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10th December 2010


In this Issue
1. Highlight: GMES and Climate Monitoring as Top Priorities of the 7th Space Council
2. Proposal on Access to the Galileo’s Public Regulated Services: A Future Model for GMES?
3. A new European Flagship Programme on Space Exploration
4. Environment Council Postpones Decision on CO2 cuts
5. EC Co-Funded Project Study Affirms a Crucial Economic Importance of Biodiversity
6. The GMES Role in the “Maritime Surveillance” Roadmap
7. GMES to Serve for a Development of an Emergency Response Centre
8. EC Communication on an Integrated Industrial Policy Highlights the GMES Benefits
9. GMES Applications Addressed at the Round Table on the GMES’ Future
10. Latest Updates on Earth observation
GMES Project Corner:
11. Recent Activities of the MACC Project
12. Latest SAFER Activations

1. GMES and Climate Monitoring as Top Priorities of the 7th Space Council

The 7th Space Council, which took place on 25 November 2010, analysed how the current global challenges can be tackled by European space systems. Ministers in charge of space activities, coming from European Space Agency (ESA) and EU Member States, had a detailed look at the possibilities and actual state-of-play concerning the GMES programme. Following the assessment of the current situation, the Space Council published a resolution dealing with the governance of space activities and role of the GMES in the context of climate and security challenges. Particular attention was also paid to the GMES and Africa initiative.

Read More…

2. Proposal on Access to the Galileo’s Public Regulated Services: A Future Model for GMES?

On 8 October 2010, the Directorate General Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission issued the “Proposal on the detailed rules for access to the public regulated service (PRS) offered by the global navigation satellite system established under the Galileo programme.” Using highly encrypted signals, PRS aims to offer protection against threats to infrastructures dependent on satellite navigation technology so that PRS users can receive vital, often life-saving, information even when other infrastructures become unavailable. The access to PRS will be limited to authorised governmental bodies. Considering that the Galileo and GMES are the main EU flagship programmes in space, both delivering various products and services, this issue is particularly interesting also in the context of current discussions on GMES. Given the parallels of these two programmes, this Proposal should be analysed in order to detect relevant solutions that could be applicable to GMES.

Read More…

3. A new European Flagship Programme on Space Exploration

On 10 October 2010, the Space Advisory Group (SAG) of the European Commission published the document entitled “Space Exploration, a new European flagship Programme. “ The document is seen in the context of the Lisbon’s Treaty’s article 189, which foresees the creation of a “European Space Programme”. According to this proposal, the Space Exploration would complement the relevant efforts made by the EU on GMES and Galileo. The proposal attaches a great value to the development of GMES constituting very important element that strengthens Europe’s global position in the field. The SAG recognizes the GMES as a crucial existing flagship programme which would provide significant input to this new initiative.

Read More…

4. Environment Council Postpones Decision on CO2 cuts

On 14 October 2010, the environment ministers, during their meeting in Luxembourg, discussed the issue of increasing the EU’s target of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 to 30%. However, the final decision was not reached as some of the Member States are not willing to take the final decision before the publication of the awaited “2050 low-carbon roadmap” to be adopted by the European Commission at the beginning of 2011. The environment ministers agreed to revert to these issues as soon as possible with a view to the next European Council to be held in spring 2011.

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5. EC Co-Funded Project Study Affirms a Crucial Economic Importance of Biodiversity

The “Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)” study, drawing attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, has recently published its final release entitled the “Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature.” The document synthesised thousands of studies, examined valuation methods, policy instruments and examples of action from around the world pointing out at the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. Referring to numerous case studies, the report concludes with ten recommendations to help citizens, policy makers and other stakeholders transpose biodiversity into everyday decisions. In the context of the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference, it has quickly become an important reference for EU policy makers.

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6. The GMES Role in the “Maritime Surveillance” Roadmap

On 21 October 2010, the European Commission set out concrete steps to enhance the effectiveness and cost efficiency of surveilling European Seas. In a roadmap, the Commission defines how to bring together relevant Member States’ authorities across all maritime sectors to allow for the exchange of maritime surveillance data, held by authorities such as coast guards, traffic monitoring, environmental monitoring, pollution prevention, fisheries, border control, tax and general law enforcement authorities, as well as navies. This increased cooperation would also help to cope more efficiently with real time events at sea. Among others, the document perceives the GMES as one of the crucial elements determining the success of defined objectives.

