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ESA PR 18-2007. From 23 to 27 April in Montreux, Switzerland, over 900 scientists from around the world will attend the Envisat Symposium 2007 to review and present results of ESA‘s Earth Observation satellites and in particular Envisat.

ESA PR 18-2007.
From 23 to 27 April in Montreux, Switzerland, over 900 scientists from around the world will attend the Envisat Symposium 2007 to review and present results of ESA‘s Earth Observation satellites and in particular Envisat.
The main objective of the Symposium, organised by ESA with the support of the Swiss Space Office, is to present the results of ESA Earth Observation missions by providing a forum for investigators to share results of on-going research project activities using Envisat, ERS and ESA Third Party missions.
Almost all fields of Earth science will be highlighted, such as greenhouse gas concentrations, ozone hole monitoring, sea level rise, sea surface temperature, ice sheets and sea ice variations, volcanoes and earthquakes, land cover changes, among others. About 800 presentations are planned in 54 themed sessions with participants from over 40 countries worldwide.
In addition, the Symposium will provide a session dedicated to the use of Earth Observation in support of International Environmental Conventions in close collaboration with UN agencies, the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and other key international and European institutional actors, such as the European Environment Agency (EEA).
A special session is planned on the GMES Programme on Thursday 26 April to present the status of the EU-led GMES Programme and the ESA-managed Space Component.
The official opening of the Symposium is scheduled for 23 April at 14.30. ESA Director General Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain will give the welcoming address followed by Mr Jean-Philippe Amstein, Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Mr Daniel Fürst, Director of the Swiss Space Office and Dr Volker Liebig, ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes. Five scientists will then present an overview of the most significant results of the Envisat and ERS missions.
Launched in 2002, Envisat is the largest environmental satellite ever built. It carries ten sophisticated optical and radar instruments to provide continuous observation and monitoring of the Earth’s land, atmosphere, oceans and ice caps, maintaining continuity with the Agency’s ERS missions started in 1991.
Generating some 280 Gigabytes of data products daily, Envisat has gathered 500 Terabytes to date and recently celebrated its fifth year in operation.
The Press is welcome to attend the Symposium starting with the official opening session on Monday 23 April at 14.30.
For further information, please contact:
Franco Bonacina
Media Relations Office
ESA Communication Department
Phone:+33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690
Simonetta Cheli
Head of Coordination Office
Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes
ESA, ESRIN
Phone: +39 06 94180350
Fax: +39 06 94188702
media@esa.int
(Source ESA)

A Dnepr rocket laden with 14 small international satellites flew out of an underground missile silo and soared into space Tuesday on its first mission since failure struck the launcher last year.

