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(10/01/2016) On 21 and 22 September, in Brussels, GMV took part in the EU Research and Innovation in Support to the Earth observation Market workshop organized by the Directorate Climate Action and Resource Efficiency of the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation (DG RTD).

The overall objective of this workshop was to explore Research and Innovation actions needed for the development of a dynamic Earth observation (EO) market in Europe and, in particular, a service market based on the possibilities offered by such initiatives as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and its European input, Copernicus.

The workshop’s main themes were, firstly, to characterize the current EO market in Europe and globally and its future trends; secondly, identify opportunities for the development of new EO services and products and appropriate measures to accelerate their uptake by industry and clients; and, thirdly, elaborate a mechanism for consulting/involving the European commercial sector in GEO within the Copernicus context, taking into account the dialogue already initiated between the two programs.

GMV was invited to present the paper “Generating added-value EO products and services for governmental agencies around the World”. In this paper GMV spoke of its own experience in the marketing of geospatial and earth-observation services in three particular sectors: environment, land use and maritime safety, focusing especially on GMV’s Middle East contracts.

GMV has participated in important Copernicus projects in the areas of the environment, emergencies and safety. It is currently coordinating the European-Commission-brokered contract for defining user requirements to guide the next generation of the Copernicus Space Component (next generation of Sentinel missions).

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i-cubed, an Airbus Defense and Space company based in Fort Collins, Colorado, is supplying the State of North Carolina with imagery streaming services to help prepare and respond to Hurricane Matthew. Additionally, a Geospatial Appliance Targeted for Operational Response device, also dubbed GATOR, has been sent to North Carolina state officials to help with emergency response efforts.

The streaming services will provide state officials and emergency responders improved situational awareness by having access to six-inch orthorectified imagery over 27 coastal counties, collected between January and March 2016 as part of the 911 Statewide Orthoimagery Program. The streaming services can be used in applications that are compatible with SOAP, REST, WMS or WMTS services such as: Esri Web or Desktop Applications, open source software, CAD, DataDoors or custom applications.

The GATOR device is an encapsulated and portable geospatial server for disconnected field use. It’s a ‘grab and go’ appliance that provides Humanitarian Relief Workers and Disaster Response Teams with flexible access to streaming raster data within their GIS software environment. While designed for disconnected use, when connectivity is available, GATOR services can be broadcasted over a local area network (LAN). The ability to access six-inch resolution data while being completely disconnected, en-route, or based at a remote location, assists Disaster Response Teams in making informed decisions if life-threating situations occur. Emergency response personnel would have the ability to see the original location of small electrical utilities or drainage features, which may not be apparent at a location with standing water or covered with debris, for example.

“Thanks to our reliable data management solutions, leveraging on Airbus Defense and Space’s optical and radar satellites, we are able to support emergency response efforts when devastating natural disasters happen” says Greg Buckman, Head of Airbus Defense and Space’s Intelligence Business Activities in North America. “We are utilizing all of our resources to help increase the response time and dissemination of information for teams involved with the response to Hurricane Matthew.”

Airbus Defense and Space offers unique data management solutions, including managed hosting and streaming services to a variety of markets.

To learn more about how North Carolina state officials will supply the information to emergency response officials, please read more here.

Contact
Fabienne Grazzini
+ 33 (0)5 62 19 41 19
fabienne.grazzini@airbus.com

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A new partnership between the Group on Earth Observations and the World Health Organization seeks to leverage their areas of expertise to promote use of Earth observing technologies in addressing global health challenges.

In our complex and ever-changing world, satellite data provides life-saving information on tornadoes, landslides, and other atmospheric events. A new partnership seeks to expand how this information can be applied to the arena of human health.

The new partnership between the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) was announced during the GEO 37th Executive Committee Meeting in Geneva and seeks to increase the use of Earth observations and geospatial data to help improve global health.

Earth observations and geospatial data can be instrumental in achieving the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a list of 17 measurable goals that succeeded the eight Millennium Development Goals in 2015. Furthering the SDGs forms a component of GEO’s mission. The SDGs include eradicating world hunger, eliminating poverty, and achieving gender equality by 2030. Public health is a key area where Earth observations can make a difference, helping to achieve Goal 3: good health and well-being. Although Earth observations and geospatial data also will be applied to many other goals on the 2030 Agenda, GEO’s new partnership with the WHO will help ensure that health is a priority.

While GEO’s Initiative 18 outlines its commitment to using Earth observations to achieve the SDGs, the partnership with WHO also aligns with GEO’s overall mission, to ensure that decisions made to benefit mankind “are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observation information and services.”