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7. GMES to Serve for a Development of an Emergency Response Centre

On 26 October 2010, the European Commission adopted a Communication entitled “Towards a stronger European disaster response: the role of civil protection and humanitarian assistance.” Among others, it proposes the creation of a European Emergency Response (EER) Centre in order to improve efficiency and coherence of the actions while using the GMES services.

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8. EC Communication on an Integrated Industrial Policy Highlights the GMES Benefits

The European Commission’s Communication on “An integrated industrial policy for the globalisation era”, published on 28 October 2010 sets out a strategy that aims to boost EU economy. Given that the space applications significantly contribute to the growth of EU economy in various domains, considerable attention was paid to the GMES initiative. Perceived mainly from the “industrial” point of view, GMES applications are recognized as crucial imperatives addressing major societal challenges such as climate change and security of citizens helping to accelerate the competiveness and innovation of European industry. Due to its undeniable added value, the Commission intends to further build on GMES achievements.

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9. GMES Applications Addressed at the Round Table on the GMES’ Future

On 1 December 2010, the Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS), held a conference debate on “The future of GMES after 2014 from a regional perspective”. The event, organised under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the EU, provided an interactive forum for discussion around enhancing the political dialogue with European officials and national governments. In addition to the presentations analysing the forthcoming actions regarding the Earth observation, the recent GMES publication demonstrating various applications in European regions was introduced to participants.

Read More…

10. Latest Updates on Earth Observation

Several significant developments concerning the Earth observation occurred during the period covered by this issue. This article reports on the recent services delivered by the Earth observation satellites as well as on two important contractual developments related to the relevant missions. In particular, special attention is paid to the satellite information on snow cover, monitoring of the Mount Merapi’s volcanic ash, an extension of the GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) mission and the selection of two new Earth explorer missions FLEX and CarbonSat.

Read More…

GMES Projects’ Corner

11. Recent Activities of the MACC Project

The MACC project (developing the pre-operational GMES atmosphere monitoring service) recently held its Second General Assembly Meeting and finalised the processing the year 2005.

Read More…

12. Latest SAFER Activations

During the period covered by this Newsletter, the SAFER was activated two times. The different services were delivered as response to the fires in Israel and the failure of the dam with a toxic waste in Hungary.

Read More…

Notes from the HUMBOLDT Project

The HUMBOLDT project is currently in the middle of its extension phase approved by the EC. During these additional 6 months we are further advancing and disseminating the results of 4 years of research and development in geodata harmonisation. This newsletter edition informs you about the extension work plan applied, planned and upcoming workshops, presentations and trainings about the data harmonisation tools and services developed as well as on new software releases.

Please, feel free to check our website for planned and ongoing activities in your area of interest or the community website for updates of the HUMBOLDT Tools and Services.

On behalf of the HUMBOLDT consortium I send you our Season’s Greetings and wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Dr. Joachim Rix, Co-ordinator of the HUMBOLDT Project
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, Darmstadt, Germany

Project News

HUMBOLDT Project Extension Work Plan

The following list provides a comprehensive overview of the tasks and actions planned in the extension work plan (EWP):

*EWP 1: Outreach Activities
This includes the implementation of a Customer Relation Management (CRM) System, the organisation of several HUMBOLDT Workshops as well as presentations at events and conferences.

*EWP 2: Training
In this work package the continuous adoption and revision of training material as well as maintenance of the training platform are included. Furthermore, specific training actions have been implemented or are still in preparation.

*EWP 3: Customisation of the HUMBOLDT Framework
Customisation activities embrace language translations of specifications and other software documentation, continued framework testing and evaluation as well as specific integration and updating required for related projects and targeted communities.

*EWP 4: Long-term Sustainability
An important part for securing the long-term sustainability of the HUMBOLDT Framework is the moderation and support of the Community Website. Furthermore, the development of straightforward user reports on HUMBOLDT tools is planned. Another major part within this work package is the development of two edited books, summarising the achievements and results on a scientific and practical level.

In addition the long term sustainability plan for the HUMBOLDT Framework has to be established to ensure a continuation of the future development effort and broad use of the project results.

