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(30 June 2010) Today, a focus at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium is on the innovative SMOS mission, which recently became operational. Early results are proving very encouraging with its first observations due to be released in early July.

ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite was launched in November to gather data on moisture in the surface layers of soil and salt in the surface of the oceans. SMOS will improve our understanding of the water cycle and help advance weather and climate studies.

SMOS has completed an intense programme of calibration and commissioning and, in May, it formally began its operational life delivering data.

Although it is still early days, scientists and users are very impressed with the first snapshots of ‘brightness temperature’ – the microwave radiation emitted from Earth’s surface.

ESA’s Mission Manager, Susanne Mecklenburg said, “We still have some way to go before the full soil moisture and ocean salinity data products are available, but the brightness temperature data we have been working on for the past months clearly demonstrate what this advanced mission has to offer.

The satellite carries an innovative sensor to image brightness temperature. As key observables, these images are used as input to derive global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity. Given the success of the mission so far, the maps are expected to be available by the autumn.

To test the usefulness of SMOS data for numerical weather prediction, data are also being delivered, within three hours of sensing, to meteorological centres such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

In a few months, global maps of soil moisture with an accuracy of 4% and 50 km resolution – the same as being able to detect a teaspoon of water in a handful of soil – will be available, and maps of ocean salinity down to 0.1 ‘practical salinity units’ – equivalent to a gram of salt in 10 litres of water – averaged over 10 to 30 days and areas of 200 × 200 km.

While users await the full results, the mission’s usefulness is already being shown: in early May, SMOS picked up clear differences in soil moisture as heavy rains hit Tennessee and Kentucky, USA, and the subsequent drying period.

Yann Kerr from the Centre d’Etudes Spatials de la Biosphere said, “The brightness temperature data currently being delivered by SMOS are better than expected.”

“The user community is very much looking forward to the full products that will not only advance our understanding of Earth processes, but also have many practical applications for water management, weather forecasting, and flood and drought prediction.”

The data for ocean salinity are also encouraging. Nicolas Reul from the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea commented that, “We are now generating composites of sea-surface salinity maps from SMOS data.”

“Measurements taken in situ from floats show that SMOS data are to within 0.5 psu globally, and 0.4 psu in the tropics – even though the data has not gone through full processing.”

While there are still a few months to go before SMOS delivers full soil moisture and ocean salinity products, which will be available free of charge for all users, the current release of brightness temperature data provides a taster of what is to come.

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The first global gravity model based on GOCE satellite data has been presented at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium. ESA launched GOCE in March 2009 to map Earth’s gravity with unprecedented accuracy and resolution.

The model, based on only two months of data, from November and December 2009, shows the excellent capability of the satellite to map tiny variations in Earth’s gravity.

GOCE is delivering where it promised: in the fine spatial scales,” GOCE Mission Manager Rune Floberghagen said.

“We have already been able to identify significant improvements in the high-resolution ‘geoid’, and the gravity model will improve as more data become available.”

The geoid is the shape of an imaginary global ocean dictated by gravity in the absence of tides and currents. It is a crucial reference for accurately measuring ocean circulation, sea-level change and ice dynamics – all affected by climate change.

Chairman of the GOCE Mission Advisory Group and Head of the Institute for Astronomical and Physical Geodesy at the Technische Universität München, Prof. Reiner Rummel, said: “The computed global gravity field looks very promising. We can already see that important new information will be obtained for large areas of South America, Africa, Himalaya, South-East Asia and Antarctica.”

“Over continents, and in particular in regions poorly mapped with terrestrial or airborne techniques, we can already conclude that GOCE is changing our understanding of the gravity field,” Dr Floberghagen added.

“Over major parts of the oceans, the situation is even clearer, as the marine gravity field at high spatial resolution is for the first time independently determined by an instrument of such quality.”

New GOCE models are already yielding a wealth of new information that is useful for many domains of geosciences. GOCE’s final gravity map and geoid will be instrumental in advancing science and applications in a broad range of disciplines, ranging from geodesy, geophysics and surveying to oceanography and sea-level research.

“With each two-month cycle of data, the gravity model will become more detailed and accurate. I am convinced that the data will be of great interest to various disciplines of Earth sciences,” Prof. Rummel said.

