coastal and marine areas in the EU and where action at European level would be most useful. The consultation will be open for a period of eight weeks and to all interested parties.

Read More…

9. Reminder: Call for Expressions of Interest Concerning GMES Projects and Services

As GMES gradually moves towards operations, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (EC DG ENTR) plans to launch more projects on this theme. These should provide value-added services and products in all GMES areas. In this context, EC DG ENTR is looking for experts in evaluating, monitoring and validating GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) projects and services.

Read More…

GMES Projects’ Corner

10. Newly launched GMES projects

Several GMES-related projects have been launched recently by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (EC DG ENTR). Two of them, GRAAL and DORIS_Net, aim at fostering the development of GMES downstream services and the link with the regions. Another project, CryoLand aims at implementing a snow and land ice monitoring service. A fourth project, PanGeo, aims at enabling access to geological information in support of the GMES programme.

Read More…

11. MACC Project: Recent Achievements

The EC-funded project MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition & Climate) is implementing the pre-operational version of the GMES Atmosphere Monitoring Service. An accurate monitoring of the depletion of the ozone layer in March and an improvement of aerosol forecasts are part of the recent achievements of the project.

Read More…

12. G-MOSAIC: Recent Activations

The EC-funded project G-MOSAIC (GMES services for Management of Operations, Situation Awareness and Intelligence for regional Crises) provides intelligence data that can be applied to early warning and crisis prevention, as well as to crisis management and rapid interventions in hot spots around the world. Recent activations of the project include for instance the illegal monitoring of charcoal production in Africa, the delivery of population distribution maps in support to yearly surveys in Asia or the analysis of widespread damages due to continuous rainfalls in combination with unstable grounds in Latin America.

Read More…

13. Latest Activations of the GMES Emergency Management Service

The GMES Emergency Management Service powered by the EC-funded project SAFER reinforces the European capacity to respond to emergency situations: it provides a reactive cartographic service to the registered users involved in the management of humanitarian crisis, natural disasters and man-made emergency situations with timely and high quality products derived from Space Observation. During the last two months, this service has been triggered several times (floods in Madagascar, Oil Spill in Norway, earthquake in New Zealand and civil unrest in Lybia).

Read More…

(Source GMES.Info)

(April 2011) The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) membership has approved the Sensor Planning Service (SPS) Interface Standard 2.0 Earth Observation Satellite Tasking Extension standard as an official OGC standard.

This standard is available for free download at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sps.

The SPS 2.0 Earth Observation Satellite Tasking Extension Standard specifies extensions to the OGC Sensor Planning Service (SPS) 2.0 Interface Standard. The SPS configuration proposed in this extension is intended to support the programming process of Earth Observation (EO) sensor systems.

This standard describes a consistent SPS configuration that can be supported by many satellite data providers, most of whom have existing facilities for the management of these programming requests.

The resulting extended web service interface can be used for
Determining the feasibility of an intended sensor planning request
Submitting such a request
Inquiring about the status of such a request
Updating or canceling such a request
Requesting information on means of obtaining the data collected by the requested task.

SPS is one of the OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) (http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/markets-technologies/swe) suite of standards.

The OGC is an international consortium of more than 410 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/contact.

Source SpatialNews

Grace Ltd successfully completes a survey dedicated to the Earth Observation market on the Southeastern Europe – the Balkans area.

The company undertook the first global survey of this kind on that region, focusing on the market of Earth Observation and the use of satellite imagery products and services for diverse projects in various sectors and countries. On this little-known European region which comprises a set of countries with huge diversity as of the size, population, European Union membership and development status, Grace dedicates a part of its operations, in order to achieve substantial capacity building.

Market data concerning the 2005-2010 period have been collected and information, indications and projections as well towards 2015 have been investigated and presented.

With this report, the firm consolidates its position as a valuable player on a promising and emerging market, as well as its solid knowledge of the regional tissue on the Southeastern Europe.

About GRACE

GRACE Ltd is a young and independent technology and consulting services firm. Based in Athens, its mission is to promote and guide space industry development and direct the benefits of Space to the society and the environment in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The company is a dynamic partner contributing to local capacity building and progress in the Space industry and its applications.

www.graceapplications.com

(4 April 2011) A new space policy for Europe: Independence, competitiveness and citizen’s quality of life

Improving the safety and daily lives of European citizens thanks to radio navigation, guiding tractors by satellite for high-yield crops, optimizing response to humanitarian crisis… This is not science fiction but just a few examples of innovations related to space technologies developed today. This crucial role of space is reflected in the European Commission communication presented today as a first step of an integrated Space Policy to be developed with the new legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty. The new Communication aims at reinforcing Europe’s space infrastructure and calls for increasing support for research to increase European technological non-dependence, foster cross-fertilisation between the space sector and other industry sectors, and boost innovation as a driver of European competitiveness.

The full press release can be seen here

The Communication from the Commission is available here

(Source GMES.Info)

(6 April 2011) Fugro announced today that it has signed a 5-year contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Services Center (CSC) for geospatial services to support coastal resources management in all US continental, Caribbean and Pacific territories.

This open-ended contract provides NOAA and other federal, state, local and tribal organizations with access to state-of-the-art geospatial services including: airborne digital and hyperspectral imagery, LiDAR, and IFSAR; topographic and bathymetric mapping; thematic mapping; photogrammetric mapping; terrestrial surveying; and GIS services. Geospatial information developed under this contract will feed into the CSC’s Digital Coast program and will serve coastal resources managers, researchers, and policy makers on a broad range of applications, including: coastal and marine spatial planning, land use management, coastal erosion, marine fisheries management, transportation and shipping coordination, emergency management, and flood risk mitigation.

Said Ed Saade, President and General Manager of Fugro EarthData, “We understand the challenges NOAA and other government organizations face in addressing social, economic, and environmental issues related to our Nation’s coastal areas. Fugro is committed to providing quality geospatial products and services to support the CSC’s important mission.”

Fugro EarthData, Inc. provides a full range of mapping and GIS services to support customer needs in a wide variety of natural resource management, urban planning, economic development, defense, and engineering activities.

Fugro EarthData is a member of the international Fugro group of companies. Fugro is listed on Euronext N.V. in Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam Midkap index. Fugro has over 275 offices, more than 13,500 staff and a permanent presence in over 50 countries.

Source Directionsmag