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ESA’s TIGER II initiative has selected 20 project proposals across Africa to receive support from Earth-observation technology to learn more about the water cycle and to improve water-monitoring resources.

TIGER II is based on the results and achievements of its precursor TIGER I, which sought to help African countries overcome water problems and to bridge Africa’s water information gap using Earth-observation (EO) technology.

Under TIGER I, EO techniques and methods were adapted to specific user needs and local conditions in close collaboration with African partners, such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel in Tunis, the Centre Royal de Télédétection Spatiale in Morocco, the Zambian Water Authorities and the Regional Centre for Mapping Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi. Projects focused on different aspects of water management including catchments characterisation, water quality, groundwater exploration, soil moisture and irrigated agriculture monitoring.

A major component of TIGER II is devoted to supporting African scientists, technical centres and water authorities to develop the scientific skills and the technical capacity to make the best use of EO technology to understand better, assess and monitor the status of the water resources in Africa. The initiative is also devoted to supporting the African partners to gain a better understanding of how EO may help assess the potential impacts of climate change on water resources and thus to establish a sound scientific basis for developing effective adaptation and mitigation measures across the continent.

The proposals selected for TIGER II, spanning some 13 African countries, include sustainable water use, flooding patterns, water quality monitoring, sedimentation modelling, groundwater resource assessment, hydrological and environmental aspects of wetlands and climate change impacts, among many others.

These projects will benefit from free access to EO data, software tools and scientific advice from international experts, as well as dedicated training and research stages in expert laboratories, support for participation in postgraduate courses and publishing scientific results.

The TIGER Capacity Building Facility (TCBF) has been established to support the 20 project proposals, which will receive specific technical assistance, training and scientific support to access and use EO datasets to achieve their projects’ objectives. In addition, according to the specific needs of each project, a scientific supervisor will be assigned to guide each project staff throughout the TIGER II phase, which runs until 2012.

The International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente in the Netherlands coordinates all TCBF activities and maintains direct contact with TIGER project institutions. A consortium of scientific and technical experts, including the University of Delft, the University of Lisbon and the Belgium-based company VITO, will assist ITC in supporting the selected projects.

In addition, three regional offices in Africa, hosted by Niger’s Centre Regional de Formation et d’Application en Agrométéorologie et Hydrologie Opérationnelle (AGRHYMET), Nairobi’s RCMRD and South Africa’s Water Research Commission, will ensure that EO-based products and services will benefit the water management organisations in their region and will look for opportunities to reinforce TIGER activities on a regional level.

In order to identify the needs of the selected projects better and to set up a dedicated capacity building plan for each project, a workshop was held at ITC last December with representatives from all of the selected African projects. Based on the results of the workshop, a capacity-building plan is being prepared for the next two years.

The first training session dedicated to providing all of the selected teams with an initial introduction to EO technology, ESA data and the potential applications in the context of water resource management will be held this April in Egypt.

TIGER is an international endeavour that contributes to the strategy of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and involves the contributions of UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the Canadian Space Agency and the African Ministerial Council on Water (AMCOW).

Source ESA

A comprehensive atlas of all damage caused in Haiti by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on 12 January 2010 is now available to help planning recovery and reconstruction measures.

The atlas, based on the comparison between predisaster satellite imagery and post-disaster aerial photos, provides an overview of building damage in the main affected cities in Haiti showing that almost 60,000 buildings, ten times more than initially estimated, were either destroyed or very heavily damaged.

The Haiti building damage atlas was produced by the United Nations’ Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)/Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT), the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), and the World Bank in support to the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) process led by the Government of Haiti.

The atlas provides a homogenous evidence base for the identification of recovery needs and the mobilisation of resources to finance the recovery and reconstruction. For each main city a separate atlas is produced, including an overview map of the atlas sheets, as well as individual sheets at a scale of 1:2,500 for A3 size hardcopy printouts. The damage to individual buildings is categorised according to the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS‐98) five‐level grading system, which includes a substantial to heavy damage state (Level 3), very heavy damage state (Level 4), and destruction damage state (Level 5).

Almost 60,000 buildings were found to be either completely destroyed or very heavily damaged in the densely populated parts of the eleven communes assessed. Residential buildings and buildings in slums bore the worst damage, particularly in Port-Au-Prince, Carrefour, Delmas and Leogane communes.