HUMBOLDT Framework for Data Harmonisation

In the past months two versions of the HUMBOLDT Alignment Editor have been released. Especially the latter should be highlighted as it integrates software developments by 1Spatial , a developer of market leading intelligent data quality and integration solutions.

In the context of the drafting of the INSPIRE Technical Guidance on Schema Translation, 1Spatial decided to incorporate the HUMBOLDT Alignment Editor into the accompanying proof-of-concept activities. At the INSPIRE Conference 2010, preliminary results including an extension of the HUMBOLDT Alignment Editor to output schema mappings in RIF were presented. 1Spatial decided to make this extension available to the public.

The bug fixes and feature supplements in these release candidates are based on thorough evaluations by several users. The majority of the reported issues could be resolved. Examples of the implemented improvements are the resolution of the incorrect positioning of map tiles, performance issues with large schemas as well as memory leaks. New features are, for instance, the read functionality to hide property types in the schema explorer, relative paths in the project file and filters for attributive functions.

Please don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of the most current release and report about problems you are encountering and/or features that you are missing. For more information, please visit the HALE News at the Community Website

All components of the HUMBOLDT Framework as well as full specifications are available for free download on the Community Website

Please use the forum on the community website to discuss any new issues or difficulties you are encountering.

HUMBOLDT at the ASITA 2010 Conference

The 14th ASITA National Conference
took place from the 9 – 12 November 2010 in Brescia, Italy. HUMBOLDT was represented by one workshop and two papers.

The event was an opportunity to disseminate the project results to the Italian community of interest. The participants were SDI Stakeholders, Public Administrations (mostly Italian Regions, but also Provinces and Municipalities) and more generally Italian users dealing with geodata harmonisation.

The workshop was focused on telling the main objectives and achievements of the project, presenting operational tools developed and promoting the online platform for training.

The workshop, as mentioned before, was anticipated by the presentation of two papers: one presented during a session dedicated to European Projects, and the other presented during a poster session. The first paper presented HUMBOLDT harmonisation toolkit, while the second one presented the HUMBOLDT training framework.

HUMBOLDT Workshop: INSPIRE Implementation for LMO’s

In November a 3-day course “INSPIRE Implementation for (Dutch) LMO’s” was given by TU Delft. It was the first in a series; the next will be in March 2011. The November course was specifically aimed at Rijkswaterstaat, a core agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment.

Part of the course was a ‘hands on’ introduction to the HUMBOLDT Alignment Editor (HALE). For this the training material prepared in WP12 was used: a step-by-step example of ‘schema mapping’ between existing administrative data (source model) and the INSPIRE Administrative Units data model (target model). By using the Alignment Editor the attendants got a first impression of the complexity of schema mapping as part of the data harmonisation work that has to be done for implementing INSPIRE in the member states. The use of HALE by experts from outside HUMBOLDT was also a good way to obtain feedback: what kind of extra functionality would be beneficial according to these users, and which part of the user interface requires additional explanation, in the course material or in the manual.

HUMBOLDT at the EFAEP General Assembly

During the EFAEP General Assembly held in Brussels on 25 October 2010 a HUMBOLDT Workshop has been organised. EFAEP is the European Federation of Associations of Environmental Professionals, whose aim is to provide a knowledge base and an information interchange tool between Environmental Professionals, Public Institutions and Private Organisations searching for personnel.

The workshop has been organised to spread the results of the HUMBOLDT project towards a specific interest community, in this case the community of environmental professionals that work with environmental and spatial data: it was indeed targeted to match professional interest and touch all the topics that may arouse within this specialist group of stakeholders.

The workshop gave an overview of HUMBOLDT and its relations to INSPIRE and GMES. In addition, the HUMBOLDT Tools and Services, Training Framework and Scenarios were presented. Special focus was set on those interesting from an environmental point of view: Ocean, Forest, ERiskA, Protected Areas and Transboundary Catchments.

HUMBOLDT Workshop at the Plan4all Project Meeting

The HUMBOLDT approach for data harmonisation and its applicability to other European projects was presented during the Plan4all

Thematic Workshop held at Lazio Region in Rome, Italy on October 15, 2010.

