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15 December 2017. The world’s first full-colour, full-motion video satellite is scheduled for early January launch.

British ‘New Space’ pioneer Earth-i today announced that images and video from its new prototype satellite due for launch early January 2018 will be managed, catalogued and geometrically corrected using software from Swedish photogrammetry and imagery specialist, Spacemetric.

Earth-i is building the first commercial constellation in the world to provide full-colour video; and the first European-owned constellation able to provide both video and still images.Footage recorded by Earth-i’s fleet of satellites will be available for analysis within minutes of acquisition.

Spacemetric’s Keystone software will be installed at Earth-i’s Data Processing Centre in Guildford, UK and will perform two vital processes:

  • Pin-pointing the precise location of each pixel of every image and video frame
  • Correcting for distortions owing to the motion of the satellite, the shape and rotation of the Earth and effects due to the Earth’s terrain.

Spacemetric CEO Mikael Stern said “Earth-i is an exciting and innovative New Space company with unique requirements served well by our technology and expertise. We are proud to be part of their constellation which is raising the bar in the EO industry and flying the flag for the European space industry.”

Earth-i is at the forefront of an era known as New Space which is being driven by commercial and governmental organisations that want to use high-quality, timely images and video from space to improve investment and trading decisions, monitor and track their assets more cost-effectively, track changes or activities in critical locations – and predict future events with more certainty.

Earth-i has already ordered the first five satellites for its constellation from SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) – and chosen Norway’s KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services) to provide ground network services.

Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, said: “We are making good progress as we await the imminent launch of our next prototype satellite. Spacemetric joins our roster of partners and suppliers who represent the space industry’s most innovative and dynamic companies.”

Earth-i’s constellation will be a major leap forward for the Earth Observation industry providing a number of innovative capabilities including:

  • The provision of high-frame rate images with resolutions better than one metre for any location on Earth.
  • The ability to film moving objects such as vehicles, vessels and aircraft in ultra-high-definition colour video.
  • Revisiting the same location multiple times per day with agile satellites that can be pointed to image specific areas of interest.
  • Rapid tasking of satellites to take images or video, and fast data download within minutes of acquisition.

Brussels, 14/12/2017 – The four suppliers for DIAS, the Copernicus Data and Information Access Service have been announced today.

From left to right: Grzegorz Brona (Creotech), Philippe Brunet (European Commission), Roberto Mulatti (SERCO), Josef Aschbacher (ESA), Mathilde Royer Germain (Airbus) and Stéphane Janichewski (ATOS)

Following a tender and evaluation process, ESA, acting on behalf of the European Commission, has now signed DIAS contracts with four industrial consortia. DIAS will give unlimited, free and complete access to Copernicus data and information.

DIAS provides a scalable computing and storage environment for third parties. Third parties will be empowered to offer advanced value-adding services integrating Copernicus with their own data and tools to the benefit of their own users.

The contracts, signed by Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, mean that by the second quarter of 2018, five DIAS, including the one to be developed by Eumetsat in cooperation with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and Mercator Ocean, will be available to users.

DIAS will not only provide a cloud-based one-stop shop for all Copernicus satellite data and imagery as well as information from the six Copernicus services, but will also give access to sophisticated processing tools and resources.

Philippe Brunet, Director for Space Policy, Copernicus and Defence at EC DG GROW, said, “This is a key milestone in the Copernicus programme. We are kick-starting the development of European data access and cloud processing services. “The vision of the European Commission is that the DIAS platforms will make it even easier for users from various industries and backgrounds to create Copernicus-based applications and services that will benefit people in Europe and around the world.”

The four winning consortia are:

  • Led by Serco Europe, consortium includes OVH, Gael Systems and Sinergise Ltd.
  • Led by Creotech Instruments, consortium includes Cloud Ferro, Sinergise Ltd, Geomatis SAS, Outsourcing Partner Sp. z o.o., Wroclaw Institute of Spatial Information and Artificial Intelligence Sp. z o.o.
  • Led by ATOS Integration, consortium includes T-SYSTEM International, DLR, eGEOS, EOX, GAF, Sinergise Ltd, Spacemetric, and Thales Alenia Space.
  • Led by Airbus Defence and Space, consortium includes Orange SA, Airbus Defence and Space, Geo SA, Capgemini Technology Services SAS, CLS and VITO.