There are benefits for the WHO as well.

“WHO sees participation in GEO as a positive step towards use of Earth observations for improved decision-making on public health,” says Dr. Ed Kelley, director of Service Delivery and Safety Department at WHO, who will serve as the representative of WHO to GEO.

By supplying WHO with timely visualized data like foliage cover, water temperature, and structure locations, more effective and improved decisions can be made regarding time-sensitive issues.

“The use of geospatial data is critical to advancing disease detection and containment efforts. Being part of GEO would allow WHO secretariat and its member states to benefit from the space-based technologies,” says Dr. Ramesh Krishnamurthy, senior adviser, who serves as the alternate representative of WHO to GEO.

Although WHO has a long history of partnering with other organizations and countries, the GEO community is unique in that it includes 102 nations and the European Commission, along with 103 organizations. GEO, therefore, brings to the partnership global Earth observation resources, in a worldwide system of systems that operates across multiple Societal Benefit Areas and makes those resources available for informed decision-making.

As GEO’s China Chair Dr. Liao Xiaohan, deputy director general for the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains, “Public health is central to development and we must improve our efforts to harness Earth observations technologies to visualize the accessibility of health centers, to monitor air quality and to track pollutant and disease outbreaks.”

Although the GEO/WHO partnership is new, there are many examples within the geospatial community of ways in which Earth observation data can be applied to health threats or goals.

For instance, remote sensing data can be used to predict outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, while data also has been used in assessing the potential risk of Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and water-borne diseases. Additionally, satellite data can be helpful for on the ground efforts after an outbreak, as was seen during the 2014 Ebola outbreak when satellite data was used to locate health facilities in West Africa.

By making Earth observation data readily accessible to the WHO, the latest partnership with GEO ensures that the most accurate information can be used in solving public health issues and is a reminder of the power and importance of global-level coordination.

Emily Sullivan is a freelance writer and teacher based in Connecticut.

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Europe is contributing to the UN’s Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF) by developing a platform for exchanging information and expertise.

The creation of a new UN-GGIM: Europe working group, GRF- Europe will connect a range of stakeholders and act as an intergovernmental link whilst also promoting the sharing of open geodetic data and common standards as well as fostering capacity building where needed.

In doing so, it will provide a link between the geospatial community, including EUREF the International Association of Geodesy Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe, scientists and policy makers.

“The UN General Assembly urges the sharing of geospatial data to benefit people and the planet,” explains GRF-Europe Working Group Leader, Markku Poutanen from Finland.

“Accurately measuring the shape, rotation and gravitational field of planet Earth is vital for monitoring changes in the continents, ice caps, oceans and atmosphere and the UN recognises the importance of a globally–coordinated approach to geodesy. However, more detail is required at regional level.”

“Our aim is to provide a common forum for those involved in maintaining and enhancing national geodetic infrastructures throughout Europe, as well as the users of this data. Not only will this help to avoid duplication, but we believe working under a UN mandate will enable multilateral collaboration among organisations that do not have technical expertise or hold political or economic power of their own.”

UN-GGIM’s GGRF Working Group was tasked with drafting a roadmap to be completed in 2016. GRF- Europe will coordinate the region’s contribution.

The GGRF aims to change from the current system, where contributions to the development of the global geodetic reference frame are undertaken on a ‘best efforts’ basis, to one where they are made through a multilateral collaboration under a UN mandate.

For more information, please visit www.un-ggim-europe.org

UN-GGIM: Europe

UN-GGIM: Europe is a regional committee of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM).

Drawing on the national capacities and capabilities of Member States, UN-GGIM was established in 2011. It takes a leading role in setting the agenda for global geospatial information development as well as in promoting its benefits for addressing both national policy and key global challenges.

GGRF

  • The UN General Assembly adopted resolution 69/266 on a Global Geodetic Reference Frame for Sustainable Development in February 2015. A total of 53 Member States sponsored the resolution.
  • The United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN- GGIM) Working Group on the Global Geodetic Reference Frame (GGRF) is drafting a roadmap for the enhancement of the Global Geodetic Reference Frame. This will be completed in 2016.
  • The GGRF aims to change from the current system, where contributions to the development of the global geodetic reference frame are undertaken on a ‘best efforts’ basis, to one where they are made through a multilateral collaboration under a UN mandate.