The main aim of the Plan4All project is to harmonise spatial planning data and related metadata according to the INSPIRE principles. Therefore, Plan4All and HUMBOLDT are facing common issues related to spatial data, particularly in terms of data harmonisation.

The Workshop provided an overview of the HUMBOLDT project, especially taking into consideration the peculiar aspects of the Plan4All project. In addition, the HUMBOLDT Training Framework for education and HUMBOLDT Training Platform were introduced.

The HUMBOLDT Urban Planning Scenario was presented in detail, as it represents a Plan4All interest area as well as the Urban Atlas Scenario and the need of open, harmonised and standardised systems in order to share knowledge between citizens, planners and political representatives.

Upcoming HUMBOLDT Events

16. Münchner Fortbildungsseminar Geoinformationssysteme – Conference and Training Seminar in Munich, Germany

GIS experts from academia, industry and government will gather in Munich for two days of training courses and workshops followed by a two-day conference from 21-24 March, 2011.

Training courses and workshops will be held on topics like geodatabases, CityGML, data harmonisation in INSPIRE context, WFS for INSPIRE application schemas, Web Processing Services, Microsoft Bing Maps, Location-based services for smart phones, GMES services and semantic model transformation.

Key conference topics include cloud computing, spatial data mining, GeoWeb 2.0, standards & INSPIRE, mobile services and systems, 3D city models & 3D simulations, energy systems, geo visualisation as well as environmental and risk assessment in urban areas. Courses and presentations will be held in German.

HUMBOLDT will be presented in the workshop “Semantische Modelltransformation” (semantic model transformation) on Tuesday, March 22. In addition, the training course “Datenharmonisierung im Kontext von INSPIRE” (data harmonisation in the INSPIRE context) on the same day will make use of project results like the HUMBOLDT Alignment Editor (HALE) based on the experiences in the European Risk Atlas Scenario (ERiskA).

AGISEE Data Harmonisation Workshop 2011

AGISEE organises an SDI workshop to take place on Wednesday, March 16, 2011, in Sofia, Bulgaria. The focus is set on tools and experiences related to the realisation of INSPIRE. HUMBOLDT will be presented by several workshops and presentations.

HUMBOLDT Workshop at the BRISEIDE Project Meeting

In March 2011 the HUMBOLDT approach for data harmonisation will be presented to the BRISEIDE project in Lisbon, Portugal.

The HUMBOLDT Project in brief

The EU project HUMBOLDT contributes to the implementation of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) that integrates the diversity of spatial data available for a multitude of European organisations. It is the aim of this project to manage and advance important parts of the implementation process of this ESDI.

The main goal of the HUMBOLDT project is to enable organisations to document, publish and harmonise their spatial information. The software tools and processes created will demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe as planned by the INSPIRE initiative, meeting the goals of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).

Learn more about HUMBOLDT by visiting our Website

Contact
HUMBOLDT Project Office
zeitform Internet Dienste OHG
Fraunhoferstraße 5
64283 Darmstadt
Germany
Phone: +49 6151 155 637
Fax: +49 6151 155 634
E-Mail: po@esdi-humboldt.eu

Executive Board
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Corporate Management
Dr. Ulrich Buller, Research Planning
Dr. Alfred Gossner, Finance, Controlling, IT
Prof. Dr. Marion Schick, Human Resources and Legal Affairs

Preparation for the future of space research in Europe begins

With the current FP7 space research programme coming to an end in 2013 the European Commission is preparing the future of EU space research. Space research is expected to contribute significantly to the Europe 2020 priorities, especially with regard to Smart and Sustainable Growth and it is important that Europe continues its research in this domain.

Such research is expected to play an important role in maintaining the security of citizens through monitoring of space weather but also increasing Europe’s competitiveness and reducing its dependency on imported space technology. In this context the European Commission organised a hearing on 8 December 2010 which brought together more than 150 experts in space research. The Commission was advised to support topics in areas such as robotic and human space exploration, space science, and emerging space applications to address societal challenges on and around Earth.

Please find the agenda of the event below. The speakers’ Power Point presentations will be published next to their name. In response to the very high interest from stakeholders to give feedback on the possible content of future space research priorities, the period during which it is possible to submit written contributions has been extended until 1 February 2011.

