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(Jan 2009) DMCii and DynAgra help farmers control costs and boost yields

Canadian precision agriculture supplier and consultancy DynAgra has completed its first precision agriculture campaign using DMCii satellite imagery to provide sophisticated agronomic tools to its customers.

DynAgra tasked DMCii with acquiring multi-spectral imagery of agricultural plots in the province of Alberta. DMCii provided the imagery in an accurately orthorectified format that could be used
immediately in their Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

Alex Melnitchouck, Senior Research Agronomist explained his reasons for working with DMCii, “For us it was important to have a responsive partner. DMCii were able to acquire cloud free imagery of the target areas during the very brief 2-3 week summer growing season in Western Canada.”

DMCii is in the unique position of having an operational constellation of 5 satellites, each of which is able to image a very large area in a given timeframe as the very wide swath images acquired offer daily revisit to global targets.

Owen Hawkins, Business Development Manager, DMCii explained the advantage of constellation imaging, “The Disaster Monitoring Constellation enables us to image very large areas in a short period of time, by coordinating the satellites we can provide daily revisit to an area. This is a big advantage when conducting such a time sensitive remote sensing campaign and offers significant commercial and technical advantages to our customers.”

Agronomy service providers are experiencing growing demand for precision agriculture tools and services. This is driven mainly by increasing fertiliser costs and crop prices, and growers increasing awareness that investment in simple technical tools can result in significant cost efficiencies, whilst improving crop output.

DynAgra uses the imagery from DMCii along with crop models to produce maps showing the density of green biomass. The company’s experts then work with the farmer to map out management zones within the fields.

The management zones are then further investigated by DynAgra’s highly skilled team of agronomists and remote sensing engineers using GPS-enabled Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to locate the management zones and record additional information about the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, soil organic matter, pH and other soil characteristics.

Once the required information has been compiled, DynAgra produces a geographically referenced fertiliser application map for farmers describing which fertiliser should be used, where and in what quantity.

About DMC International Imaging Ltd
DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMC data is now used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter: ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunami, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the BNSC and in conjunction with the DMC member nations Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain.
www.dmcii.com

Notes to editor:
An accompanying DMCii satellite image of Grassy Lake, Alberta, Canada is available from Robin Wolstenholme or Paul Stephens upon request as a high resolution jpeg file.

Image caption: Close-up of a small part of a 650 km wide DMC satellite image showing Grassy Lake, Alberta, Canada. The red areas are a false colour representation of Near Infrared radiation which is invisible to the human eye, and which is a strong signature for vegetation. The image shows various crop patterns including circular irrigation systems. UK DMC image copyright SSTL 2008.

This press release can be downloaded from www.ballard.co.uk/dmcii

Press contacts:
Robin Wolstenholme, Ballard Communications Management
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288
Email: r.wolstenholme@ballard.co.uk

Paul Stephens,
Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imagingm Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299
Email: p.stephens@dmcii.com

Articles related

In 331 days’ time, 15,000 officials from 200 countries will gather in the Danish capital with 1 goal: to find a solution to global warming. Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, presents the first in a series of dispatches on the crucial summit

Three hundred and thirty-one days, plus a final frantic fortnight: not very long, really, to put together the most complex and vital agreement the world has ever seen. But that’s all the time there is: in 331 days from now, on 7 December, the UN Climate Conference will open in Copenhagen and the world community will try to agree a solution to the gravest threat it has ever faced: global warming

Between 10,000 and 15,000 officials, advisers, diplomats, campaigners and media personnel from nearly 200 countries, almost certainly joined by limousine-loads of heads of state and government from America’s President Barack Obama down are expected to meet in the Danish capital in one of the most significant gatherings in history.

If that sounds like exaggeration, we need only glance at some historical comparisons. The Copenhagen meeting will have a far broader reach and potential impact on the world than the Congress of Vienna, say, the 1814-1815 assembly which attempted to reorder Europe after the Napoleonic wars, or the Paris peace conference of 1919, which tried to construct a new global order after the First World War, or the 1945 meetings at Yalta and Potsdam which tried to do the same after the Second World War. For they were all dealing with national boundaries, politics and political structures, phenomena which of course are vital in human terms, but ephemeral and changeable. Copenhagen will be dealing with something fundamental to life on earth: the stability of the biosphere.

Known officially in UN-speak as COP 15 – the 15th meeting of the parties of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change – the meeting in Denmark will try to work out a way for the world to act together to preserve the thin envelope of atmosphere, soil and sea which surrounds our planet and enables us to live, in the face of rising temperatures which threaten to destroy its habitability.