The three-stage rocket lifted off at 0646 GMT (2:46 a.m. EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 111-foot-tall booster worked as planned and its cache of payloads were successfully deployed from the rocket‘s third stage a few minutes later.
The Dnepr rocket, a retired missile from Russia‘s strategic military forces, was targeting a nearly circular Sun-synchronous orbit between 400 miles and 500 miles high.
The flight marked the Dnepr‘s resumption of launches after the rocket fell short of orbit and crashed in the Kazakh desert during its last mission in July. Investigators traced the cause of the failure to a glitch in the rocket‘s first stage control system.
Kosmotras, a joint company formed by the Russian and Ukrainian governments, markets the Dnepr booster. Kosmotras officials postponed Tuesday‘s launch from late March to replace a faulty cable in the rocket‘s third stage telemetry system, according to the company‘s Web site.
Half of the 14 satellites put in space Tuesday were orbited for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while seven others were tiny palm-sized craft in the CubeSat program.
Three P-POD deployment systems built by students and professors at California Polytechnic State University housed seven miniature CubeSat payloads during launch. The CubeSats were to be ejected from the P-POD devices a few moments after arriving in orbit, according to project officials.
The CubeSat program – developed and run by officials at Cal Poly and Stanford University – offers universities and low-budget satellite programs an affordable way to put payloads in space.
The largest CubeSat launched Tuesday was the Multi-Application Survivable Tether experiment, which is designed to test the durability of space tethers for Tethers Unlimited, a Seattle-based company investigating concepts for tether propulsion in space.
MAST consists of three small satellites unfurled along a thin tether stretching about one kilometer long. The tether, composed of three braided lines about two one-hundredths of an inch thick, will be deployed by springs about a week after launch.
“We have developed a design for a tether structure that we believe will enable space tether systems to survive in the space environment for long durations, and we hope that the data that MAST collects will prove that it works,” said Robert Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited chief executive officer.
The middle satellite on the tether will slowly crawl along the length of the tether to look for signs of damage to the structure. Called Gadget, the tiny craft will begin operating about a week after the tether is unfolded.
Observers on the ground should be able to spot MAST as it flies overhead shortly before sunrise and after sunset. The craft will be seen as a small line about one-seventh the diameter of the Moon as viewed from Earth, according to Hoyt.
Developed for less than $1 million using a combination of NASA contract money and private funding, MAST is the company‘s first satellite. But officials hope additional craft can be launched in the future to further test tether concepts.
Two other projects are under development by Tethers Unlimited engineers to take the next step in demonstrating space tethers. One would use a tether to propel a 22-pound satellite past the Moon, but funding for the missions is uncertain, Hoyt said in an interview.
Tethers provide an alternative for space propulsion using momentum to send spacecraft into higher orbits. Space tethers can also produce electricity as they interact with Earth‘s magnetic field, according to Tethers Unlimited.
The Dnepr rocket also launched a nanosatellite testbed built by Boeing. The craft contains four diminutive microcontrollers, each of which can process more than 300 million instructions per second. The spacecraft will demonstrate systems to be used by Boeing in future satellites.
Other CubeSat payloads included CAPE 1 for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Libertad 1 for Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Colombia. The Aerospace Corporation also launched their first two-pound CubeSat spacecraft and Cal Poly will operate two development satellites hauled to space aboard the rocket.
Seven remote sensing and communications satellites were loaded on the Dnepr launcher for Tuesday‘s mission.
The Ukrainian Yuzhnoye design bureau built the 220-pound EgyptSat spacecraft under a contract with Egypt‘s National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, a government agency tasked with gathering and studying satellite imagery of the Earth.
Yuzhnoye engineers designed and manufactured EgyptSat 1, and Ukrainian trainers are helping Egyptian officials create satellite control facilities and upgrade ground stations, according to the National Space Agency of Ukraine.
The craft is fitted with cameras to take pictures of Earth, but Egypt is not providing details on the resolution and clarity of EgyptSat 1‘s imagery. The government agency operating the spacecraft specializes in monitoring natural resources, environmental changes, and large-scale disasters, according to its Web site.
SaudiSat 3, another small Earth observation craft, was also sent to orbit aboard the Dnepr rocket. The satellite was launched for Saudi Arabia‘s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
The Saudi government agency will also manage five 26-pound SaudiComsat communications satellites launched Tuesday.
(Source Space.com)

Mauro Salvemini is President of EUROGI for the next two years.
This was the outcome of the election-process at EUROGI’s General
Board meeting on March 30th, in Brussels.

Mauro Salvemini has a long history in geographical information
both as researcher and manager. Because of the length of the list
of his national and international activities in the field only a few
can be mentioned. He has been an active member of EUROGI’s
Executive Committee for more than 7 years and served as Vice
President since 2003.
He has organised workshops for such EC
projects as GINIE and ETEMII, and for the EC GI & GIS workshop in
Sardinia 2005. Until the beginning of 2006 he was President of
AGILE, the European association of GI laboratories, and for the last
two years he has been the President of AMFM GIS Italia. He is also
a member of IGU (International Geographic Union) Working Group
on GI Science, and has collaborated with the GSDI association.
He is a university Professor and Researcher. Currently he is deeply
involved in the Region Sardinia project for SDI which is seen as a
landmark in both Italy and abroad.
Following his election Salvemini stated his desire to work towards
strong international relations, agreement and cooperation.
He
wishes to stimulate coherence among the members and the
involvement of users, the scientific community, and the private
sector in general and local communities in particular. INSPIRE is on
his list of top priorities.
EUROGI
Eurogi is the European umbrella organisation
representing the 6500 organisations in 20 European countries that
collectively create and use geographical information in Europe. It
is recognised as the professional voice of the GI world, and is
frequently consulted by the European Commission and others for
advice and information.
EUROpean
umbrella
organization for
Geographic
Information
Rua Artilharia Um, 107
1099-052
LISBOA
Portugal
Tel: +351 213-819-624
Fax: +351 213-819-668
www.eurogi.org
(Source EUROGI)

Until today any journey in the ice-infested waters of the Arctic Ocean was a journey into the unknown with no up-to-date detailed map of the ice conditions readily available in such a remote region of the world.
Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) are now able to provide the
latest satellite image from the European Space Agency satellite,
Envisat to any International Polar Year (IPY) expedition in the Arctic
Ocean.