Moreover, background documents and written contributions from stakeholders are available here:

Downloads:
Invitation letter pdf – 334 KB [334 KB]
Agenda pdf – 21 KB [21 KB]
Stakeholder feedback msw8 – 32 KB [32 KB]
Written contributions pdf – 357 KB [357 KB]

Welcome

Mr. Reinhard Schulte-Braucks (European Commission, Head of Space Research and Development Unit)

Key note address

Space exploration as an essential human endeavour – 4 MB [4 MB] Gerhard Thiele, ESA astronaut (European Space Policy Institute, Vienna)

Report from the Space Advisory Group

Preparing for FP8 Space pdf – 22 KB [22 KB]
Jean-Pierre Swings (Honorary Professor, University of Liege, Space Advisory Group rapporteur on FP8)

Invited speaker

Space Research needs for Europe pdf – 464 KB [464 KB]
Jean-Claude Worms (Head of Space Sciences Unit, European Science Foundation)

ESA activities and the 8th Framework Programme- 397 KB [397 KB]
Alan Cooper (European Space Agency, Head of Brussels Office)

Session 1: Space exploration: research needs

* Europe and the Exploration of Space: Role of the EU and FP8 pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Giovanni Bignami – COSPAR president)
* Development concepts and technologies for re-supply/maintenance platforms to provide a step forward for space exploration pdf – 195 KB [195 KB] (Enrico Gaia – Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A.)
* Space nuclear reactors: a necessary breakthrough for space exploration pdf – 118 KB [118 KB] (Jean-Pierre Roux – AREVA, France)
* High-efficiency space transportation system based on nuclear power and propulsion pdf – 61 KB [61 KB] (Oleg Gorshkov – Keldysh Research Center, Russia)
* Development of electric solar wind sail propellantless propulsion for solar system access pdf – 161 KB [161 KB] (Eija Tanskanen – Finnish Meteorological Institute)
* Deep-space/planetary navigation and communications pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Christoph Guenther – DLR, Institute for Communications and Navigation)

Session 2: Space exploration: humans in space

* Tools and concepts for astronaut support on long-duration space missions pdf – 595 KB [595 KB] (health, training, habitat, ISRU) (Richard Aked – Space Applications, Belgium)
* Habitat Research and Technologies for Improving Life Support Cycles pdf – 391 KB [391 KB] (Juergen Schlutz – DLR, Human Spaceflight, ISS and Exploration)
* Research, development and validation for advanced dual integrated countermeasures for space exploration and human public health on Earth pdf – 323 KB [323 KB] (Audrey Berthier – MEDES-IMPS, France)
* Enabling technologies for human exploration: Opportunities for international cooperation pdf – 182 KB [182 KB] (Gennady Raykunov – Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash), Roscosmos, Russia)
* European technology research and application development for routine low cost sub-orbital space launch services pdf – 225 KB [225 KB] (John Lewis – VEGA Deutschland)
* Utilizing augmented reality and virtual reality in order to enhance human performance in space exploration pdf – 218 KB [218 KB] (Joern Rittweger – DLR, Aerospace medicine)

Session 3: Space science

* Microgravity related research within Europe pdf – 338 KB [338 KB] (Jack van Loon – ELGRA president)
* Gravitational Biology 2020: Study biology in space for life on Earth – from molecules to organisms pdf – 135 KB [135 KB] (Michael Lebert – University of Erlangen)
* Astrobiology: The search for life beyond the Earth pdf – 146 KB [146 KB] (Charles Cockell – Open University)
* The Impact and Opportunity of Small Satellites for Space Research pdf – 311 KB [311 KB] (Vaios Lappas – Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey)
* Synergies between ground-based telescopes and space missions, and novel instrumentation for astrophysics space missions pdf – 3 MB [3 MB] (Jesús Burgos Martin – Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias)
* Development of structured data and knowledge management/operation system pdf – 355 KB [355 KB] (Maxim Khodachenko – Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
* Exploring results from European space missions pdf – 188 KB [188 KB] (Eigil Friis-Christensen – Technical University of Denmark)