Excellent technical achievement

In order to achieve its very challenging mission objectives, the satellite was designed to orbit at a very low altitude, where the gravitational variations are stronger closer to Earth.

Since mid-September 2009, GOCE has been in its gravity-mapping orbit at a mere 254.9 km mean altitude – the lowest orbit sustained over a long period by any Earth observation satellite.

The residual air at this low altitude causes the orbit of a standard satellite to decay very rapidly. GOCE, however, continuously nullifies the drag in real time by firing an ion thruster using xenon gas.

It ensures the gravity sensors are flying as though they are in pure freefall, so they pick up only gravity readings and not the disturbing effects from other forces.

To obtain clean gravity readings, there can be no disturbances from moving parts, so the entire satellite is a single extremely sensitive measuring device.

“The gravity measuring system is functioning extremely well. The system is actively compensating for the effects of atmospheric drag and delivering a continuous set of clean gravity readings,” Dr Floberghagen said.

“This in itself is an excellent technical achievement. GOCE has proven to be a nearly perfect satellite for measuring gravity from space.”

In May, ESA made available the first set of gravity gradients and ‘high-low satellite-to-satellite tracking’. These data are available to scientific and non-commercial users – and much more will come in the following months.

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GEOSS, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, is envisioned to be a global public infrastructure that generates comprehensive, near-real-time environmental data, information and analyses for a wide range of users. The general assumption regarding GEOSS is that the benefits to society by far outweigh the costs.

However, this notion is being increasingly challenged, and it is becoming necessary to provide rational, quantified and persuasive arguments to justify investment of what are often public funds. In particular, the identification of clear benefits is crucial to ensure long term sustained GEOSS operations. Not surprisingly, it is the estimation of many of these benefits which has proven difficult in the past.

Numerous studies have been undertaken to describe and measure the Value of Information (VOI). They typically employ a wide variety of methods and generally find a large range of benefits, from quite small to very large, in part owing to differences in methodologies (Macauley, 2006). The state of the art in understanding the VOI reflects general agreement on how to model an individual’s or a government’s decision and some useful implications about the value of information: when it is most and least valuable, its relationship to subjective prior opinions, and the decision maker’s ability to take action in light of the information (Macauley, 2006).

To date, however, there have been few integrated assessments of the economic, social and environmental benefits of Global Earth Observation (EO). In an effort to address these issues, the European Commission sponsored project “Global Earth Observation – Benefit Estimation: Now, Next and Emerging” (GEOBENE) developed methodologies and analytical tools to assess the societal benefit areas (SBAs) of GEO in the domains of: Disasters, Health, Energy, Climate, Water, Weather, Ecosystems, Agriculture and Biodiversity. Thus it is the aim of this article to present several of these overarching methodologies as a contribution to the ongoing effort to improve GEOSS. The article concludes with a look to the future via the EuroGEOSS Project.

GEOSS Benefit Assessment

The GEOBENE Project resulted in a variety of tools and methodologies developed for GEOSS benefit assessment which address the various SBAs within GEOSS, along with GEOSS as a whole. These ranged in scope from studies on biodiversity and emerging diseases, optimal vaccination timing and robust energy portfolios through to weather observation for forest fires and wetland conservation. From the large variety of applications resulting from GEOBENE, four overarching methods warrant further explanation here because of their cross-sectoral applicability, not only at the SBA level, but also to assess interoperability among areas, and GEOSS as a whole. These include: the benefit chain concept; Bayesian decision theory; a real options framework; and systems dynamics modeling and are described below.

Benefit Chain Concept

In the course of the GEOBENE Project, a conceptual framework for assessing the benefits of GEOSS via the ‘benefit chain’ concept was developed (Fritz et al., 2008). The basic notion is that an incremental improvement in the observing system (including its data collection, interpretation and information sharing aspects) will result in an improvement in the quality of decisions based on that information. This will lead, in turn, to beneficial societal outcomes, which have a value. As further elaborated in Jantke et al., (2009), the approximation of benefit improvements requires mapping the decision implications for each data quality to the data set of highest quality. Otherwise, the benefit comparison between societal outcomes under alternative data qualities will be biased.