More information

Read EARSC’s members press releases:

Bari, 18 December 2017. Planetek Italia has signed an alliance with two Polish companies, Creotech Instruments SA and Wroclaw Institute of Spatial Information and Artificial Intelligence (WIZIPISI), with the aim of developing cooperation in the field of Earth Observation (EO) and research, as well as in the development and commercialization of joint solutions.

The agreement was signed at the “Big Data in Space Sector” workshop, which took place on December 6 at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome. The day, dedicated by the Embassy to the theme of Space, also hosted a bilateral Italy-Poland meeting with the aim of sealing the cooperation among companies in the Space sector.
During the meeting the representatives of the three companies signed a letter of intent in the presence of Marta Zielińska – Śliwka, Chargé d’affaires a.i. at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Italy.

The three companies can be rated as an excellence at European level in the change of paradigm of Earth observation services, which today exploits Cloud computing and Big Satellite Data to provide geospatial information as a services.

Creotech Instruments, together with the company CloudFerro, has in fact created and successfully developed a unique satellite database combined with fast cloud computing: the Earth Observation Cloud (EO Cloud). Data and computing power are available to anyone interested in using them for both commercial and scientific purposes. The EO Cloud platform was created as part of a project implemented by a consortium for the European Space Agency. On EO Cloud servers there are constantly updated and archived data, among others, from Landsat, Sentinel and Envisat satellites.
In December 2017 Creotech signed biggest contract in polish space industry history. Company will build advanced cloud platform “EO DIAS” which give unlimited, free and complete access to Copernicus data and information for European Commission and ESA.

Planetek has created Rheticus®, a cloud-based platform that delivers automated geoinformation services designed to provide accurate and constantly updated data and information about our changing world. Rheticus® provides timely and detailed information for the needs of a growing number of businesses (applications). The information is provided as a service and includes thematic maps, reports and geospatial indexes, designed for the monitoring of various phenomena, such as urban dynamics and land use changes, ground surface movements, landslides and infrastructure stability, new infrastructures and areas under construction, burnt areas and quality of marine-coastal waters.

WIZIPISI has been collaborating since last year with Planetek Italia as an authorized distributor of Rheticus® services in Poland, and successfully markets Cloud services for the monitoring of land surface movements and the control of landslide and subsidence areas, and of the stability of infrastructures.

“The letters of intent signed in Rome is the basis for future cooperation between our three companies,” said Adam Iwaniak, President of WIZIPISI. “In this specific technological constellation, whose common denominator is satellite data, Creotech and Planetek focus on aggregating and sharing satellite data, with the Creotech’s EO Cloud and Planetek’s Rheticus® platform; in the meantime, WIZIPISI has specialized in the creation of specific applications based on this data and in the provision of final services to corporate customers “.

“Together with our Italian partner, we have decided to bring our cooperation to a higher and more strategic level. We will determine the basic skills of each of the parties in the field of Earth observation, in which specializations our company will develop and in which areas we want to build and strengthen skills, to compete successfully on the European market together,” said Grzegorz Brona, CEO of Creotech Instruments SA.

Giovanni Sylos Labini, CEO of Planetek Italia, adds “This trilateral cooperation agreement is in line with Planetek Italia’s strategy to benefit from the extraordinary contribution of Copernicus to the growth of our industry. Together with our partners we will be more competitive in our countries, in Europe, but above all in the rest of the world”.

Contacts for the Media:

  • Creotech Instruments: Dawid Michnik, Tel. +48 603504709, Email: d.michnik @ attentionmarketing.pl
  • WIZIPISI: Tomasz Berezowski, Tel. +48 717297819, Email: tomasz.berezowski @ wizipisi.pl
  • Planetek Italia: Antonio Buonavoglia, Tel. +39 0809644200, Email: buonavoglia @ planetek.it

7 December 2017. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development and Radiant.Earth have signed a strategic partnership agreement for knowledge and technology transfer of Earth observation (EO).

Under this agreement, the parties will establish and implement innovative EO and geospatial application services to support monitoring and assessment of climate change related impacts in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, with a particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A large-scale audacious blueprint to ensure socio-economic progress globally without destructing the environment, these global actions are focused on ending poverty, addressing climate change, and combating inequality and injustice.

Climate change is increasingly disrupting the way of life for communities living in the HKH region. People face constant threats of droughts, floods, and landslides. ICIMOD is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing center serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. The organization helps communities vulnerable to these natural disasters to understand the changes taking place and how to strengthen their resiliency.