The atlas and the detailed damage assessments are the result of comparison and manual photo-interpretation of pre‐earthquake satellite imagery (circa 50 cm spatial resolution) and post‐earthquake aerial photos (circa 15 cm spatial resolution). In addition to the imagery analysis, UNOSAT, JRC and the World Bank have carried out in-field missions in cooperation with Haiti’s Centre National d’Information Geo-Spatiale (CNIGS).

The damage is now assessed to be ten times higher than first estimates given immediately after the event, which can be attributed to the availability of better resolution aerial data.

Background information

The atlas and the detailed damage assessments are the result of the three main operational remote sensing damage assessments carried out following the earthquake on 12 January by image analysts at UNITAR/UNOSAT, assisted by Swisstopo of Switzerland and the Remote Sensing Laboratories (RSL) of the University of Zurich, the JRC and the World Bank. Aerial photos were provided by the World Bank (World Bank‐ImageCat‐RIT Remote Sensing Mission), Google and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); satellite imagery was derived from the GeoEye and Digitalglobe satellites.

UNITAR/UNOSAT received funding support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the JRC received funding from the European Union Instrument for Stability, and The World Bank received funding through the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

The PDNA Atlas series is available for download at:
http://www.unosat.org/asp/prod_free.asp?id=5

UNITAR: Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 76 4874997
E-mail:francesco.pisano_at_unitar.org
Web:www.unitar.org // www.unosat.org

The UK formally announced its new space agency on Tuesday 23 March 2010.

The nation has been alone among the major industrialised nations in not having an executive body to direct its activities beyond the Earth’s surface.

The new organisation is expected to take control of the money spent on space by government departments and science funding agencies.

It will also represent the UK in all its dealings with international partners.

Britain currently puts about £270m a year into civil space endeavours, most of it via the UK’s membership of the European Space Agency (Esa).

This is not expected to change dramatically with the creation of an executive agency, especially with the government committed to cutting the public deficit.

The hope, however, is that the reorganisation will bring more coherence to space policy, enabling the available monies to be spent more effectively.

Space budget (SIGS)

In tandem with the establishment of the agency, the government will also give its response to a major report produced last month on the future of the UK space industry.

The sector has been very successful, growing at an average of 9% a year even through the recession. It currently generates revenues in excess of £6bn per annum.

The Space Innovation and Growth Strategy was prepared jointly by industry, academia and Whitehall officials. It set out a series of recommendations to grow the sector still further over the next 20 years.

Among its recommendations was a call to government and industry itself to raise substantially their levels of investment in the coming decade.

The IGS also wanted the government to back a National Space Technology Strategy and to investigate the idea of an indigenous Earth observation service.

The BBC understands the latter proposal at least will get a study to determine its feasibility.

The creation of a space agency is just the latest in a series of initiatives affecting British space interests.

In July last year, Esa finally opened a technical centre in Britain – the only one of its senior members not to have such a showcase facility. It also appointed a British national, Major Tim Peake, to its astronaut corps in May.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
SOURCE BBC

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The tendering process that will result in the supply of Europe’s next series of meteorological satellites, Meteosat Third Generation, has reached an advanced stage as ESA invites Thales Alenia Space to enter formal contract negotiations.

These negotiations follow rigorous evaluation of the proposals to build the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites – with the Tender Evaluation Board (TEB) meeting three times since October to review the offers.

Two consortia responded to the tender released last July; one led by Astrium Friedrichshafen, with Astrium Toulouse and Astrium Ottobrunn, and one led by Thales Alenia Space Cannes, with OHB Bremen and Kayser Threde Munich.

Both offers were rated ‘good’ technically and stayed below the expected financial envelope. However, owing to the lower price, the TEB recommended that contract negotiations should be made with Thales Alenia Space France.

If the negotiations are successful, the Executive will submit the contract proposal to ESA’s Industrial Policy Committee for approval and decision by the Member States participating in the programme. This is envisaged in June.

Building on Europe’s long heritage of monitoring the weather from space, the first MTG is expected to be launched in 2016.

ESA’s first Earth observation mission, Meteosat-1, was launched back in 1977 and was subsequently followed by another six Meteosats. The operation of the Meteosat satellites was formally handed over from ESA to Eumetsat in 1995. In 2002, the existing Meteosats were joined by the first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite, which entered service as Meteosat-8. A second MSG (Meteosat-9) was launched in 2005 and two further MSG satellites will guarantee continuity of service in the near future.