Image of a table showing Comparison of two cropland datasets – one where enough land exists, the other not.The incremental value of improved data must also be judged against the incremental cost of the improved observation system. Since in many cases there will be large uncertainties in the estimation of both the costs and the benefits, and it may not be possible to express one or both of them in comparable monetary terms, the ‘benefit chain’ concept describes how order-of-magnitude approaches and a qualitative understanding of the shape of the cost and benefit curves can help guide rational investment decisions in Earth Observation systems (Fritz et al., 2008).

The example of improved data for biodiversity conservation planning illustrates how the benefit chain concept can be applied in a case where the benefits are non-marketable. This case study demonstrates the benefits of replacing commonly available coarse scale global data (the non GEOSS scenario) with finer scale data used in conservation decision making. These finer scale data are comparable with those expected from GEOSS and can thus be used to estimate the potential benefits of GEOSS data. The coarse scale data led to a 9% overestimate of priority areas identified by the finer national scale data and a 10% underestimate in other areas. A simple proxy to convert these differences into benefit estimates would be the cost consequences of these over or underestimates. Based on this approach, it appears that the benefits of moving from global to national data are large and provide significant savings. Work is in progress to determine at which level these benefits begin to saturate (Fritz et al., 2008).

Bayesian decision theory

A method that explicitly considers the extent to which decision-makers actually use Global Earth Observation for decision-making is Bayesian decision theory. The approach is particularly attractive as it links the value of information to the perceived accuracy of the information system. Bouma et al., (2009) used Bayesian decision theory to study the added value of Global Earth Observation for preventing potentially harmful algal blooms in the North Sea.

Using expert elicitation to assess decision-makers perceptions of the accuracy of the GEO-based algal bloom early warning system, the analysis indicated that the value (i.e. avoided damage) of an early warning system would be 74,000 €/week. Since the costs of establishing and maintaining such an early warning system amount to 50,000 €/week, investing in satellite observation for preventing potentially harmful algal blooms seems to be an economically efficient investment to make. Increasing the accuracy of the information system substantially increases the value of information – the value of perfect information, for example, being estimated at 370,000 €/week (Bouma et al., 2009).

Real Options Framework

Many VOI problems can be addressed in a real options framework, which takes into account investment irreversibility, uncertainty and the flexibility to react when new information arrives. Such a framework is proposed here, and applied to a satellite mission case study, considered to bring about new scientific information potentially leading to lower damage from natural disasters (Fuss et al., 2008).

Satellites are a key source of Earth observation designed to obtain information for improved decision making. Satellite missions are, however, expensive undertakings involving large sunk costs in the face of uncertain benefits. In terms of avoiding damages from natural disasters through, for example, better weather forecasts, early warning or better-informed rescue missions, the benefits are high, but also difficult to quantify. Using real options to optimize the timing of the launch of a satellite enables us to derive the value that such information conveys, when it can be used to reduce the extent of the damage from disasters and their consequences. This technique could be applied towards the NASA Decadal Survey, which provides scientific priorities indirectly through a time sequencing of recommended missions.

Key findings show that large volatility of the benefits from avoided damage or damage mitigation increases the option value, thus leading to postponement of the satellite mission. While rational to wait in the face of uncertainty, higher volatility also implies higher spikes in damages, representing high-impact disasters – hence it is important to ex ante assess the benefits that could be obtained through EO. For example, a larger value of the trend parameter has been shown to trigger an earlier launch – thus if prior benefit assessment can establish that the trend can be expected to be relatively high, an EO system could be installed earlier (Fuss et al., 2008).

Systems Dynamics Modeling

The approaches described above are typically applied to one SBA or sector, or a specific country or region, conducting a thorough analysis of GEO’s benefits only in that area. In order to illustrate the propagation of GEO benefits across all nine SBAs and to capture the global perspective of such issues as greenhouse gas emissions or climate change, system dynamics modeling and simulation methodology was used to develop the FeliX (Full of Economic-Environment Linkages and Integration dX/dt) model (Rydzak et al., 2010).