Users will be able to connect to KSAT in Tromsø using an Iridium
phone to access the latest radar satellite image of the sea ice
conditions immediately ahead of them.
The transmission of detailed satellite images over a very low
bandwidth has become possible due to software developed by ITT Visual
Information Solutions. Coupled with KSAT’s ability to deliver the
latest satellite image within half-an-hour of acquisition, users can
receive the very latest information on the sea ice conditions.
The technology, first used during Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen‘s
expedition, has been described as unprecedented, adding a measure of
understanding and safety which was simply not available before.
ENVISAT ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar)
wide-swath scene available to the Bancroft Arnesen Explore team showing
the extent of ice fracturing on the Lincoln Sea on 4th March.© raw data
ESA 2007 /processed by KSAT 2007
The satellite images, analysed by the Canadian Ice Service (CIS),
revealed unusually extensive fracturing of sea ice in the Lincoln Sea.
However, Ann and Liv would have known the extent of any leads that
crossed their path and they would have been able to decide whether they
should swim or walk around open areas of water, known as leads that
obstructed their path.
This month K/V Svalbard, the Norwegian Coastguard‘s icebreaker, is
receiving the latest radar satellite images which, together with other
essential resources, play an important role in the day-to-day planning
as she participates in a joint expedition with the Bi-polar Atlantic
Thermohaline Circulation (BIAC) and Ice Load Monitoring (ILM) projects
in the waters around the Svalbard Archipelago.
To see more example images please access: http://nut.tss.no/ksat/welcome.faces
For more information please contact:
Richard Hall
Business Development Manager
Prestvannveien 38,
N-9291 Tromsø
Norway
Tel: +47 77 600 263
(Source KSAT)

One of the government‘s four intelligence-gathering satellites has ceased to operate due to a breakdown of its power source, bringing to light many problems that have to be addressed.

An official of the Cabinet Satellite
Intelligence Center said while the center has not given up trying to
reestablish contact with the satellite, Radar No. 1, which
malfunctioned one year earlier than its five-year life expectancy, the
likelihood of successfully reestablishing contact is slim from a
technical point of view.
In the circumstances, the government‘s two
optical satellites will have to undertake all work until late May, as
the fourth satellite, Radar No. 2, is still operating in test mode.
Commissioned by the government, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency develops such satellites.
JAXA satellites usually last longer than their
intended lifespan as they must be durable to survive the harsh
conditions of space.
Of the Earth observation satellites launched
into space, satellites Midori and Midori No. 2 stopped functioning 10
months after blasting off due to malfunctioning solar batteries, but
some satellites have lasted four times longer than their projected
operating life.
An official at the center said that the
intelligence-gathering satellite broke down because of the unfortunate
deterioration of the machine, but experts are concerned about the
malfunction.
An export said that while problems at an early
stage occur often, satellites that pass the first stage of operation
successfully usually do not break down.