(Munich, 26/08/16) European Space Imaging and its long-term partner Planetek Italia sprang into action to support disaster relief efforts by supplying the first available very high-resolution satellite imagery to emergency services and the media just hours after the recent earthquake struck Italy. The imagery was captured by the WorldView-2 satellite over the affected region showing the extent of the damages caused. The high-resolution imagery was immediately made available to the Italian Emergency Services.

The earthquake hit at around 3:30 am of August 24th, 2016, some 100 km northeast of Rome. The earthquake of magnitude 6.2 severely damaged several towns and killed hundreds of people in central Italy. The towns of Amatrice, Accumoli, Pescara del Tronto and Arquata del Tronto have been completely devastated.

Early in the morning of August 24th, Planetek Italia asked European Space Imaging, Europe’s leading provider of very high-resolution satellite imagery to collect imagery of affected areas through its local ground station. A few hours after the earthquake, around 10:20 UTC, European Space Imaging acquired and provided the first image of Amatrice, Italy in 40 cm resolution.

Planetek Italia, based in Italy is a major supplier of satellite imagery and mapping services in Italy. In the case of the earthquake they supplied the first imagery to emergency services.

“The ability of satellites to collect images over large areas, the view from above of the areas affected by an emergency and the comparison with previous images helps to quickly recognize the changes, and understand where to address first aid”, says Giovanni Sylos Labini, CEO of Planetek Italia.

As the leading supplier of very high-resolution satellite imagery in their region European Space Imaging knows the importance of making imagery available quickly.

“When a catastrophe happens in Europe we can react quickly. Our dedicated staff give highest priority to support disaster relief efforts in a fast and pragmatic way. We are proud of our team and happy to help when we can”, says Michaela Neumann, Director of Sales and Marketing, European Space Imaging.

The image was provided to the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and has been made available to anyone who wants to contribute to the detection and mapping of buildings and infrastructures damaged and destroyed. This activity will provide updated information of great support to Institutions and emergency services during the emergency and after.

The European Union immediately alerted the Copernicus EMS team, which is providing the Italian Civil Protection damage assessment satellite maps for the affected area, based on European Copernicus Sentinel satellites.

If you wish to contribute:
• Go to the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team website http://osmit-tm.wmflabs.org/project/13
Download Worldview-2 satellite high resolution dataset of Amatrice collected the 24th August (zip 134 Mb – licence CC-BY-NC)

About European Space Imaging
European Space Imaging (EUSI) is the ‘go to’ company in Europe if you are looking for very high-resolution satellite data. They always offer customers access to the highest resolution imagery available. Their current ’best’ offering is 30 cm data from the DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 satellite. EUSI also operate a multi-mission ground station to provide direct satellite tasking. This enables optimized image collection strategies, flexibility and real-time weather assessments for new collections. With a reputation for expert and personalized customer service EUSI has been providing tailored VHR imagery solutions from their Munich headquarters to meet the diverse project requirements of their customer base since 2002.
For more information, visit www.euspaceimaging.com

About Planetek
Planetek Italia is an Italian company specialised in geo-informatics, Space solutions and Earth observation. The company provides solutions to exploit the value of geospatial data through all phases of data life cycle from acquisition, storage, management up to analysis and sharing. Planetek Italia operates in many application areas ranging from environmental and land monitoring to open-government and smart cities, and including defence and security, as well as scientific missions and planetary exploration.
For more information, visit www.planetek.it

Wildlife habitats close to airports pose a serious risk to safety at takeoff and landing. Thanks to ESA, a new service lets airports use satellites to identify and manage these areas.

Developed by Ascend XYZ in Denmark with ESA’s help, the service uSES free images and data from Earth observation satellites combined with smart software.

Several airports in Denmark have tested the Ascend software and found it far easier to use than existing complicated standalone systems.

FOCusing on risk sites has increased their efficiency and reduced costs and enabled them to comply with the legal requirement to monitor within a 13 km radius.

“Using Earth observation data is more efficient than on-ground monitoring, requiring fewer man-hours and lowering demands on resources which cuts costs while increasing flight safety,” commented Peter Hemmingsen, CEO at Ascend.

“This is especially valuable to smaller airports with fewer resources to meet the same safety standards as large airports.

“Free data from the latest Copernicus Sentinel satellites make this an affordable solution for airports.”

Two airports have already signed up to the service.

Several international airports from Germany, England and North America also plan to adopt it.

Registering a lake in Ascend

In the software, users can identify risk sites such as lakes, golf courses, rubbish dumps, seasonal crops and other areas that attract wildlife – birds in particular. This provides a full overview of all the sites around the airport.