The FeliX model provides a systems perspective, where the underlying social, economic, and environmental components of the Earth system are interconnected and constitute a complex dynamic system. A change in one area results in changes in other areas – for instance, use of food crops as a source of energy may increase food prices and deforestation rates through land use change. Being a dynamic model it captures change of certain phenomena (e.g. depletion of natural resources, carbon dioxide emissions) or impact of certain policies (e.g. afforestation, emission reductions) over time. Constructed as such, the model allows for analysis of particular policies, actions and interventions in both the short and long term.

The FeliX model was initially calibrated to historical data for the 20th century, constituting a simplified representation of the Earth system. The Business as Usual run for the 21st century was constructed based on projections of historical data. Additionally, a total of six GEO scenarios were constructed: Energy, Disaster, Health, Climate, Agriculture and Water. The Base Run scenario is then compared to the GEO scenarios, the difference indicating the potential impact of GEO across the SBAs. For example, the agriculture GEO scenario demonstrates the ability of the agricultural sector to meet global food demand beyond 2070, compared to the Base Run which shows severe shortfalls. Results demonstrate the significant impacts of combined GEO scenarios over the Base Run in several sectors, namely a significant decrease in CO2 emissions, increased savings of water resources, limitations to deforestation and decreasing amounts of agricultural land required.

New Developments

Building in part upon the successful achievements of GEOBENE, the European Commission is supporting a new project titled EuroGEOSS. Where GEOBENE focused on the societal benefits of GEO within individual SBAs, EuroGEOSS is tasked with implementing methodologies to assess the added value of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and interoperability in three SBAs, specifically developing, linking, and making globally available the European information systems addressing forests, drought, and biodiversity. EuroGEOSS therefore focuses primarily on the VOI for integrated assessment, which is critical to support environmental decision-making and policy assessment.

The economic importance of integrated assessment can be gauged by a recent survey of practitioners in Europe undertaking Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs). This survey indicates that the current barriers to the discovery, access, and use of the environmental and geographic data necessary to undertake EIAs and SEAs account for an added cost of € 150-200 million per annum in the EU alone, along with reports of lower quality, i.e. greater uncertainty on the environmental impacts of the projects proposed (Craglia et al., 2010). The development of SDIs and of interoperable systems of systems in the GEOSS context can remove these barriers, and therefore provide significant economic benefits, in addition to the all important increased understanding of the complex relationships between environmental processes and human agency. With the implementation of INSPIRE requiring the development of SDIs at multiple levels across Europe, and the development of GEOSS at the global level, it is important to develop a portfolio of studies providing evidence of the benefits of these investments.

As a first step in this process, a database to collect SDI-related benefit assessment research has been established. This builds upon a similar online bibliography established for GEOBENE. The objective is to collect literature which demonstrates measuring benefits qualitatively or quantitatively in relation to SDI, INSPIRE and/or GEOSS. In particular, studies from different approaches which illustrate the potential of SDIs and also the use of standards compliant architectures will be archived. The goal is that this site will evolve into a public domain database of all SDI/INSPIRE/GEOSS related benefit studies. This online bibliography will be used as a platform from which to develop new applications for GEOSS benefit assessment.

A second step towards the evaluation of the benefits of a Global System of Systems is being developed in the context of EuroGEOSS by means of a set of surveys aimed at investigating the current needs and requirements of users of data and information systems belonging to different thematic areas: the comparison between these needs and the actual achievements of the project, in terms of data finding, accessing and integrating, of data and models’ sharing, of interoperability and costs, will give the opportunity to gather evidence on the benefits that the partners of the project and their users will have gained thanks to the efforts made.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Community’s Framework Programme (FP6/FP7) via the Projects GEOBENE (No. 037063) and EuroGEOSS (No. 226487).

Reference List

Bouma, J.A., van der Woerd, H.J., Kuik, O.J., 2009. Assessing the value of information for water quality management in the North Sea. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(2)1280-1288.

Craglia, M., Pavanello, L., Smith, R.S., 2010. The Use of Spatial Data for the Preparation of Environmental Reports in Europe. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, EUR24327 EN – 2010. 45 pp.

Fritz, S., Scholes, R.J., Obersteiner, M., Bouma, J., Reyers, B., 2008. A Conceptual Framework for Assessing the Benefits of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems. IEEE Systems Journal, 2(3)338 – 348.