“If the lifespan of a satellite that is running smoothly is suddenly
cut short, there may be basic defects in the materials and parts,”
he said.
Replacement satellites will be launched in
preparation for the unplanned termination of intelligence-gathering
satellites’ operating lives.
Depending on the cause of the malfunction,
Radar No. 2, currently in orbit, and Radar No. 3, which is now under
development for fiscal 2011 launch, may be affected.
As the malfunction has also threatened the
establishment of a four-satellite system by 2011, there are concerns
that national security may also be affected.
At a joint meeting of the Liberal Democratic
Party‘s defense-related sections at the end of last month, some members
proposed an early commission of Radar No. 2. Others suggested that the
development of Radar No. 3 be brought forward.
However, an official at the center said that
even if Radar No. 2‘s operation is advanced, it can only be done
several days ahead of schedule. “As engineers are developing new
technology to improve the image-gathering function of Radar No. 3, it‘s
difficult to move up development in terms of years,”
he said.
The idea of launching a satellite similar to Radar No. 1 to replace the
faulty satellite was rejected because it takes four years to
manufacture and build a satellite and manufacturers have already
stopped making some of the parts.
Katsuyuki Kawai, head of the LDP National
Defense Division, said that in future the government should discuss a
16-satellite system with backup satellites.
As radar satellites are more difficult to
manufacture and more expensive, they are launched on fewer occasions
than optical satellites.
Some experts have cast doubts over whether such a policy will help improve radar satellite technology.
The government has invested more than 500
billion yen in developing intelligence-gathering satellites, but the
program is confidential.
Shinya Matsuura, a journalist well-versed in
space development, said that the development of radar satellites
followed the government‘s sudden decision to introduce spy satellites.
“There are problems in design and the orbit is not the best for the satellites,” he said.
Some experts even questioned the usefulness of radar satellites because images they have take have not been released.
The latest glitch has called into question whether the design, function and the system are as effective as they should be.
The official said that a promotion committee comprising officials from
relevant ministries and agencies decided on the basic development
policy, adding that the committee also receives advice from a committee
of engineers.
JAXA and manufacturers also evaluate the technology,” he said.
However, as JAXA and manufacturers evaluate the program separately, they do not study the problems together.
Matsuura said that the government should release
information that can be declassified and that it needs to change its
approach to improve its usability and functions.
“Technological progress has made it possible
to manufacture compact information-gathering satellites at a low cost.
The government should also study more effective ways of using radar
satellites, such as combining earth observation and radar satellites,”
he said.
Lawmakers, the government and engineers should work together to find ways to improve radar satellites.
Keiko Chino/Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer
(Source Yomiuri)

New partners support the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”

DigitalGlobe and GeoEye have joined forces with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in support of the global team of space and satellite agencies that constitute the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”. The International Charter works to provide emergency response satellite data free of charge to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world. It currently includes as its members the British National Space Center/Disaster Monitoring Constellation, the French Space Agency Centre National d‘Etudes Spatiales, the Argentine Space Agency Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the USGS.
Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and, in so doing, is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters worldwide. These resources include imagery collected by a variety of civilian and commercial satellites. Many of these satellites capture images at relatively low resolutions. With the new partnership, Earth-imaging satellites that acquire very high-resolution images will be available for precise analysis of a disaster‘s impact, such as assessing damage to buildings and infrastructure following an earthquake.
For more information: Terradaily
(Source GMES Info)

The joint ESA/UNESCO Open Initiative to conserve hundreds of natural and cultural World Heritage sites using Earth observation satellites gets additional backing as the International Astronautical Federation joins the growing number of space entities to pledge support to the project.

The Open Initiative, agreed upon by ESA and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in 2001, involves satellites monitoring UNESCO World Heritage sites as unique and varied as the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Wall of China in order to provide early warnings of conditions that could threaten them, such as natural catastrophes, atmospheric contamination and changes in land use.
The signing of the partnership between the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and UNESCO took place today at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. ESA’s Stephen Briggs, Head of Earth Observation Science and Applications Department, opened the ceremony with his thoughts on how Earth-observing satellites have benefited humanity.
Paying tribute to the first man in space in 1961, Briggs quoted Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first words spoken there: “‘I see Earth. It’s so beautiful.’ Indeed, observing Earth from space has truly revolutionised the way we view our home planet. With their unique global perspective, satellite systems offer incomparable advantages to help us better understand, manage and protect the Earth’s precious environment.”
“The extraordinary cultural and natural diversity of the world is an important source of life and inspiration for humanity. Its preservation should be a responsibility shared by the whole international community,”
he added.
The name Open Initiative was chosen by ESA and UNESCO because they intended to have other space agencies join the partnership, and in 2003, when the initiative was formally launched, they called on others to participate.
To date, several space agencies have progressively established similar arrangements for providing satellite data to protect these sites, including Argentina, Brasil, Canada, India, the Iraq Space Department, Jordan, Morocco, Poland, Turkey and the United States (NASA).
The World Heritage list includes sites, monuments or landscapes that have been deemed of ‘exceptional universal value’ in either cultural or natural terms. There are currently 830 different sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Of these, 644 of them are listed as cultural, 162 as natural and 24 as both. UNESCO considers 31 of them currently listed to be ‘in danger’. The initiative is especially aimed at helping developing nations monitor World Heritage sites on their territories more effectively.
ESA and UNESCO highlighted the potential of the initiative through a two-year pilot project called BEGo (Build Environment for Gorilla) in which satellite imagery and products were provided to conservation groups and authorities monitoring and protecting the habitats of endangered mountain gorillas in national parks located in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These parks are either considered World Heritage sites or candidate sites, and make up the last refuge of the less than 700 mountain gorillas still alive.
Because these habitats totalled more than eight hundred thousand hectares, with long boundaries across extremely inaccessible and seldom-mapped terrain, ground-based observations, if possible, were extremely difficult. Data from ESA satellites helped produce maps, detect changes over time in how the land was used and create three-dimensional digital elevation models of the terrain.
According to Eulalie Bashige, Director General of the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the maps were considered helpful in making anti-poaching efforts more effective and planning out gorilla eco-tourism. ESA is determined to continue helping UNESCO and our other partners to promote the use of space technologies for the benefit of our heritage and to support initiatives that serve better the cause of equality around the globe,” Briggs said.
(Source ESA)

Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, is bidding as prime contractor and systems integrator for the ground segment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – Series R (GOES-R) program.

The announcement was made during the 23rd National Space Symposium being held April 9-12 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
The ground segment of the GOES-R program includes receiving and processing satellite data, generation and distribution of products from satellite data, and command and control of orbiting satellites. The ground segment is slated to run through 2029, including development, operations and sustainment phases.
Scheduled for launch in 2014, GOES-R will feature highly advanced sensor technology, and will provide much higher resolution and data frequency than the current GOES spacecraft family. It is the primary tool used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to detect and track hurricanes and other severe weather in the continental United States and western hemisphere. The current GOES system provides imagery, atmospheric measurements, and space environmental monitoring over the western hemisphere every 30 minutes with visual and infrared imagery at 1 and 4 kilometre resolutions. GOES-R will improve the rate of imagery coverage to every 5 minutes.
“The GOES-R series of satellites represents the future of the GOES program and will provide significant advances over the current system,” said Jeremy Wensinger, group president of Integrated Systems and Services, Harris Government Communications Systems Division. “Harris is highly qualified to prime the ground segment based on our proven expertise in data processing and command and control, and we look forward to providing the best-value solution that will support the next generation of geostationary weather satellites for NOAA.”
Harris is a recognised leader in satellite ground data processing and mission command-and-control systems. The company‘s ground data processing systems consist of complex suites of hardware and software that receive sensor data from satellites and process it into useable environmental parameters under stringent timelines – turning the data into useable information. The company‘s command-and-control systems feature commercial-off-the-shelf design and high levels of flexibility. Designed for government and commercial applications, they support single-satellite missions as well as the largest and most complex satellite fleets deployed today.
“Harris is also a leading manufacturer of communications payloads for military, intelligence and commercial satellites,” added Mr. Wensinger. “In addition to competing as a prime contractor for the ground segment, we look forward to working with the space segment primes to propose innovative and cost-effective antenna and electronic solutions for GOES-R satellites.”
About Harris Corporation
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual revenue of about US$ 4 billion and more than 14,000 employees – including more than 6,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best-in-class assured communications products, systems, and services for global markets, including government communications, RF communications, broadcast communications, and wireless transmission network solutions.
(Source: Harris Corporation)

If you want to take a glimpse into the future market potential of geospatial technology growth, look toward Asia.

If you want to take a glimpse into the future market potential of geospatial technology growth, look toward Asia. In the 25 years since I was last in India – back when the Survey of India was still doing everything with paper maps and satellite image processing computers were locked behind government doors – the mindset of its leaders has changed. What I saw this time was a market of enormous potential for geospatial software, data and services, provided government policy continues to evolve.
Let‘s be clear. The changing fortunes of India revolve around money and economic development. India can‘t compete in a global economy without a much better developed infrastructure: better roads, better utilities and better schools. Geospatial technology can help the country get there and the top leaders in the Indian government have articulated a vision that supports the country‘s ambitious growth plans. If you listen to my interview with Sibal Kipal, the minister of Science and Technology and Earth Science, you‘ll hear this view first-hand.
InfoTech: The largest GIS services company in the world?