Session 4: Emerging space applications to address challenges on and around Earth

* Sustainable Space: debris removal, space asset protection, green manufacturing, space-based solar power pdf – 288 KB [288 KB] (Brigitte Serreault – EADS Astrium, France)
* From research to operations: Quantification of the physics of the Sun-Earth system towards operational space weather forecasts pdf – 547 KB [547 KB] (Volker Bothmer – University of Goettingen, Institute for Astrophysics)
* Taking European space technology to next stage; A programme to bring European space technologies to the appropriate maturity level for implementation in European systems for dependence reduction and risk mitigation pdf – 137 KB [137 KB] (Pierre Lionnet – EUROSPACE)
* Development of future multiple-species space borne LIDARS for the global monitoring of the atmosphere composition pdf – 188 KB [188 KB] (Jean-Pierre Marque – ONERA, France)
* Space Infrastructure for UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) operations pdf – 476 KB [476 KB] (Bas van der Peet – National Aerospace Laboratory NLR)
* Innovative research to combine space technologies (geopositioning and data collection, earth observation, space oceanography) for improved monitoring of marine and coastal habitats and its impact on wildlife pdf – 2 MB [2 MB] (Aline Duplaa – Collecte Localisation Satellites)
* Increasing European security in addressing International human risks by combining remote sensing data with socio-economical information pdf – 835 KB [835 KB] (Nathalie Stephenne – Eurosense Belfotop N.V.)

In response to the very high interest from stakeholders to give feedback on the possible content of future space research priorities, the period during which it is possible to submit written contributions has been extended until 1 February 2011

Source

(13 December 2010). The climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, last week agreed a package that will set up a new green climate fund for adapting to climate change, transferring technology to developing countries and reducing emissions by avoiding deforestation and forest degradation.

Although countries made voluntary commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, they acknowledged that they still fall short of what climate scientists say is needed to keep the global average temperature rise below 2°C.

Over the last five years, the ESA GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Forest Monitoring team has been working with national authorities, first in Cameroon and Bolivia and more recently in the Republic of Congo and Gabon, to include forest-cover monitoring by satellites within their national Reducing Emissions by avoiding Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) programmes.

The GMES Forest Monitoring team is led by GAF AG and funded by ESA, the German Development Agency and the German Development Bank.

In Cancun, the Cameroon government presented results of its REDD+ pilot project, reporting on national and sub-national projects as well as regional coordination through the Commission de Forets D’Afrique Central (COMIFAC).

In Cameroon, where forest degradation is more important than deforestation, wall-to-wall satellite maps of forest cover were combined with field data to establish reference emission levels and demonstrate the feasibility of a monitoring, reporting and verification process for REDD+.

A key factor in the project’s success was the exchange of expertise between teams from Bolivia and Cameroon.

Also at Cancun, the minister representing the Republic of Congo welcomed the use of satellite data for national REDD+ projects in his country and highlighted the importance of training and building-up local capacity.

In Gabon, the government is cooperating with France and Brazil to establish a national agency that will use satellite observations for monitoring changes in both forest coverage and carbon storage levels in Gabon and the Congo Basin.

These developments from Cancun highlight the important role that satellite observations of the world’s forests will play in enabling developing countries to implement this new policy.

ESA and partner space agencies are already working together to ease access to data from their satellites through the Group on Earth Observations’ Forest Carbon Tracking initiative.

ESA’s GMES Sentinel-2 mission, with two satellites to be operated over 15–20 years (the first to be launched in 2013), aims to ensure high-quality global observations of forest cover will be continuously available for the future.

The free and open data policy approved by ESA Member States for the Sentinel missions will greatly facilitate these efforts by guaranteeing open and transparent access to systematic monitoring of tropical forests, for everyone.

Source

The launch of NigeriaSat-2 and Nigeriasat-X earlier billed for this month has been rescheduled to the first quarter of 2011.

Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Mohammed Abubakar, disclosed this at a ministerial briefing in Abuja.

He, however, explained that the development and construction of the High Resolution Earth observation Satellite known as NigeriaSat-2 has reached an advanced stage. He added that the components are at present being transported to the launching site in Yansy, Russia.

According to him, “the know-how technology training undertaken by Nigeria scientists and engineers included the building of a flight standard training model called the Nigeriasat-x, which would be launched along with the NigeriaSat-2 as a demonstration of Nigeria’s capability of building future satellites here in Nigeria.”