David Molden, Director General of ICIMOD, says achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals involves dealing with complex challenges such as tackling climate change, coping with natural disasters, ensuring ecosystem services, and improving the resilience of mountain communities. Earth observation in combination with emerging geo-information and communications technologies provides viable options to understand rapid social and environmental changes to develop actionable policy and programmes in the region. “Our strategic partnership with Radiant.Earth will augment ICIMOD’s capacity to provide information services for monitoring and assessment of key concerns of regional significance,” Molden states.

To realize the SDGs, Anne Hale Miglarese, Radiant.Earth Founder and CEO, states that new approaches and innovations are needed, “Climate change does not occur in a vacuum. It integrates with other global problems, which is why progressing action towards the SDGs is so important. Implementing the SDGs requires global availability and deployment of EO data, plus new standardized solutions. Forming partnerships with organizations such as ICIMOD is therefore paramount to Radiant.Earth’s vision of open geospatial data for positive global impact.”

As a first step towards achieving this strategic alliance, ICIMOD and Radiant.Earth are identifying existing, priority initiatives for collaboration.

Source

November 28, 2017. The African Union Commission (AUC) officially awards grants to thirteen successful consortia of institutions that will serve as Regional Implementing Centres for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES and Africa) Support Programme.

The award ceremony holds on the margins of the 5th AU-EU Summit in Abidjan, Cote d`Ivoire.

Following a Call for Proposals in May 2017, a number of African institutions operating in the areas of water, natural resources, marine and coastal areas, applied for the GMES and Africa Support Programme Grants. To evaluate the applications and select the most suitable consortia of institutions that submitted proposals, the African Union Commission instituted a committee supported by a team of assessors comprising African earth observation experts.

Thirteen consortia of institutions were finally selected and the award marks the official announcement of their selection:

1. Central Africa: Agence Gabonaise d’Etudes et d’Observations Spatiale (AGEOS) and Commission Internationale du Bassin Congo-Oubangui-Sangha (CICOS) for Water and natural resources service.

2. East Africa: IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) and Regional Centre for Mapping off Resources for Development (RCMRD) for Water and natural resources service; Mauritius Oceanography Institute (MOI) for Marine and coastal areas service

3.North Africa: National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Sciences (NARSS) for marine and coastal area service; Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) for water and natural ressources service

4. Southern Africa: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for marine and coastal areas service; Southern African Development Community Climate Services Centre (SADC-CSC) and Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) for water and natural resources service

5. West Africa: Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) and Obafemi Awolowo University; Ile-Ife, Nigeria (CSSTE-Obafemi) for water and natural resources service; University of Ghana (UG) for Marine and coastal areas service

At the award ceremony, the Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology at the African Union Commission, Professor Sarah Anyang Agbor, felicitated the successful institutions on their selection, which she said was based on their experience and proven capacities. She implored them to deliver the goods, and promised the African Union Commission’s unflinching support.

More information

‘Bringing remote sensing solutions to the atmospheric sciences and meteorological communities’

Meteorological Technology World Expo is the largest trade fair and conference in the world on the subject of technologies, devices and systems used in environmental and atmospheric monitoring, weather prediction and climate science.

More than 4000 participants and 250 exhibitors are expected to take part in our next event, in October 2018.

Exhibitors are specialists in instrumentation, data logging and transmission, data aggregation and collection services, space and satellite services, weather service provision, ground and reception stations, GIS and visualisation.

Held in conjunction with the WMO’s CIMO Technical Conference (TECO) and the joint WMO/Eumetsat Global Satcom & Data Collection Services Forum, the event is now the meteorological industry’s main meeting point, attracting national weather services, environmental agencies and weather-sensitive industries from all over the world.

Entrance to the exhibition is free. If you would like to take part in the exhibition or conference, go to www.meteorologicaltechnologyworldexpo.com/en/
or contact Sandy Greenway on +44 1306 743744, sandy.greenway@ukimediaevents.com

Extracted from the Copernicus Observer Newsletter

Brussels, 1 December 2017. The Copernicus Programme with its full, free and open data policy is tapping into the core of the open data movement that is powering today’s tech breakthroughs, just like open source has been key to most of the innovation in the last decades.

With the success of the Copernicus Accelerator, and the second edition recently launched at the European Space Week in Tallinn, Europe is coaching its own generation of space start-ups that are merging the latest tech with the results of decades of Earth Observation research.