Satellite pictures are updated weekly, so changes in the water levels of lakes and flooded fields can be monitored and the site visited. All actions can be documented in the software.

The software can also generate alerts such as reminders to visit a site, monitor it via the satellite images, or contact the authorities if changes occur.

Sites can be marked on maps and field personnel can visit specific areas guided by satellite navigation data from Ascend.

Field personnel locate sites through satnav

Reports and images generated in Ascend can also be used for auditing purposes and to create a wildlife management report. Without the Ascend solution, airports require a costly team of specialists to do this.

The cloud- and browser-based management system allows the information to be shared online between airport operators, ground staff, civil aviation authorities, the wildlife management team and others involved in airport operations.

Early next year, Ascend intends to extend their service to identify objects that exceed height restrictions in restricted areas.

_“ESA’s ARTES Applications programme merges big space data with smart ideas,”_noted Arnaud Runge, Ascend Project Manager at the Agency.

“Ascend is an excellent example of how space can increase efficiency, cuts costs, solve problems and, in this CASe, make our skies safer.”

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(By Rhiannan Price – September 9, 2016)

The recent polio outbreak in Borno, Nigeria, is a reminder that gaps in surveillance systems have prompted a whole array of health challenges.

After more than two years without new cases of polio, two children in Borno state, Nigeria have been paralyzed by the disease, a setback for global eradication.

While large-scale immunization campaigns have helped the Africa continent realize nearly two years free of any new cases, many children in northern Nigerian were simply out of reach. The presence of Boko Haram has weakened the health surveillance system, and persistent conflict means that these children are difficult to find, difficult to reach, and thus difficult to immunize. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than half of the health facilities in Borno State are not functioning, and of the two new polio cases, one of the children still cannot be reached because of the security issues.

With the ongoing instability, there are thousands of displaced persons throughout the Lake Chad region, making the risk of transmission extremely high. Reaching these children requires vaccinating populations as they move in and out of inaccessible areas and using local-level groups and organizations, such as religious institutions and community based organizations, to negotiate access for vaccination teams. In addition to the migration issues, it is currently the peak of the rainy season in Borno and major floods are expected in the coming weeks. Health workers will need military escorts over long distances on rough terrain and may not be able to reach every community.

This recent polio outbreak is a reminder that these health interventions do not exist in a vacuum. Protracted conflict greatly exacerbates these types of global health crises. In 2013, DigitalGlobe helped put northern Nigerian communities on the map; however, because of Boko Haram, in a matter of just three years, those maps have become outdated, making health surveillance much more difficult. Gaps in surveillance systems have prompted a whole array of health challenges, and, according to WHO, estimated mortality rates in the area are four times higher than emergency thresholds.

To support current immunization campaigns, DigitalGlobe is working with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to update the maps in Borno. With DigitalGlobe’s high resolution imagery, individual settlements are easy to identify, and leveraging satellite imagery means we have a lens to even the most insecure areas of the world, places that are off limits even to health workers.

While these communities are easily identified in imagery, extracting information over such a large area on short timelines requires a scalable methodology. To enable a quick turnaround, DigitalGlobe uses advanced machine learning-based algorithms to evaluate terabytes of imagery and identify possible human settlements. To ensure the most accurate results possible, DigitalGlobe turns to volunteers in a public crowdsourcing campaign to verify findings. Using Tomnod, volunteers worldwide confirm whether or not an image contained a settlement. In 2013, more than 45,000 volunteers helped validate the village detection results across Nigeria, Somalia, and Pakistan. For Somalia, the volunteer-driven campaign lasted three days and covered over 120,000 polygons. The end result was a map of 285,103 settlements that otherwise might not have been reached.

When polio appeared in the Middle East in 2013, the emergency vaccination campaigns reached more than 25 million children and contained the outbreak within a matter of months. Polio also returned to Somalia in 2013 and the rapid regional immunization campaigns were able to stem further transmission.

Eyes on the goal

The same mapping exercise is happening again in Nigeria. That way, health workers have the best information possible as they lead immunization efforts in recently unchartered territory.

Despite this recent setback, the world is still very close to reaching the goal of polio eradication. Since 2000, more than 10 billion doses of oral polio vaccines have been administered to nearly 3 billion children worldwide. As a result, more than 13 million cases of polio have been prevented, and the disease has been reduced by more than 99%.

Only 21 wild polio cases have been reported so far in 2016, compared to 34 cases at the same point last year. And these cases are contained to Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are eerily similar, conflict-ridden environments like Borno.