Abubakar noted while speaking on the challenges facing that nation that energy remains the most strategic and, in fact, greatest challenge to the nation development, pointing out that the only solution to energy crisis is to diversify and fully exploit a wide range of renewable sources of energy which are being developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The minister lamented that most of the research outcomes which otherwise could have catapulted Nigeria to the club of technologically developed nations are, unfortunately, not being translated into essential goods and services.

“It has been observed with dismay that there are a lot of Research and Development (R&D) results lying idle on the laboratory shelves and workshops awaiting commercialisation. One of the factors responsible for this unhealthy situation is lack of adequate funding for aggressive promotion and popularisation of R&D result in order to sensitise and stimulate the interest of the public, especially entrepreneurs,” Abubakar noted.

He insisted that the inability to develop these research outcomes is largely responsible for Nigeria being currently a very high foreign technology consuming nation.

The minister, however, called for the establishment of National Science and Technology Fund (NSTF) to fund the commercialisation of research outcomes and to assist entrepreneurs who are desirous of adopting such outcomes with seed money and other technical assistance to enable them set up cottage, small and medium scale enterprises.

Source

Info related

ESA’s 2009 global land cover map has been released and is now available to the public online from the ‘GlobCover’ website.

GlobCover 2009 proves the sharpest possible global land cover map can be created within a year.

The map was produced using 12 months of data from Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at a resolution of 300 m.

ESA and Belgium’s Université catholique de Louvain created the map using software developed by Medias France and Germany’s Brockmann Consult on data collected from 1 January to 31 December 2009. GlobCover 2009 was generated within a year of acquiring the final satellite data.

The map’s legend uses the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Land Cover Classification System.

Some 8000 people have downloaded the previous version, GlobCover 2005. These maps are useful for studying the effects of climate change, conserving biodiversity and managing natural resources.

Source

A huge amount of data is already provided by satellites watching to the Earth and the new services that are going to be implemented, including high accuracy and high reliability positioning and navigation systems, are offering new opportunities.

On the other hand, European Union is challenged to reach a real interoperability of geographical information data, through the implementation of the INSPIRE directive and the GIS4EU project could be considered an example of this. However, the use of the data provided by satellites (both in GMES and in Galileo and EGNOS) in conjunction with geographical and environmental data collected from the ground has not fully discussed and deepened in all its implications.

This conference would like to start a proper consideration of these issues,

The deadline for submission of full papers for oral presentation and publication is on January 15, 2011

Web site

BANGALORE, Dec 30 (Bernama) — As part of plans to strengthen geo studies and research, India is mulling to launch at least 30 earth observation satellites in the next one decade, reports Press Trust of India (PTI).

A top Department of Space (DoS) official, under Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), said, a plan for the next ten years had already been draw up in this regard.

“We expect not less than 30 satellites”, Director of the Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) Dr. V Jayaraman said.

NRSC is responsible for remote sensing satellite data acquisition and processing, data dissemination, aerial remote sensing and decision support for disaster management.

As part of the plan, the country’s apex space body Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would launch a series of satellites such as Resource-sat, Cartosat, ocean & atmospheric satellites and Cartosat-3 with 30 cm resolution.

“We will launch Resourcesat-2 in early February or end-January. It will be a replacement satellite for Resourcesat-1 which gives us 5.8 metres, 70 km multi-spectral data for the first time”, Jayaraman told PTI.

Jayaraman was in the city to inaugurate a state-level conference on Karnataka State Geospatial Database, organised by the south Indian state of Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre.

‘Resourcesat-2’, a ‘youth satellite’ made by students of Singapore University, is a follow-on mission to Resourcesat-1, which is used to collect information and images on vegetation, crop yield and disaster management support.

The scientist said the space agency was setting up an integrated multi-mission ground segment in Hyderabad which is expected to be operational in June next year.

In this single ground station (segment), ISRO would be able to receive all the satellite data “making the (space) products in such a way that every day we want to supply 1000 products to the users directly”.

With the coming up of the facility, NRSC would be able to deliver space products within 12 hours and supply “emergency products” within one hour.

At present, it could deliver products only within four-five days.

Source

Related article at Source

This consultation is part of an impact assessment on a possible Commission proposal for an EU Space Programme concentrating on the protection of space infrastructures and space exploration. The objective of the consultation is to obtain the views of the European public, as well as concerned European stakeholders, on the adequacy and the scope of possible EU measures in these fields.