When thinking about the word start-up, the image that usually comes to one’s mind is a few people hunched over their laptops coding away the next billion-dollar company. And Silicon Valley, the tech cradle of the world for half a century, is probably where this scene is set. Europe, on the other hand, doesn’t have its iconic location for upstart companies. But it doesn’t need one. It has found another way to gather entrepreneurs around one pivotal technology – Earth Observation (EO) from space.

Most of those involved in the start-up world know its origin story, how famous tech leaders of today started off as nerds sitting in a garage back in the 80s. They were obsessed with computer technologies, something that only government and large research institutions were using at that time. Similarly, EO for a long time had mostly been the domain of governments and scientists, only those who could afford to launch EO satellites or to buy the expensive data. But the Copernicus Programme with its full, free and open data policy is a game-changer. It is tapping into the core of the open data movement that is powering the current tech breakthroughs, just like open source has been key to most of the innovations in the last decades.

However, both technical and business skills have to come together to transform a “cool idea” into a profitable business, or, as they say in the Valley, every Wozniak needs their Jobs and vice versa. To boost this part of the start-up ecosystem equation, the European Commission launched the Copernicus Accelerator.

1 December 2017. British ‘New Space’ pioneer Earth-i today provided another update about its progress in building the first constellation in the world to provide full-colour video – and the first European-owned commercial constellation able to provide both video and still images

KSAT’s ground station at Svalbard, ideally located at 78´north

Last week Earth-i announced that it had ordered the first five satellites of its constellation from SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd).

Today the company has confirmed that its prototype satellite is now en route to launch provider Antrix in India with the launch planned for late-December on a PSLV rocket. This satellite will be used to test performance and confirm capabilities for the future constellation including tasking, data downlinks to ground stations, and image and full-colour video capture from space.

In addition, Earth-i has chosen Norway’s KSAT to provide ground network services for its new Earth Observation (EO) constellation.

Footage recorded by Earth-i’s fleet of satellites will be received direct to KSAT’s ground stations around the world within minutes of being recorded.

From the KSAT ground stations, images and videos will be immediately accessible to Earth-i’s headquarters in the UK to begin processing and running analysis on the data. The information gathered will improve decision-making and response times in a wide variety of scenarios from change detection to object identification, from disaster response to infrastructure monitoring.

KSAT president and CEO, Rolf Skatteboe, said “Earth-i is an innovative, exciting and ambitious New Space company whose constellation will move the EO industry forward immensely.”

Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, said: “Selecting KSAT as part of our ground segment ecosystem is a big step forward in our growth. Working with KSAT will ensure that we can deliver the high-temporal resolution that our clients need to guarantee they have the images and video data they need, when they need it.”

Earth-i is at the forefront of an era known as New Space which is being driven by commercial organisations that want to improve investment and trading decisions, monitor and track their assets more cost effectively, track changes or activities in critical locations – and predict future events with more certainty.

Earth-i’s constellation will be a major leap forward for the EO industry providing a number of innovative capabilities including:

  • The provision of high-frame rate images with resolutions better than one metre for any location on Earth.
  • The ability to film moving objects such as vehicles, vessels and aircraft in ultra-high-definition colour video.
  • Revisiting the same location multiple times per day with agile satellites that can be pointed to acquire imagery of specific areas of interest.
  • Rapid tasking of satellites to take images or video, and fast data download within minutes of acquisition.

The 3rd EARSeL SIG LU/LC and NASA LCLUC joint Workshop will be at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Greece, 11th -12th July, 2018.

It will be organised around four sessions:

  • Synergy of remote sensing technologies for land-use change monitoring
  • The role of earth observations within the Water – Energy – Food nexus
  • Social and behavioral aspects of land use supported by remote sensing observations
  • Advances and outlook in the processing and analysis of remotely sensed data

For the submission procedure, please visit the ‘Abstract Submission’ section at
http://lulc.earsel.org/workshop/2018-lulc- ws/abstract-submission/ ws/abstract-submission/.

Reasons to join:

  • EU meets US and US meets EU in Earth Observation applications in Land Use and Land Cover, a kind of Landsat meets Sentinel in place!
  • A big prestigious community will be there to discuss with you. Check previous events (Prague, Berlin)!
  • Papers are to be published in IF international Journals to be announced soon.
  • A special Come Together event is planned to welcome you and a wonderful (optional) Cretan social dinner with traditional music and dances to accompany your discussions.
  • And… The Workshop will be held in conjunction with the 38th Annual EARSeL Symposium. Thus, the participants may further benefit from an even bigger networking and discussion platform opportunity for further debates and multidisciplinary interactions. Staying a few days longer is a plus then!

More information