Fuss, S., Szolgayova, J., Obersteiner, M., 2008. A real options approach to satellite mission planning. Space Policy, 24(4)199-207 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              24(4)199-207      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Havlik, P., Schneider, U. A., Schmid, E., Bottcher, H., Fritz, S., Skalsky, R., Aoki, K., De Cara, S., Kindermann, G., Kraxner, F., Leduc, S., McCallum, I., Mosnier, A., Sauer, T., Obersteiner, M., 2010. Global land-use implications of first and second generation biofuel targets. Energy Policy, (In Press).

Jantke, K., Schleupner, C., Schneider, U.A., 2010. Benefits of increased data resolution for European conservation planning. Research Unit Sustainability and Global Change, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 14 pp.
Macauley, M.K., 2006. The value of information: Measuring the contribution of space-derived earth science data to resource management. Space Policy, 22(4):274-282.

Rydzak, F., Obersteiner, M., Kraxner, F., 2010. Impact of Global Earth Observation – Systemic view across GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas. International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research, Vol 5.

By McCallum et al., posted on July 12th, 2010 in Earth Observation, Economy, Featured Article, GEOSS/ICEO News
I. McCallum1, S. Fritz1, N. Khabarov1, S. Fuss1, J. Szolgayova1, F. Rydzak1, P. Havlik1, F. Kraxner1, M. Obersteiner1, K. Aoki1, C. Schill2, M. Quinten2, C. Heumesser3, J. Bouma4, B. Reyers5, U. Schneider6, F. Pignatelli7, L. Pavanello7, M. T. Borzacchiello7, M. Craglia7
1 FOR, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria
2 FELIS, University of Freiburg, Germany
3 ISED, BOKU University, Austria
4 IVM, VU University, Netherlands
5 CSIR, South Africa
6 UNIHH, Germany
7 IES, Joint Research Centre, Italy

Source EARTHZINE

Consultation: Questionnaire

Policy field(s)
Research and Technology

Target group(s)
Member of an FP7 Programme Committee, Member of an FP7 Advisory Group, National Contact Point, Evaluator of proposals (peer reviewer), Involved (now or earlier) in a project of the Framework Programme, Other (individual or organisation).

Period of consultation
From 02/07/2010 to 27/08/2010

Objective of the consultation

This survey addresses the Interim Evaluation of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)
The Interim Evaluation of FP7 is being carried out by a group of independent experts, supported by an extensive base of evidence. In order to provide the experts with a range of opinions and views about the functioning and achievements of FP7, this interactive consultation has been set up to allow for contributions both from those with direct experience of the FP, as well as any groups or individuals who wish to give their views. The survey addresses stakeholders including major users of FP7, research organisations and firms.

More info at

Publications


Catalogue of FP7 projects 2007 – 2010

This 325-page document includes all the projects which have so far been funded under the Environment (including climate change) theme in FP7 (2007-2010), presenting them according to key research areas.

fp7_catalogue.pdf

European Research Framework Programme – Research on Climate Change

This publication gathers the abstracts of European research projects on climate change and related to climate change which have been completed recently or are ongoing under the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes for research. This document aims at providing a relevant overview of research activities on climate change funded by the European Community to participants to the third World Climate Conference held in Geneva in August 2009 and to the UNFCCC 15th Conference of the Parties meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009.

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EARSC members will recall the successful eoVox-1 study conducted in 2006 by EARSC, with ESA support (Several of the outputs of that study helped to define the EARSC evolution strategy for 2007 and beyond )


In 2010-11, a set of follow-on activities is being undertaken by EARSC, again with support from ESA – this is eoVox-2
-Activities specified by EARSC and managed by the BoD
-These activities are designed to help EARSC strengthen and grow the European EO/RS value-adding sector, and continue EARSC’s evolution and growth strategy
-The activities are supported by funding from ESA, which enables EARSC to do things we couldn’t otherwise afford to do

eovox2 activities

-Horizon scanning taking a look at the ‘next big things’
-Industry position papers capturing the views of the industry
-Trade directory – “eoPages” to promote the service providers and services
-Promotional packages targeted at specific market sectors
-Trade missions to talk to key customers in those sectors