All the world’s major governments, including the once-sceptical administration of the US President George Bush, now formally accept that temperature rises have already begun, are likely if unchecked to prove disastrous for human civilisation, and are being caused by emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from our power plants, factories and motor vehicles.

But if all the major governments now accept it, getting them to agree on how to tackle it still seems a very long way off indeed. The essential problem, to use the jargon, is burden-sharing. We know the world has to cut its CO2 emissions drastically, and soon. But which countries are to cut them, by how much?

The Chinese, for example, with their scarcely believable economy growing at 10 per cent a year, have now overtaken the Americans as the biggest carbon emitters; but historically, America has emitted far more; and on a per capita basis, US emissions still dwarf those of China. So the Chinese have felt (so far) that they have a moral right for their economy to grow unchecked, and their carbon emissions to grow with it; but many Americans have felt (so far) that they see no reason to act unilaterally to cut their own CO2 if the Chinese are not willing to do the same.

Differences like those stubbornly percolate the whole negotiating process and make achieving a universal agreement mind-bogglingly hard. “This is the most complicated deal the world has ever tried to put together,” says Tom Burke, visiting professor at Imperial College and an adviser on climate change to the Foreign Office. “In effect, you’re asking nearly 200 countries to align their energy policies – to create a common world energy policy. If you look at how hard it has been for the member states of the European Union to align their energy policies, you get an idea of the difficulty of attempting it with the whole world.”

Yet it has to be done, and the penalty for failure could not be higher. It is just 20 years since the world woke up to the danger of rising carbon emissions destabilising the atmosphere. Two decades ago it seemed a fairly distant threat, prefigured principally in supercomputer climate prediction programmes; something that was likely to happen a comfortably long distance away, such as at the end of the 21st century.

Three things have altered since then. First, the changing climate is now visible, not just in computer predictions, but all around us: spring in southern Britain, for example, is arriving about three weeks earlier than it did 40 years ago. At this time last year a red admiral butterfly, an archetypal creature of the summer, was photographed perching on a snowdrop, a flower of the winter – a previously unheard-of occurrence.

Second, it has become clear in the past five years that the earth is responding to the increasing CO2 loading of the atmosphere much more rapidly than scientists initially thought. There are numerous examples but to instance just one, the summer sea ice of the Arctic Ocean is melting far more quickly than anyone imagined.

Third, it has become apparent, even more recently, that global emissions of CO2 are shooting up at a rate that far exceeds anything the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) thought possible when it sketched out future emissions scenarios in a special report in 2000. Even though we have had 20 years to think about emissions cuts, and 11 years of the Kyoto protocol, the treaty which actually prescribed the first cuts for the industrialised countries, emissions are soaring as never before.

Some leading climate scientists are now openly voicing concerns that this makes it increasingly unlikely we can meet the aim of keeping global temperature rise to about 2C above the pre-industrial level, which is generally regarded as the most that may be endured by human society without mortal danger. (We are now at about 0.75 degrees C above pre-industrial, and another 0.6 of a degree is thought to be inevitable because of the CO2 which has already been emitted).

Certainly, if we are to have any chance at all at holding the increase to two degrees, there is wide agreement that global emissions have to peak very soon – probably by 2015 or 2016 – and then rapidly decrease, to 80 per cent below present levels by 2050. The later the peak, the greater (and therefore more difficult) the subsequent decrease would have to be.

That’s the pathway the world has to follow. Copenhagen offers the chance to set out along it. But even if the deal in December is not as ambitious as scientists and environmentalists insist is necessary – and at the moment, that seems pretty likely – it is vital that there is actually an accord. Disagreement would be a catastrophe.

Three conditions, according to Britain’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, have to be fulfilled for Copenhagen to be regarded as a success. First, the wealthy industrialised countries have to agree tough new targets for cutting their C02. Second, the developing countries led by China, even if they do not take on the same sort of numerical targets, have to move away from “business as usual”. And third, the rich nations have to agree a way of financing the developing countries, especially the poorer ones, in the measures they take to adapt to the climate change that is coming anyway. Otherwise they won’t sign up to anything.