Ensuring the continuous operation of these weather satellites is vital for numerical weather prediction. From geostationary orbit 36 000 km above the equator, these satellites view a large portion of Earth. This vantage point enables rapidly evolving events to be continuously monitored for the use in weather forecasting.

The MTG series will provide significant improvement over the current Meteosat satellites and together with increasing computer power, will undoubtedly take weather forecasting to the next level.

Source ESA

European Space Imaging a leading supplier of high-resolution satellite imagery to customers in Europe and North Africa, today released the first images collected from DigitalGlobe’s advanced high-resolution satellite WorldView-2, through its Direct Access Facility located in Munich, Germany.

(Munich, Germany, March 19, 2010). Commercial operation for the European DAF is expected to commence on target at the end of the first quarter 2010. Once operational, the DAF will provide WorldView Global Alliance customers with priority tasking through a direct data downlink from WorldView-2, the world’s first commercial 8-band high-resolution satellite at 0.46 meter* GSD panchromatic and 1.84 meter* multi-spectral.

The Alliance DAF will allow European Space Imaging to take into account local real-time weather data to deliver efficient area collections, improved image quality with reduced cloud cover and same-day production and delivery.

European Space Imaging is working closely with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in the set-up and ongoing maintenance of the DAF. EUSI continues to be the only European satellite data provider that operates its own high-resolution satellite ground station for direct satellite tasking and local data downlink.

More information and a full resolution image can be obtained at www.euspaceimaging.com

  • Distribution and use of imagery at better than 0.50 m GSD pan and 2.0 m GSD multispectral is subject to prior approval by the U.S. Government.

About European Space Imaging

European Space Imaging (http://www.euspaceimaging.com) is a leading supplier of high-resolution satellite imagery to customers in Europe and North Africa. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Munich, Germany. Working in close partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), EUSI is the only European satellite data provider that operates its own high-resolution satellite ground station for direct satellite tasking and local data downlink. Through the close cooperation with its parent company Space Imaging Middle East (SIME), EUSI’s customers benefit from fast access to data from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

About the WorldView Global Alliance

European Space Imaging, DigitalGlobe Inc, and Space Imaging Middle East are founding members of the WorldView Global Alliance. The Alliance brings together the world’s leading global provider of commercial high resolution world imagery products and services for defence and intelligence, civil government and commercial customers, with regional leaders in the geospatial industry providing best in class imagery solutions for Europe, the Middle East & North Africa.

More information can be obtained from www.worldviewglobalalliance.com

About DLR-DFD

DLR is Germany´s national research center for aeronautics and space. As Germany´s space agency, DLR has been given responsibility for the forward planning and the implementation of the German space program by the German federal government as well as for the international representation of German interests. The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) is an institute of DLR with facilities in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich and in Neustrelitz. DFD develops and operates payload ground-segments for national and European Earth observation missions.

More information can be obtained from www.dlr.de/caf

European Space Imaging GmbH
Arnulfstr. 197
80634 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 89 130 142 0 – Fax: +49 89 130 142 22
info@euspaceimaging.com
www.euspaceimaging.com

From 2009 to 2018, emerging space programs are expected to launch 65 satellites, a four-fold increase over the previous decade10 years.

This increase in satellites is in direct relation to the number of countries developing an Earth observation (EO) programs – up from only eight in 1997 to an anticipated 34 by 2018 according to Euroconsult’s report Satellite-Based Earth Observation, Market Prospects to 2018.

The emergence of these “new” countries as satellite operators is primarily the result of their desire to develop autonomous space capabilities and industry know-how. With Earth observation satellites much cheaper to manufacture and launch compared to with other systems, such as satcom, they are often an entry point for countries seeking to develop a national space program.

Some of these emerging programs will go on to distribute their data commercially in an effort to realize a return on their satellite investment. This approach is not completely new; the U.S. Landsat program and the French SPOTSpot series have been commercializing data for more than 20 years. Other countries followed suit over the last ten10 years, such asincluding India, South Korea, Brazil and Taiwan. But with the commercial data market valued at $916 million in 2008 and expected to reach $3.9 billion by 2018, there is even more significant incentive for programs to look towards commercialization as their systems develop.