In support of these activities, we warmly encourage all EARSC members to come up with fresh ideas and input for EARSC to take forward. The EARSC secretariat will keep you informed of ways to get engaged in the process. Your active participation will add value to the association and bring greater benefit to all of our members and the industry as a whole.
eoVox2 will be organising a consultations that you might be interested to look at and participate. For more information please do not hesitate to contact secretariat-at-earsc.org

Following a Membership Campaign, the EARSC Board is glad to welcome two New Companies in our Association: ANSUR and IABG

On EARSC behalf, we are certain that new Members will contribute actively to the aims of EARSC enthusiastically involved in coordinating and strengthening the Earth-observation chain and promoting the European Earth observation industry in programmes such as GMES and GEOSS.

The membership increase encourage us in the Board of Directors to continue to do our best to fulfill the tasks that you as members could expect of the association. On EARSC behalf, Welcome!

More information about new member at:

ANSUR

AnsuR Facts

With top level satellite communications and system expertise, AnsuR Technologies does high level R&D in satellite and wireless image, voice and data communications, develops own solutions, provides selected customers with advice and contributes globally via standardization and workshops.

AnsuR specializes in R&D for satellite and wireless communication networking solutions, in particular focussing on cross-layer aspects taking voice/audio/video/images into account.

Efficient voice and image communications concepts are part of our Innovative Communication solutions. In satellite communications we have in particular strong expertise on Imarsat BGAN (mobile broadband) and DVB-RCS (fixed broadband).

AnsuR is further significantly involved in standardization work, disseminations and symposia and provides advice and scientific input to organizations such as Inmarsat.

AnsuR has organized the ETSI DVB-RCS symposium in Brazil in 2004/2005/2007, the 1st SatLabs symposium at ESA/Estec in 2005 and the 1st Middle East SatLabs Symposium in Dubai in 2006.

AnsuR people has also initiated, co-founded and chaired the ETSI BSM Work Group, and is presently chairing the DVB-RCS work Group for the EBU in Geneva. AnsuR was a partner in the FP6 SPACE project TWISTER, is an initiating partner in FP6 WISECOM (considering satellite in emergency communications) and coordinator of FP6 BRASIL SSA (supporting DVB-RCS and Rural Communications in the Latin Americas). They have also chaired the Norwegian Signal Processing Society (NORSIG) for many years and initiated the Nordic Signal Processing Symposium, still going strong.

AnsuR contributes to systems design and key technology development for major actors and bodies such as Inmarsat, the ESA and the EU Commission. We also collaborate with organizations such as EADS Astrium, German Aerospace, Nera, Unisat and Telenor. AnsuR further provides university level lecturing in Space Engineering for the University of Delft and serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the Satellite Network of Excellence (SatNEx). AnsuR comfortably operates both in the academic and the industry domains.

AnsuR also has a strong background in satellite navigation systems and digital image communications.

AnsuR Technologies AS (ART) is a private Norwegian company, SME, founded officially by experienced satellite and tele-communications people in 2005, but building on previous activities in another company founded 5 years earlier. AnsuR founders have over 150 years of substantial expertise in broadband and mobile satellite and telecommunications. AnsuR is located in the most dynamic IT Research Park in Oslo, Norway (IT Fornebu).

Communications: Satellite-Radio Networking Solutions

AnsuR’s main product focus is on IP layer hybrid networking solutions combining satellite and radio technology. A key area is GSM/UMTS and WiMAX/WiFi combinations with broadband and mobile satellite systems, e.g. DVB-RCS and BGAN. Portable and fixed solutions providing regional infrastructures via satellites are being developed in European R&D projects with some of the best players in the industry. Other important areas include multicast and satellite navigation/communications synergies. As a result of the above focus AnsuR has also developed the ASIGN image communications solution, the most optimum GPS tagged image communications for networks where a full broadband connection is missing.

Inspiration: Global Symposia & Networking

AnsuR has organized several international satellite symposia in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia on behalf of ESA, SatLabs, ETSI and the EU Commission. AnsuR has led several Specialist Task Forces for ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), it has founded and led the ETSI BSM Work Group and has contributed as ETSI representative to ESA (European Space Agency) standards activities. We frequently serve as peer reviewers for satellite papers, and serve on several technical advisory boards for conferences. Contact AnsuR for satellite symposia and wisdom.