India, and specifically the cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune, have a concentration of software and computer network support companies setting up campuses for their workers. While in Hyderabad, I toured the offices of InfoTech Enterprises Limited at the invitation of Mr. N.J. Joseph, vice president of Marketing. GITA Director Bob Samborski and I (at right) saw first-hand where hundreds of workers (below) were supporting projects including database updates for Tele Atlas and attribution of a digital network for KPN Telecom, a Dutch telecommunications company. InfoTech is ISO 9000 certified and operates two eight-hour shifts, six days a week. InfoTech currently employs 1,900 data management resources and 300 software resources (consulting, application development, implementation services) trained as civil or mechanical engineers, providing GIS support using systems such as Smallworld, Intergraph and MapInfo. And this was only one of InfoTech‘s buildings; the company is looking to expand its facilities soon, as it takes on more work from companies outside of India.
InfoTech is only one Indian company expanding its GIS services. InfoSys Technologies Limited, one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in the world, is also providing GIS services, as are many smaller companies with headquarters in India. Support for our publication, for example, is provided by GISbiz, a Tennessee-based company that maintains a staff of 25 people in Chennai, India.
In his address before the Map World Forum in Hyderabad, InfoTech Chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said, ‘The whole of GIS now centers around an enterprise architecture. We also believe that the value is in data, data accuracy and data completeness as we move forward. Enterprises face a greater need to understand location. GIS is therefore no longer a complex technology of domain specialists. GIS is now demonstrating its value across the enterprise.’ Reddy went on to discuss how Indian telecommunication companies and utilities now use this technology across their enterprises. At New Delhi Power, GIS is a backbone for the ERP and billing systems. Reddy said that GIS is now the front end of the company‘s enterprise.
Indian Transformation
In the past ten years, Hyderabad has been transformed into a ‘high tech town’ which boasts the ‘Cybercity’ and ‘Hitex’ neighborhoods. As enclaves for technology workers spring up among shanty towns, the standard of living is raised among all citizens. Progress has been supported because the labor pool is large and expenses are low, in comparison to pay scales in more developed countries. A larger, better-educated workforce raises taxes for infrastructure projects and thus creates a need for GIS technology to manage the growth. It is a scenario being repeated all over India.
However, there is a problem. The demand for educated GIS professionals will far outstrip the supply. India is actually exporting its brainpower to countries like Malaysia, and the Indian government realizes it has a ‘capacity building’ problem. More training is needed in geospatial technology to support a growing number of projects inside the country. This was a recurring theme of the conference and it‘s a theme being reiterated at conferences I‘ve attended in the U.S., as well.
The enormous growth of GIS in India is the result of some relaxation of government control of its data. Geospatial data, though not necessarily widely available, are more accessible. Several private companies that provide aerial surveying have complained that they cannot obtain permission to fly. The government still controls the acquisition of imagery and other data. That mindset may soon be changing. I spoke with one person in the Indian government‘s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology who is responsible for posting election results on a map of India on a website. Though somewhat fearful that other officials might step in to shut down the site, the department pressed ahead; there were an enormous number of people hitting the site for information. Success stories like that illustrate a demand for more open and accessible digital geospatial data.
Dr. Krishnaswami Kasturirangan, a member of the upper house of the Indian parliament, called GIS a ‘public utility.’ In his address, he articulated a fundamental understanding of using GIS in helping to improve the economic development process in his country. It‘s clear that the vision is being developed from the top down in India. Some government departments are affecting the way in which infrastructure projects are planned and they are looking to democratize data as long as certain security constraints are in place. Though these decision makers are extremely tuned into the needs of the country, they are also keenly aware of the limitations of their capacity to affect change. Still, with such a large part of the country as yet underdeveloped, GIS will play a major roll for years to come in helping this and other countries build an economic foundation through more efficient use of technology.
The Genie is Out of the Bottle
It may be more correct to say that geospatial technology, not just geographic information system software, will capitalize on the need to support a demand for location-based information. We are in transition as a technology sector. We are growing rapidly from one which has been supported by professionals to a broader, more informed user community that will demand greater access to geospatial information through different types of software solutions, Web services and consumer products. And the growth potential for GIS in countries like China and Russia is impossible to measure, given their similar needs for infrastructure development. These countries have yet to fully open their markets and unleash control of geospatial data.
But the genie is already out of the bottle. Satellites orbit the earth collecting more data of higher spatial resolution. Who will use them? How will they be used? We just can‘t measure the potential right now. Even the Russians, through a government supported company like Sovzond, want to market satellite data. The result will be a borderless market for information to a global community. The world will benefit; GIS will benefit.
(Source DirectionsMag)