The report goes on to state that the market for commercial data surpassed $1 billion for the first time in 2009. The commercial data market is currently dominated by the three private operators – DigitalGlobe, GeoEye and SPOTSpot Image – whothat combined have 63% percent market share. Each company has grown strongly over the last five years, focusing on the provision of high-resolution data. Currently Their largest customer group is government defense and security agencies, with 62% percent of global data sales coming from this sector. To iensure that possible government budget changes will not dramaticallydrastically affect their bottom lines and to grow market share, these operators need to diversify their client bases in the coming years, possibly putting them on a collision course with emerging programs in their data distribution efforts.

Typically, data from emerging programs isare marketed as a low-cost alternative to data from private commercial operators. For example, pricing for ISRO’s the Indian Space Research Organisation’s 80cm-centimeter ground resolution Cartosat-2 satellite data marketed by Antrix equates to $8.60/km2 per square kilometer; data from the Sino-Brazilian CBERS-2B mission (2.7m-meter ground resolution) is are available for $0.14/km2 per square kilometer. By comparisoncontrast, a similar Level 1 processed image product from DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1 satellite equates to $24/km2 per square kilometer.

Government defense and security customers require high-ground-resolution, high-accuracy data, delivered in a timely fashion. For this, commercial operators have a distinct advantage. Commercial operators’ satellites boast image accuracy in the range of 4-8m 4 to 8 meters of deviation, much more accurate than the 100m+ 100-plus meters of the high-resolution, low-cost solutions. Timeliness of data delivery is also crucial, with the more flexible commercial satellites’ cameras capable of a repeat pass in the one to three days range or even programmable for multiple images of the same area in a single pass, making them much more responsive than the low-cost solutions. Where a combination of high ground resolution, accuracy and timeliness is required, lower-cost data will have a difficult time competing.

With such solutions on the market, commercial operators may have difficulties with their more price-sensitive clients. But as DigitalGlobe and GeoEye are currently so dependent on a single client – the U.S. government (whowhich represents 75% percent and 39% percent of revenues in 2008, respectively, with GeoEye’s US government percentage to further increase with GeoEye-1 now operational) – developing additional sources of revenue is increasingly important. Given the number of competing low-cost solutions available, the first logical area of expansion seemingly is export markets to international governments for similar defense and security purposes. Sales to private enterprise have proved difficult in the past, but are expected to be driven by the oil and gas markets and emerging consumer-driven applications focusing on location-based services – again, application areas requiring higher accuracy and/or increased timeliness.

Where low-cost or free data solutions will benefit is in the EO Earth observation services market. To date, this area has not grown as fast as the rest of the overall EO Earth observation market, as operational services have struggled to emerge and service providers have had real difficulty demonstrating the cost-benefit of the EO Earth observation solution. High data prices were have been partially responsible, with data costing as much as 50% percent or more than of the total cost of a project. With an increasing volume of low-cost data available from numerous sources, service providers have the platform to develop value-added services at lower cost, thus overcoming the business case obstacle.

As an example, Landsat data was were made available globally for free of charge in 2008. Within the first six months, over 500,000 images from the satellite and satellite archive were distributed; this compares to compare this with the next best whole year distribution of 25,000 images (2001). When one considers the cost of a Landsat data series at $600 per scene ($3.3/km2 per square kilometer) prior to the policy change, one realizes the significant impact of cost on Earth observation data usage, particularly in research and development projects. Through GMES the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) project, the Sentinel missions will similarly look to supply free operational data to government and industry free-of-charge with the plan to build operational services through public bodies.

As with Landsat data, however, no data in the first planned series of GMES Sentinel missions will be of high ground resolution. With this data available, it seems unlikely going forward that there will be commercial viability for data of moderate (10m+more than 10 meters) resolution.

Low-cost solutions from emerging space programs and free solutions from policy-driven initiatives will not have an impact on commercial operators at this stage. But increasingly capable offerings from emerging programs and hi-res solutions from established governments will start to compete with the commercial operators. To a degree, this is already happening – e.g. for example, through dual-use missions such as the Italian COSMOCosmo-SkymMed and the future French Pleiades mission commercialized by e-GEOS and SPOTSpot Image, respectively. At this time, data pricing from these two systems is similar (or likely to be similar) to their commercial counterparts with comparable offerings. Since there is no pressure to fund follow-up systems, there is a chance that prices will drop to increase their competitiveness in the marketplace.

This puts the commercial operators in a potentially precarious position; government customers are already critical, but overdependence on one client is never healthy, and potential scaling back of military options may impact their needs. As they seek new clients, they will run into competition from low-cost and free data solutions for price-sensitive private-sector customers. While other government customers (i.e., outside the U.S.) are viable options, commercial operators cannot afford to disregard the lucrative private-sector customers who will likely generate an increasing portion of data sales in the coming years.