Advice: Academic & Industry Operations

AnsuR contributes to systems design and key technology development for major actors and bodies such as Inmarsat, the ESA , UN, DVB and the EU Commission.
Specifically AnsuR is providing the Chairman for the DVB-RCS group.

We also collaborate with organizations such as EADS Astrium, German Aerospace, Unisat and Telenor. AnsuR further provide university level lecturing such as for Space Engineering for the University of Delft and serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the Satellite Network of Excellence (SatNEx). AnsuR comfortably operates both in the academic and the industry domains.

Contact AnsuR for satellite systems advice and consultancies.

Our AnsuR VISION
Global recognition for innovative communication solutions people need.
Our AnsuR MISSION
With insight, innovation and inspiration, bridging any locations with innovative solutions for audio-visual communication over wireless and satellite networks.

More info at ANSUR

IABG

IABG is a leading European technology enterprise. Our focus lies on trend-setting high technology and science applications. We plan, implement and operate. More than 1,000 experienced and committed employees offer our customers from industry and public institutions solutions in the sectors Automotive, InfoCom, Transport, Environment & Power Engineering, Aeronautics as well as Defence & Security.

IABG’s geodata service can support and advise you on all issues related to geodata or geoinformation. We can capture, process, analyze and visually present geodata from any source(s). We can generate two- or three-dimensional vector data, municipal land registry data, digital city models, terrain models and orthophoto mosaics. In our ultra-modern geodata production facilities in Dresden, we have put together the perfect team and infrastructure for handling even the most comprehensive projects. IABG researches, procures and utilizes high-resolution satellite data (e.g. from Quickbird, Ikonos, Spot, Rapid Eye, TerraSAR-X, etc.) to extract topographies, conduct stereo photogrammetric surveys and generate precise terrain models. We also use this data to create orthophotos and carry out image classification.

All our services offered are based on our long-term project experience and the utilization of the most advanced technology systems.

Our national space centre, coordinated by the European space agency ESA, offers the entire spectrum of space-specific analyses and tests under one roof. Whether rockets like Ariane 5+ Evolution, international satellite projects like CryoSat-2, Swarm, LISA Pathfinder or national projects such as SARLupe or TanDEM-X up to numerous subsystems and components – they all were comprehensively tested in our facilities prior to deployment. Our expert’s assessment of many years, as well as the variety and adaptability of our facilities make us the ideal partner for challenging product qualifications – both nationally and internationally.

*Space simulation / sun simulation
*Thermal tests
*Vibration and shock tests
*Acoustic tests
*Modal analyses
*Determination of the mass properties
*EMC tests
*Magnetic tests
*QM system studies / consulting

IABG have established a name for themselves as IT security service provider among industrial customers and authorities. We plan, integrate and implement complex IT and communication systems for our customers; we develop custom-made solutions and ensure smooth introduction. To guarantee the efficiency increase expected from new IT systems, we analyse and optimise internal processes and provide profitability over the entire life cycle with our cost models.

We offer our recognised know-how in the area IT security (BSI-accredited test centre) to our customers in form of high-quality security concepts and solutions as well as audits. Whether IT or telecom – we ensure maximum availability, performance and security. Our co-operation of many decades with federal organisations (e.g. German Federal Armed Forces) and the German Federal Lands (e.g. police) proves our high level of expertise with structures and processes of public institutions.

*Secure communication solutions
*SAP competence centre and enterprise solutions
*Consulting and analyses for the protection of critical infrastructures
*ICT security and compliance management
*System security of embedded systems
*System development, integration and operation (V model XT, ITIL)
*IT project management, controlling, quality management
*Public sector consulting
*Cost and profitability analyses

More info at IABG

EARSC is a non-profit-making organisation created in 1989. The mission of EARSC is to foster the development of European Geo-Information Service Industry. Our main objective is to stimulate a sustainable market for geo-information services using EO data, which is openly accessible to all members.