Securing such a deal will be a matter of political will: a global political consensus will have to be hammered out. It is becoming clear that, over the next 11 months, the world could well do with a high-level political fixer, jetting unceasingly from capital to capital, to pull such a consensus together, in the manner in which the Argentine diplomat, Raul Estrada, managed to pull the original Kyoto agreement together in the Japanese city in December 1997. It could be Britain’s Ed Miliband, according to Tom Burke. “There has to be someone who can put the time in, and go round various capitals and talk to the key people at a very high level, and not just environment ministers,” he says. “Ed Miliband could play that role. He’s known to be close to Gordon Brown, and Britain is reasonably respected for its record on climate change. It doesn’t have to be him. But there probably needs to be someone.”

However, Mr Miliband, and the British Government, may face a problem of reduced credibility in climate change terms as a result of two policy decisions likely to be taken in the next few weeks. One, which Mr Miliband will take personally, is whether or not to agree to a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. If he gives it the go-ahead, without strict controls over its emissions, environmentalists will accuse him of sanctioning a new generation of power plants run on the most carbon-intensive fuel. The other is whether or not to allow Heathrow airport to build a third runway, and thus expand British aviation, whose CO2 emissions are growing faster than those of any other sector.

If both these projects go ahead – as seems perfectly possible – there is no doubt that the UK’s position as a potential Copenhagen broker will be weakened. “If countries like Britain, who, for better or worse, are the global leaders, go to Copenhagen with new coal-fired power stations and expanding airports at home, it’s very difficult to see how we will be taken seriously by other countries which have even more serious energy security problems and concerns about economic growth,” said Robin Oakley, the head of climate change at Greenpeace UK. “That leadership can’t just be shown by grandstanding at the meeting. It has to be shown by what we do in our domestic policy.”

In the absence of Mr Miliband or any other leading politician emerging as the Copenhagen fixer, the key player in the process is likely to be Barack Obama. The President-elect has already opened a chasm, in terms of climate change policy, between himself and the outgoing George Bush, who, in 2001, withdrew the US from Kyoto and began years of climate policy obstructionism.

Mr Bush wanted no truck with emissions cuts of any sort; Mr Obama has pledged he will get US emissions down to 80 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050 (a target identical with Britain’s) and “engage vigorously” with the international negotiating process over the next few months. Hints have been dropped that he may convene meetings of key world leaders to speed the negotiations along. It seems highly likely that he will go to Copenhagen himself – which means every other world leader will want to be present.

Whether or not they can do the deal the world needs is another matter. Yet there is no doubt the world needs it. It may seem reasonable to think, in the coldest winter for years, that global warming has gone away, yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Source Independednt

To reduce illegal dumping of industrial waste, the Environment Ministry has started to use an Earth observation satellite to monitor areas from space, it was learned Thursday.

The Iwate prefectural government has begun experimentally receiving relevant satellite data and has given administrative guidance to companies that have illegally dumped industrial waste.

Iwate’s success has prompted the ministry to decide to use satellite data to clamp down on illegal dumping of industrial waste nationwide.

The ministry plans to make use of the observation satellite in fiscal 2009 together with prefectures that want to use the satellite.

The satellite, called Daichi, is one of the world’s largest Earth observation satellites. It was launched in 2006 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for the purpose of creating detailed maps and other images.

Daichi can take photographs at resolutions high enough to distinguish objects as small as 2.5 meters in diameter. The cost of a one-time image capture use of the satellite is 200,000 yen, one-tenth to one-eighth the cost to use a U.S. commercial satellite for the same purpose.

Since January 2008, the Iwate prefectural government has been employing a system developed by Iwate University that allows it to create color photos based on satellite data.

With the help of the satellite, which detects changes on the ground, including the accumulation of industrial waste, the prefectural government can closely watch remote areas that are difficult to monitor from the ground.

Using the satellite, the prefectural government has been able to uncover several dumping cases in which companies illegally expanded their waste disposal sites. Local governments have issued these companies administrative guidance to rectify the situations.

(Jan. 9, 2009) The Yomiuri Shimbun

Source

(Jan 2009) VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, agreed that France would be the provider of technology and official development assistance (ODA) for the natural resources, environment and disaster monitoring small satellite (VNREADSat-1), Vietnam’s second satellite after Vinasat-1.

The prime minister assigned the Institute for Science and Technology of Vietnam to develop this project, which aims to serve the strategy on research and application of space technology to 2020.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for formalities related to French ODA for this project.

VNREDSat-1 is a small-sized earth observation satellite, a proposed 150 kilogrammes in weight with a five-year life expectancy. The satellite is scheduled to be operational in 2012 and will be used to help Vietnam map its natural resources and provide information about the environment and disasters.

National Space Science and Technology Research Programme Chairman Nguyen Khoa Son said the project would cost an estimated US$100 million and help free Vietnam from reliance on satellite images provided by other countries.