To tap into this business, commercial operators will need to increasingly position themselves as providers of total geo-information solutions. This includes multiple data offerings, from proprietary satellites and distribution of third-party data to aerial data, value-adding and GIS-ready solutions. The primary objective for operators is to offer a prospective client a range of geospatial services. This is also likely to drive further consolidation in the market as the larger companies look to best position themselves to offer complete solutions.

Adam Keith (keith@ euroconsult-na.com) (keith @euroconsult-ec.com) is a senior analyst responsible for Earth observation projects at Euroconsult North America.

Source

Under the EU Spanish Presidency, Spain organised a conference on ‘Space and Security’ on 10-11 March 2010 in Madrid, gathering policy makers from different organisations such as ESA Member States, the EU and the European Defence Agency (EDA).

The aim of this conference was to facilitate a structured dialogue amongst all actors involved in Security-related Space matters embedded in two main space programmes: GMES and ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme. The contribution of these two programmes to the Europe’s future by helping guarantee the availability of economically vital services delivered from space was highlighted at the conference.

As regards GMES, building upon the status of prior discussions in EU Institutions, the conference contributed to move forward on key issues, namely those about national dual missions relevant to GMES and GMES Security Service.

The Madrid event was part of the continuing ‘Structured Dialogue’ on space and security called for by the European Space Policy. This Dialogue is bringing together the relevant European Commission services, the Secretariat-General of the Council including the European Satellite Centre (EUSC), EDA as well as ESA, and is an increasingly effective instrument for exploiting inter-institutional synergies.

More information on:
ESA
GMES.INFO

GAF has been providing a clear view of our planet for a quarter of a century

The ability to take a bird’s eye view of the Earth and analyse the planet from above are critical aspects of supra-local planning as well as numerous other disciplines. GAF has now been carrying out pioneering work in this field for 25 years. In the process the company, together with its subsidiary Euromap, has become the largest provider of a range of commercial satellite imagery and geodata sets in Germany. In addition to the provision of data, GAF offers a combination of GIS technology and software development carried out in-house that is unique well beyond the borders of Germany. The company’s portfolio is also strengthened by the provision of customer-oriented consultancy services.

Dr. Rupert Haydn was behind the initiative that led to the creation of GAF. He founded the company in Munich in 1985 together with partners Agrar- und Hydrotechnik (AHT) and the Wittelsbacher Compensation Fund (WAF). Following exemplary development of the company during its first 15 years of experience, the limited liability company (GmbH) was converted into a public limited company (AG). From 2003, the shares in the company were gradually acquired by the Italian company Telespazio SpA, which had identified at an early stage the excellent positioning and potential of GAF in the field of domestic and international geoinformation services and products. Three years ago, responsibility for the GAF AG Management Board passed to Dr. Peter Volk, an employee with many years of experience at the senior management level in the company. Very satisfied public and commercial clients from almost 100 countries form the basis of the GAF success story: the company is now known as a skilled and reliable partner for the entire project cycle. As one of the first companies to be active in the field of geoinformation, GAF set new standards in terms of quality, sustainability and reliability. Consequently, a high quality and multi-disciplinary portfolio of products and services has been developed. With its experience and outstanding expertise, GAF has for many years been at the cutting edge of spatial software development, GIS and database applications and institutional consulting.

GAF was established in 1985 with a staff of five. It now employees 150 highly qualified experts from the fields of IT and remote sensing technology providing skills and expertise in a broad range of disciplines. This diverse expert knowledge combined with considerable project experience enables GAF to develop specific products and services tailored to the needs of clients and the market. These activities are complemented by Euromap, a subsidiary that works together with the German Space Agency (DLR) in the field of data reception and distribution,supported by a global network of partners.

A key contribution to the success of GAF is made by the experienced departmental heads. With their highly motivated teams of technical and thematic experts, they realise innovative solutions that utilise cutting edge technology and the latest methods.

There are excellent opportunities for the company to achieve solid and sustainable growth particularly in the European and also international arenas. This is helped by GAF’s extensive network, its close cooperation with DLR, which is a key partner for software and Earth observation data, as well as the integration into the eGeos and Telespazio group of space service companies, which are embedded in the Space Alliance formed by Thales and Finmeccanica.