We all know quite well that it took many more years for the market itself to mature pushing many to forget some of their illusions on the way. However realizing that maturity and market expansion could only happen little by little in this complex domain EARSC has been sticking to its goal of helping develop the European remote sensing industry, reaching today 80 members, and being a recognized association worldwide. All the major European industrial actors of remote sensing are EARSC members and are involved in numerous ways to foster the development of the domain together with European institutions. Lately the EARSC strategy has evolved one step further to account for the geospatial information revolution of the 21st century.

EARSC is representing the European providers of geo-information services in its broadest sense creating a network between industry, decision makers and users. It is a crucial stage of maturing of the sector as nowadays Earth observation is used more frequently by society and adds positive value to our daily lives.

At the same time, an active participation from all of our members is the best guarantee that EARSC will play an important role on the European Earth observation and geo-information arena. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help to support the future of geo-information Industry: “industry stakeholders together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector”.

Internally EARSC informs and involves its members though the website, newsletter, directorate and the organization of more numerous events. This will allow us to be more present on the European and International scene and to contribute more efficiently to the implementation of European programmes.

To get more information on EARSC membership, please contact us at

EARSC membership

EARSC membership represents the entire spectrum of the Earth Observation industry including all sector chain: providers, stakeholders and users. Membership of EARSC is currently 500 Euros per annum. For our members, the annual membership dues are a cost-effective way to stay informed, promote their company, political and institutional representation, networking opportunities with industry players and help support the future of Earth Observation. Industry together could transform activities into meaningful action on behalf of our sector

Full Members
Any commercial European company or partnership offering and undertaking consulting and contracting services or supplying equipment in the field of remote sensing which is based in a European Country which contributes to the European Space Agency or which is a member of the European Community shall be eligible for membership.

Observer Members
Companies from countries associated to European programs but not eligible for full membership. Any active representative organization, institution or association party in the field of Earth observation and not engaged in commercial or profit-making activities such as Public/Governmental Bodies, International Organisation, International Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Private Non Profit Organisation/Foundation, Network/Association/Aggregation of Intermediaries(profit or non profit), Business Association, Universities, other?) with interest in Earth Observation.

(Source EARSC)

Content for publication is welcomed and can be submitted at any time for consideration. Let us help you bring your article to the world.


Please feel free to suggest any news, study and successful cases, events, projects, blogs or other geoinformation content items that you deem relevant for our community and interested stakeholders. This will enable us to share important knowledge and expertise networking among other experts who will exchange their know-how.

EOmag is released every three months, with focus articles on members, news in depth features, achievements, progress reports on programmes, communication and partnership with organisations and events.

The distribution of the Newsletter is based on our stakeholders database (Industry and relevant Institutions worldwide interested in geo-information domain).

The Newsletter is an excellent platform for companies and organizations to communicate on actions and programmes related to geo-information.

Articles:
We would be happy to publish all relevant articles for companies/institutions (max 1000-word articles, preferably with illustrations) for the next issues of the Newsletter

Events:
In order to improve the information offered about the activities of our stakeholders, we are collecting basic data concerning all the already scheduled events. For the purpose, we kindly ask companies and institutions to
provide the following information about each event:

Start Date
End Date
Title
Web
Place – City and Country

Please send this information to EARSC secretariat always stating [Events] as the beginning of your message description at the subject box, in order to help managing and archiving. Since it is intended to keep this list as much updated as possible, please remind to inform Secretariat every time a new event is scheduled.

Optional Information:
Theme
Description
Language
E-mail contact

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to “secretariat-at-earsc.org”:

Many thanks in advance
EARSC secretariat

News from May-July

(July 6th, 2010) RapidEye Partners With 3G In Libya and Tunisia
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(June 9th, 2010) RapidEye and Ukrainian Dniprocosmos State Company Enter Distributor Agreement
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(June 3rd, 2010) RapidEye Adds Panaxx Corporation to Its Asian Distribution Network
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(June 1st, 2010) RapidEye Enters Distributor Agreement With Geoserve In The Netherlands
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(May 25, 2010) RapidEye Library Now Contains More Than 3 Million km² Of India
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(May 20, 2010) RapidEye and S2Bvisio intensify their partnership in the development of services for farmers
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(May 3rd, 2010) Geosys: RapidEye’s Sole Distributor in France
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