Big Data analytics, in conjunction with innovative approaches like crowdsourcing, offer promising inputs to addressing information gaps. That said, locating these communities is just the beginning. Establishing a comprehensive plan to achieve universal health coverage and ensure access to necessary medicines and vaccines is the challenge ahead. Innovative technologies have a crucial role to play to realize this vision, and in partnership with the international community, eradicating polio and improving our health systems overall is entirely possible.

Rhiannan Price
Senior Manager
Seeing a Better World Program at DigitalGlobe

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On 14 September 2016 in Berlin, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the French space agency (Centre national d’études spatiales; CNES) signed a cooperation agreement for the design, construction and operational phases of the Franco-German climate satellite MERLIN in the presence of Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and Federal Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy, as well as Thierry Mandon, French Minister of State for Higher Education and Research. The agreement was signed by Gerd Gruppe, DLR Executive Board Member responsible for the DLR Space Administration and Jean-Yves Le Gall, the President of CNES. The small satellite mission MERLIN – Methane Remote Sensing LIDAR Mission – will measure the concentration of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. The mission will last for three years.

“With MERLIN, France and Germany are making a significant contribution to climate change research. Space missions such as MERLIN help us to gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms that influence the Earth’s climate. This is therefore also an essential component for implementing the Paris Climate Agreement”, stated Brigitte Zypries during the signing ceremony.

“Germany and France will process and evaluate the data from the mission together and in close cooperation with research laboratories. MERLIN will be launched in 2021 and will orbit Earth at an altitude of approximately 500 kilometres,” said Thierry Mandon.

MERLIN is based on the new ‘Myriade Evolutions’ satellite bus, developed by CNES in collaboration with the French aerospace industry. The satellite payload, an active LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) instrument that can conduct measurements even at night and through thin clouds, is being developed and built in Germany on behalf of the DLR Space Administration with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The methane LIDAR has a laser that can emit light at two different wavelengths, and is therefore capable of carrying out extremely precise measurements of methane concentrations at all latitudes, regardless of sunlight.

Methane is a particularly strong greenhouse gas. Its impact on the climate is about 25 times stronger than that of carbon dioxide. Although the concentration of methane is considerably lower than that of carbon dioxide, methane is responsible for approximately 20 percent of today’s global warming.

Explaining the importance of the mission, Gerd Gruppe states: “Effective measures for climate protection must address methane. Precise and consistent measurements from all over the world are needed. This can only be achieved with a satellite. With MERLIN, Germany and France are pursuing a common goal. To achieve this, France is contributing the satellite bus and Germany an innovative space laser. Constructing such an instrument is a major technological challenge. We are thus providing innovation to last far beyond the project itself.”

The LIDAR instrument on board MERLIN emits light that is not harmful to the human eye. It releases short pulses at two different infrared wavelengths. They have been selected so that one is absorbed by the methane and the other one is not. MERLIN emits these two pulses in quick succession to the same location on Earth’s surface. The pulses are reflected and then picked up by the telescope and registered by the small satellite. One of the pulses is weakened by the methane in the atmosphere, the other is not. This difference enables scientists to determine the quantity of methane present between the satellite and the ground. The data acquired by the satellites can also be transmitted to the ground stations several times a day.

“The LIDAR method has scientific advantages: it is a so-called ‘self-calibration’ procedure, which means that the data contains an extremely low amount of systematic errors. So, when the data is supplied to numerical models for analysis, it is possible to reliably determine the methane sources and sinks, as well as their distribution across the globe,” explains DLR Project Manager, Matthias Alpers. With its short light pulses, MERLIN is able to ‘take advantage of’ every break in the clouds. In terms of a LIDAR, MERLIN is also an ‘active’ instrument. In other words, it generates the light itself and then measures its reflection. This enables the climate satellite to conduct measurements on Earth at night-time.

The LIDAR will be built by a consortium of companies and research institutions from Germany, France and the Netherlands, under the leadership of Airbus Defence and Space GmbH in Ottobrunn.

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With Earth’s population growing at an exponential rate, the future of agriculture — in particular precision agriculture — will continue to grow in importance as the world works to support its population.

Satellite monitoring, a key component of precision ag, aids in the analysis of everything from crop type and crop health to yield prediction. And as the global agricultural stakes are raised as the population balloons, so too does the need for increased access to extremely high quality imagery, on a reliable and frequent basis.

The ability of farmers to gain truly actionable insights is absolutely contingent on the use of high quality imagery, which can provide accurate measurements of what is happening in the field.