Germany‘s next-generation TerraSAR-X uses sophisticated ground infrastructure to deliver Earth observation data to scientists and commercial customers. Open-source software developed at ESA‘s Operations Centre is helping to make the mission a success

(March 2007) The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is on track to launch TerraSAR-X, an Earth observation mission using synthetic aperture radar in the next few weeks, and is now finalising a sophisticated ‘ground segment’ infrastructure that will support the satellite, or space segment, for mission control and data distribution.
A key part of the ground segment is the Mission Control System, and DLR has adopted SCOS-2000 (Spacecraft Operating System 2000) software, developed at the European Space Operations Centre (ESA/ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. SCOS-2000 is available to European industrial and agency partners under an open-source licensing scheme and is helping foster profitable business opportunities.
SCOS-2000 was developed by ESA as “open source” software
So-called ‘open-source’ software is gaining wide popularity for Internet and enterprise applications, and requires that the source code be distributed freely so long as the licensee also agrees to make any modifications or improvements freely available to others.
This has the effect of making all subsequent improvements freely available to the entire community of users, who need pay only for support and maintenance provided by industrial contractors; the improved source code itself remains free.

TerraSAR-X radar will have highly accurate 1-metre resolution


High-resolution radar images of planet Earth
Circling the Earth in a polar orbit at an altitude of 514 km, TerraSAR-X will collect high-quality X-band radar data of the entire planet. The satellite will operate independent of weather conditions, cloud coverage and illumination, and will be capable of delivering data at a resolution of up to 1 metre.
Using SCOS-2000, TerraSAR-X will be controlled from the German Space Operations Centre, located at DLR‘s Oberpfaffenhofen facility near Munich.
Open-source model provides business opportunities
Under the open-source licensing scheme, ESA‘s SCOS-2000 software is available to European industry who can offer the product for free in combination with value-added installation, support and maintenance services.
“We hope that other SCOS-2000 users will have as much success as DLR. ESA‘s open-source licensing model provides strong business potential for European system integrators, which benefits everyone in the space community,” says Nestor Peccia, Head of ESOC‘s Data Systems Infrastructure Division.
DLR previously used ESA‘s SCOS software for the center‘s CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload) mission, launched in 2000, which is still in operation.
“We started work on TerraSAR-X with SCOS-2000 in 2003. In 2005, we upgraded to the latest version, which is the version still in use. We are now testing the final upgrades and corrections,” says Michael Schmidhuber, member of the DLR ground segment implementation team in Oberpfaffenhofen.
“A very positive aspect of SCOS-2000 is the possibility to provide feedback to the ESA development team. In this way, several improvements devised by DLR have found their way into the core product,” says Schmidhuber.
For TerraSAR-X, Siemens AG Austria is providing comprehensive support to DLR as the industrial partner for SCOS-2000 maintenance and ongoing support. Under the open-source software model, the industrial partner provides key support for improving and validating software.
“Surprisingly, we found many bugs in the SCOS-2000 software. These were fixed mainly by Siemens Austria. It seems not all features are used – or are used differently – by ESA missions and so many bugs remain undetected. Now, we have a stable version for our mission,” says Martin Wickler, the project implementation manager at DLR.
These improvements will be reflected in future releases of SCOS-2000, thus strengthening the overall product and proving the value of the open-source model.
“ESA‘s open-source licensing model provides strong business potential for European system integrators.”
ESA software supports unique public-private partnership
TerraSAR-X will be launched with joint funding from both the public and private sectors. As contractor, DLR is responsible for management of the entire project and, together with DLR research institutes, will pay 80 percent of the satellite‘s cost; EADS Space, a European private space enterprise, built the satellite and is financing the remaining 20 percent.
Use of the mission‘s data by the science community will be coordinated by DLR‘s German Remote Sensing Data Center, while Infoterra GmbH (Co. Ltd.), a subsidiary of EADS Space, will develop geoinformation products and will market the data commercially. In this way both commercial and scientific users will share access to the available observation time.
More information on SCOS-2000
N. Peccia,
Head of Data Systems Infrastructure Division
ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt
Tel: +49-6151-90-2431
nestor.peccia [@] esa.int
(Source ESA)