The VNREDSat-1 project was initiated five years ago when Vietnam cooperated with a UK-owned space organisation to study the country’s capacity to launch a small earth observation satellite, the paper said.

Vietnam’s first satellite, VINASAT-1, was launched in April to improve telecommunications services, Internet and TV broadcasts to the country’s most remote areas. The $200 million satellite’s footprint extends over southeast and east Asia, India and Hawaii.

(Source: VNE/TN)

(Jan 2009) Farmers of Northeast can now interact with top scientists of the country and seek solutions to their problems related to farming, market, health and weather dynamics from their nearest Village Resource Centres (VRC).

The Shillong-based North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) in association with Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set up 34 VRCs across the North-East, and proposes to set up around 50 more to bring the farmers closer to experts who can guide them in various fields.

Farmers across 10 VRCs of Assam interacted with agricultural experts who were stationed at NESAC during the ‘Farmers Virtual Congress’ as part of the 96th Indian Science Congress here on Monday.

NESAC Director P P Nageswara Rao said the VRC would serve as single window access to information for farmers across the region with respect to various problems faced by them during cultivation, marketing, health and weather dynamics.

He said, “Normally it is not possible for the farmers to interact with a galaxy of experts. The VRC network would serve this purpose.”

Once the system comes up, the farmers of the region would sit with a interpreter in front of a computer set in the VRC and would seek advise from the experts sited at the base in any part of the country.

The NESAC has collaborated with the Assam Agricultural University, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Guwahati Medical College and other institutes to fructify the advisory system.

The ISRO has funded the entire hardware, transponder time and bandwidth in the VRCs, while the local collaborators in each state like Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (ABITA) in Assam would bear other costs like sponsoring a local coordinator.

Of the 34 VRC set up so far, 16 are in Sikkim, 8 in Nagaland and 10 across Assam. The VRC are likely to be functional by June next year, and NESAC proposes to hold one interaction with the farmers of the NE states once a week.

The agro-meteorology advisory services would be provided by the NESAC itself.

Source:“Spacemart”:http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Indian_Farmers_To_Consult_Scientists_Via_Satellite_999.html and Press Trust of India

Japan is set to launch its Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) this month in an effort to monitor the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane around the world.

Slated to launch using the H-2A rocket on January 21, GOSAT is also known as Ibuki, which is Japanese for “breath” because the satellite will track how the Earth exhales greenhouse gases in 56,000 locations around the world. It will orbit at an altitude of 666 kilometers above the Earth.

There were only 282 land-based observation points as of October, according to Takashi Hamazaki, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The agency said the $372.9 million satellite will orbit Earth once every three days with two sensors that will gauge the density of greenhouse gases based on observed infrared rays. The denser the gases, the more infrared rays of light are absorbed.

One sensor will be used to determine the presence of clouds. When clouds are present, it is difficult to provide an accurate analysis. Therefore, the satellite will only take readings in clear weather.

Data will be collected each month, with the first set of data expected by April or May. Researchers with the Japanese Environment Ministry and the Japanese National Institute for Environmental Studies will be the first to analyze the satellite’s data before sharing the information with scientists worldwide. GOSAT is set to be in orbit for five years.

Hamazaki said the project is important because certain regions, such as developing countries, are lacking proper monitoring of greenhouse gases.

“To fight climate change, we need to monitor the density of greenhouse gases in all regions around the world and how their levels change,” Hamazaki said. “But at the moment, there are very few observation sites on land and they are concentrated in certain areas.”

“By comparison, GOSAT will have 56,000 observation points and will be able to acquire data covering the entire globe every three days. We think this will improve the accuracy of global warming predictions.”

The project’s launch comes as Japan continues its attempts to meet its 2008-2012 Kyoto Protocol target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

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On the Net:
Launch of IBUKI Special Site
“Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite “IBUKI”(GOSAT)”:http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gosat/index_e.html
Reuters

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

(Dec 2008) 610 government satellites planned for launch in the next decade


Paris & Montreal, December 18, 2008 – Euroconsult, the leading international research and consulting firm specialized in the satellite sector, announced today that world government space program expenditures are at a historical high of more than $62 billion dollars in 2008, with planned satellite launches in the next ten years to increase 38% over the previous decade.

According to Euroconsult’s new report “Government Space Markets, World Prospects to 2017”, governments have clearly entered a new phase of investment, committing to the development of a new generation of programs worldwide.