Dr. Peter Volk sees a positive outlook for the business, “when one has experienced how strong development has been in recent years in the geoinformation and neighbouring markets. We are particularily considering the opportunities that will arise in the upcoming years as a result of the flood of high and ultra-high Earth observation data being made available. GAF with its assets can indeed view the future with great confidence.”

For more information, please contact
GAF AG
Tel. ++49 (0) 89 121528-0
info@gaf.de
www.gaf.de

Marking another significant step in the GMES initiative, ESA and Thales Alenia Space recently signed a contract worth €270 million to build the second Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites.

Led by the European Commission in partnership with ESA, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme will provide a unique tool to monitor the environment. This initiative will fulfil policy-makers’ growing needs to access accurate and timely information to manage the environment better, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security.

GMES combines data from satellites and information gathered on the ground to form an integrated environmental service facility for the benefit Europe and the international community.

The success of GMES will be achieved largely through its operational ‘Space Component’, which ESA is in the process of realising. This includes the development of five satellite families called Sentinels. Each Sentinel mission is based on a constellation of two satellites to fulfil the revisit and coverage requirements for the wide range of environmental services that will be made available through GMES.

The first three satellites are under construction, with the launch of the first Sentinel-1 expected to take place in 2012. The contract signed recently between ESA and Thales Alenia Space ensures the procurement of the second Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites – or ‘B units’.

A reception, attended by Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Luigi Pasquali, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italia and Enrico Saggese, President of the Italian space agency (ASI), was held today at the ASI’s facilities in Rome, Italy, to mark this important milestone in the GMES programme.

GMES represents a €2.2 billion investment in key space infrastructure. This is not only an extraordinary undertaking, but also an extraordinary responsibility,” said Mr Liebig at the ceremony. “The contracts for the B units for Sentinel-1 and -3 will ensure the operational services of GMES for the next 10 years at least.”

As prime contractor for the Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 constellations, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the design, development, construction and testing of these satellites. The A and B satellites in each constellation will be identical, and when both are launched each constellation will achieve its full coverage potential.

Sentinel-1 is a C-band imaging radar mission to provide all-weather, day and night imagery for the benefit of GMES services. It will provide information for monitoring of Arctic sea-ice extent, routine sea-ice mapping, surveillance of the marine environment including oil-spill monitoring, mapping of land for motion risks, forest, water and soil management and mapping in support of humanitarian aid.

Sentinel-3 carries several instruments primarily to support GMES services relating to the marine environment. These services include maritime safety services that need ocean-surface wave information, surface temperature and data to improve ocean current forecasting systems, sea-water quality and pollution monitoring requiring advanced ocean colour products and services to monitor land-use change, forest cover, photosynthetic activity, soil quality and fire detection.

With the benefit of Europe’s technological excellence, the Sentinel satellites promise to take Earth observation to the next level of operational monitoring to help preserve our environment. With Europe setting the standards, GMES will be the first system to provide the infrastructure and services required to benefit the environment and society on such a large scale. While GMES is still a huge undertaking, the contracts for Sentinel-1B and Sentinel-3B mark a significant step towards realising this European initiative.

Source ESA

More info
Spacedaily
Spacedaily

Whatever the weather in Europe, come rain, storms, snow, sleet or sun, the meteorological satellite, Meteosat-9, will be observing it. Meteosat-9 is in orbit 36,000 km above the equator from where it gets a space-eye view of weather systems as they develop.

The images it transmits down to ground stations every 15 minutes – in the visible light and infrared wavelengths – are used by meteorologists to help produce weather forecasts. While Meteosat-9 stays in one place in relation to the Earth – i.e. it is geostationary – it is complemented by another meteorological satellite, Metop-A, which circles closer to the Earth in a polar orbit at 817 km and collects images and more detailed vertical profiles of atmospheric conditions.

Both satellites provide images and atmospheric data that are used by meteorologists to make weather forecasts, and over the longer term they help to monitor changes in the Earth’s climate. The good news for researchers, climate modelers, amateur meteorologists, and anyone else wanting to see what Meteosat-9 and Metop-A are observing, is that the data they produce are freely available for non-commercial or research purposes. One option is to access the data via the Internet or, for a relatively small cost, you can even set up your own satellite dish and beam the data collected from Meteosat-9 and other satellites onto the PC in your office or home in near-real time. […]

For more information click here

Source: earthzine and Eoportal