Policy field

Enterprise: space

Target groups

All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation. Contributions are particularly sought from space policy stakeholders, including public authorities and space industry.

Period of consultation

From 03/01/2011 to 28/02/2011

Objective of the consultation

This consultation is part of an impact assessment on a possible Commission proposal for an EU Space Programme concentrating on the protection of space infrastructures and space exploration. The objective of the consultation is to obtain the views of the European public, as well as concerned European stakeholders, on the adequacy and the scope of possible EU measures in these fields.

More information and reference documents are available here pdf – 35 KB [35 KB] .

How to submit your contribution

We welcome contributions from citizens, organisations and public authorities.

• If you are answering this consultation as a citizen, please click here to submit your contribution.
• If you are answering this consultation on behalf of an organisation, please click here to submit your contribution.
• If you are answering this consultation on behalf of a public authority, please click here to submit your contribution.

Replies can be given to all or simply to parts of the questionnaire.

View the consultation background document

Background document to the public consultation concerning a possible EU Space Programme pdf – 35 KB [35 KB]

View the questionnaire

Questionnaire

Contact details

Responsible service: European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Space Policy and Coordination
E-mail:entr-consultation-spaceIA@ec.europa.eu
Postal address: European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, Room 9/40 Breydel Building, 45 Avenue d’Auderghem, 1049 Brussels

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Source

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has won a €10.69m contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) via Dutch Space to provide a Short Wave Infra-Red (SWIR) spectrometer as part of the TROPOMI instrument for the Sentinel 5 Precursor atmospheric monitoring mission.

The SWIR spectrometer will be used to measure carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) – the latter being the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas – in the atmosphere. The Sentinel 5 Precursor mission will provide a source of accurate and detailed data following the completion of the European Space Agency’s Envisat Mission. This will allow scientists to continue to study both air quality and climate change until Sentinel 5 is launched in the next decade.

SSTL’s Optical Payloads Group will coordinate an industrial consortium including the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and Sofradir (France) to procure and integrate the precision remote sensing instrument.

Dr. Matt Perkins, SSTL commented, “It is imperative that we maintain the excellent atmospheric and environmental data provided by Envisat, and SSTL is very pleased to take the lead on this important project.”

Dr Ruth Boumphrey, Head of Earth Observation at the UK Space Agency, said, “Climate change and air quality are global issues requiring the best scientific and technical approaches and we are very proud that the UK has the technology and experience to lead such an important European space project.”

The Sentinel 5 Precursor builds on the developments of the TROPOMI instrument which is led by Dutch Space, The Netherlands, as Prime Contractor. TROPOMI, which is co-funded by The Netherlands and ESA, includes substantially improved SWIR measurements compared to the SCIAMACHY instrument onboard Envisat. A push-broom replaces SCIAMACHY’s scanning instrument providing much smaller pixels (7km2×7km2 vs 120km2×30km2), and the measurement sensitivity is also greatly improved. Immersed grating technology will increase the effective resolution of the instrument without increasing the size and mass of the module.
Another new development lies in the use of Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) detectors that are expected to be less susceptible to in-flight radiation damage than the NIR extended-wavelength InGaAs detector arrays onboard Envisat.

About SSTL

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) is the world’s leading small satellite company, delivering operational space missions for a range of applications including Earth observation, science and communications. The Company designs, manufactures and operates high performance satellites and ground systems for a fraction of the price normally associated with space missions, with over 300 staff working on turnkey satellite platforms, space-proven satellite subsystems and optical instruments.

Since 1981 SSTL has built and launched 34 satellites – as well as providing training and development programmes, consultancy services, and mission studies for ESA, NASA , international governments and commercial customers, with its innovative approach that is changing the economics of space.

Based in Guildford, UK, SSTL is owned by EADS Astrium NV.
www.sstl.co.uk

Notes to editor:
Robin Wolstenholme will manage press appointments at the IAC2010, please use the contact details below to make arrangements. This press release can be downloaded as a Word or Pdf document at the following url: http://www.sstl.co.uk/news-and-events

SSTL Contact:
Joelle Sykes, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804243 Email: j.sykes@sstl.co.uk

Press Contact:
Robin Wolstenholme, bcm public relations
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288 Email: r.wolstenholme@bcmpublicrelations.com