Furthermore, government space program expenditures worldwide are expected to grow at 4.5%1 per year through 2012, reaching nearly $70 billion.

Established and emerging programs sustaining overall budget
growth

The development of governments’ space markets is driven by the growth of countries committing to space projects – about 40 countries in 2008, twice as much as a decade ago – as well as the expansion of governments’ nominal investments into their space programs around the world.

For established government space programs security has become a key driver, pushing budgets higher and increasingly – encouraging dual use funding and/or Public Private Partnerships.

This has also led to more complex implementation schemes in the US, Europe, Japan or Russia. New leaders India and China have reached milestones in developing a new generation of systems targeting applications including space science and manned spaceflight, once reserved to the established government space programs. In the coming years they could contribute significantly to new capabilities in space exploration.

After a first wave of programs focused on low-cost projects (often Earth Observation), many emerging government space programs are now considering their next generation programs, often implying large investment to expand capabilities in applications such as SatCom. Countries such as Nigeria and Thailand were among the first to do so, and other countries such as Venezuela and Angola are following suit.

Impact of the economic downturn

“Government space programs are driven by long-term strategic national objectives which are typically less influenced by short-term economic downturns,” remarked Steve Bochinger, Director, Institutional Affairs at Euroconsult. “However, governments could restrain spending on non-priority space program budget items or may find it more difficult to attract private partners to co-fund Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects,” he noted. “On the other hand, the economic slowdown may induce governments to increase their investments on infrastructure-related programs to support their economies, as the November Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency demonstrated” he concluded.

Prospects by program type and application

Civil space programs currently benefit from the majority of funding with nearly $33 billion spent by over 40 countries worldwide. In comparison, ten countries invest in defense-related programs for a value of $29 billion. However, 95% of this spending is concentrated in the US. Global government spending on defense programs is likely to catch up to civil program spending in the next five years, with most countries’ defense spending generally trending upward.

Satellite-related applications are clearly driving growth in government programs worldwide with a large number of countries committing to developing or acquiring satellite systems for their own use in specific programs.

Earth observation is the number one satellite-based application worldwide, with government spending $6.7 billion in 2008, i.e. 20% of government non-classified investment in space. Lower cost satellites and ability to address local issues has made EO the top priority application for a number of countries, particularly emerging space programs. Strong growth is expected to continue in civil programs, while expenditures for defense and security programs are likely to stabilize at current budget levels.

Investments in satellite communications (Satcom) programs have been growing steadily reaching 6.6 billion spent in 2008 for both non-classified defense and civil programs. Overall, 128 satellites are planned for launch in the next decade driven by the defense sector as well as projects in developing countries.

Satellite navigation (satnav), $2.6 billion in 2008, has been the fastest growing application in terms of public-sector investment (+21% per year over the past five years). In addition to GPS nextgeneration satellites developed in the United States, Europe, Russia, India, Japan, and China are investing in a new satellite navigation system that should boost the expenditures to $3 billion in 2010. 144 satellites should be launched for navigation applications between 2008 and 2017, i.e., over double that of the past decade.

Manned Spaceflight represents the largest space budget item worldwide with $11.6 billion invested in 2007, an 8% increase over 2006. While this is largely due to the US program at NASA, Russia is also increasing its capabilities to service the Space Station and India and China are investing in this area. While all programs are currently under review, it is expected that the US will continue supporting NASA’s development of the Constellation Systems.

Emerging space programs – both large and small – are bringing new energy to space science, which will drive growth in the number of scientific satellites launched over the next decade (105 satellites planned for launch over 2008-2017 compared to 84 the last decade). However, stagnation or decreases in budgets at major space agencies are not likely to be offset by growth from these newcomers.

Report Profile
This 11th edition of Government Space Markets, Forecasts to 2017 provides an exhaustive assessment of government space programs, financing, and strategic trends for all key government space applications including perspectives for the next ten years.(Applications include Satellite Communications, Earth Observation, Satellite Navigation, Space Science, Manned Spaceflight, Launcher Development, and other Defense Applications). The report serves as a unique qualitative and quantitative benchmark of leading and emerging government space programs around the world.

About Euroconsult
Euroconsult is the leading international consulting and analyst firm specialized in satellite applications, communications, and digital broadcasting. Euroconsult develops comprehensive research reports and forecasts, provides strategic consulting and analysis, and produces world summits. With 25 years of experience and more than 350 satellite-related consulting assignments, Euroconsult has over 560 clients in 50 countries, including leaders throughout the satellite industry: satellite operators and service providers; governments agencies; satellite manufacturers and launch service providers; equipment providers and integrators; media and broadcasting companies; and banks and investors.

www.euroconsult-ec.com

Media Contacts
Europe : Linda Zaiche +33 (0)1 49 23 75 17
zaiche@euroconsult-ec.com
North America: Macha Ejova +1 (514) 750-9750
ejova@euroconsult-ec.com

Perspective on the achievements and undertakings during 2008.


EARSC STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIP

Looking toward the future we are upgrading the organizational and working practices to support and respond to the increased expectations of our membership, in particular:

- the recruitment of our Secretary General and the opening a Brussels office enabling the Association to develop our services together with our members’ ever-evolving needs. This opening of this new office is in line with European Industry’s ambition to closely work with the governing bodies of GMES and in particular to be associated closely with the work of the Bureau in charge of it. It will help strengthen relations developed with stakeholders particularly with DG Enterprise.

We have managed to carry forward the industry vision in several stakeholders meetings and events, namely “political lobbying to European Institutions” carrying the industry message and helping focus stakeholders on issues vitally important to the EO service industry issues, for example:

- meeting with Commissioner Günter Verheugen to discuss the status and evolution of GMES (with topics such as budget situation, governance, unfair competition, SME´s and FP funding, stakeholders or the participation of EARSC in program preparation activities)

- providing inputs to create synergies between our Earth Observation developments and developments in other sectors such as Navigation and Telecommunications at the ESA Integrated Applications Program

- showing the ESA-Service Support Environment as an opportunity for Earth Observation Industry

- supporting the Value Added Service Element at DOSTAG Meeting

- presenting EO service industry vision of how the industry is evolving their business and challenges they face at the Committee of the Regions

- participating at GMES Forum in Lille addressing industry requirements for the GMES-KOPERNIKUS Pre-Operational services, the governance and funding scheme.

EARSC OPERATIONS

Organizing the successful EARSC Workshop focusing on the Opportunities provided by GMES for the service industry. Thanks to the large, diverse and knowledgeable attendance a thorough survey of risks and opportunities for the development of the service industry has been conducted leading to a set of recommendations relayed to the EU to help in the preparation of their future call for proposals. Such recommendations relate to the four key areas which are Data Policy, Governance, Budget and Operations. Within the framework of the excellent collaboration between EARSC and European institutions regular exchanges and information days have been highlighted to be fostered during 2009.

EARSC working groups on External Relations and New Strategies are considered key structural elements within the association. The working groups met several times during the year planning specific deliverables for the WG tasks; providing key messages representing the EO service industry to ESA, EC and other stakeholders, focusing on business models taking into account users and the markets addressed or briefing of opportunities addressing service development in the different EO domains.

Please note that the above mentioned accomplishments would not be possible without the active participation from some members at EARSC meetings. For this reason, we would like to ask for the continued support of our members´ involvement in EARSC. The efforts of Board of Directors, officers and WG members are all geared to our main aim – to strength the European EO service industry.

EARSC will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2009. Preparations for next year event, focused on governance, are already underway to commemorate this special occasion.

COMMUNICATIONS

We were also very pleased to see that more people are wanting to get involved to help reach our goals for 2009. Our website will become our key communication platform, planning to have a restricted area for members (“members zone”) using this new tool to interact with the board and other members so that members have an opportunity to provide input on possible issues that would affect our industry community. We ask that you continue to monitor developments through the Association’s website www.earsc.org as well as “eomag” our newsletter widely distributed to stakeholders

Latest News

29/12/2008
Agreements signed between Telespazio and DRS Technologies, companies of the Finmeccanica Group
Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, has signed agreements for two separate contracts with DRS Technologies. The agreement covers the provision of telecommunications services via the Italian SICRAL satellites and the Telespazio satellite telecommunications centre in Fucino.

19/12/2008
Telespazio (Finmeccanica/Thales) wins contract in Turkey worth more than 250 million Euro for the Göktürk satellite system
Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, has won a tender as prime contractor, supported by Thales Alenia Space (a Thales/Finmeccanica company), from the Turkish Ministry of Defence for the Göktürk satellite system.

28/11/2008
Telespazio presents the Love Planet Earth 2009 calendar dedicated to the theme of water
Telespazio presents the third edition of the Love Planet Earth calendar, dedicated in 2009 to the theme of water and the environmental disasters associated with it. Combining six satellite images with the same number of photographs, Telespazio explores the theme of the new environmental disasters associated with this basic resource.

Source