With that in mind, this week UrtheCast attended the industry-leading InfoAg Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. There it showcased not only its current four-sensor system — including Deimos-1, specifically built for precision ag — but also the UrtheDaily™ Constellation, a planned eight-satellite constellation being designed to image the entire planet’s landmass (excluding Antarctica), every day, at 10:30 am local time.

Eyes on heightened precision

UrtheCast’s sensor system is one of the most diverse in the Earth Observation business, and with that brings a host of benefits, including heightened analysis for precision agriculture.

How it’s done…

The entire UrtheCast sensor system provides high-quality imagery, like that captured from Deimos-1 and Theia, composed of rich multispectral data with uncompromisingly high radiometric and geometric quality.

  • With frequent coverage of continent-wide areas or the monitoring of a single field, UrtheCast can design the perfect imagery solutions for many applications, thanks to our sensor system variety.
  • The system can provide frequent revisits over AOIs, broad coverage (from our three sensors and nine other sensors in the PanGeo Alliance) and, as is expected, daily global revisit in the future with UrtheDaily.
  • Data via API using the UrthePlatform or via rapid FTP delivery from our Customer Experience team.
  • High-quality data at flexible and competitive pricing structures brings higher value.
  • A team with over a decade of experience and unique expertise in supporting agriculture applications with multi-satellite imagery services, while Deimos-1 and UrtheDaily are designed, or being designed, specifically for Precision Agriculture.

Classifying every crop type across the U.S.

The Deimos-1 satellite is a workhorse in the agricultural monitoring world. Since 2011, Deimos-1 has been on an agricultural mission for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has used Deimos-1 (and its twin UK-DMC2) as its main satellite imagery source to monitor and classify more than 100 crop types every day across the U.S.

As a part of the program, the USDA is provided with complete coverage of the contiguous U.S. every 15 days during the growing season (April to October), more than 90% cloud-free and with daily acquisitions. Every day, for six months out of each year, more than 1-million km2 of cloud-free data is delivered and orthorectified with <1 pixel GSD accuracy, which allows for high-quality multi-temporal analyses. Most of this data is delivered in less than 24 hours from acquisition.

What’s more, as of April 2016, that Deimos-1 data of the entire contiguous U.S. is being made available throughout the growing season on our highly-accessible, cloud-based UrthePlatform; another step towards the democratization of Earth Observation data.

That’s done with…

  • Information-rich imagery, at 20-m pixel size and 3 spectral bands (R, G, NIR)
  • Frequent coverage of large areas every 2-3 days, ideal for cloud-free data
  • Precision measurements, and cross-calibration with NASA’s Landsat satellites
  • Fast data delivery within 24 hours of collection, via FTP or in the UrthePlatform
  • Affordable and flexible options for custom solutions

Precision Irrigation: Water savings and huge crop yeilds

For four years, Deimos-1 has been providing a high-frequency monitoring service in selected crop fields throughout the U.S. In cooperation with UK-DMC2, Deimos-1 is relied upon to deliver one image every two days, less than 24 hours following acquisition — complete with dedicated processing and quality control. All data is orthorectified with <1 pixel GSD accuracy, allowing for high-quality multi-temporal analyses.

This frequency of fresh imagery allows for the management of crop field irrigation with unprecedented precision. The status of every 20×20-m area is assessed every two days and irrigation can be commanded with incredible precision, resulting in huge water savings and a large increase in crop yields. This near-daily monitoring allows for the early detection of crop illnesses, enabling the farmer to take quick action to minimize crop damage.

Precision agriculture across the entire planet

By supplementing weather information with daily updated imagery, leading solution providers leverage Deimos-1 imagery to analyze crop conditions throughout the world. Farmers across the world use this analysis to make better decisions about supply conditions and risks.

Using dedicated processing and quality control, all Deimos data is orthorectified with <1 pixel GSD accuracy, allowing for high-quality multi-temporal analyses. Because timeliness and accessibility are key, all data is delivered in less than 24 hours following acquisition.

Supporting crop risk insurance, globally

Deimos-1 imagery is used worldwide to determine crop and vegetation conditions, anticipate crop loss, and assess crop damage insurance claims. The full compatibility of Deimos-1 data with historical Landsat data allows for the comparison of past and current vegetation conditions.

Fast and easily accessible 5-m data

From aboard the International Space Station, Theia captures strips of imagery at a pixel size of 5 meters. This four-band multispectral imagery (B, G, R, NIR) has a swath of approximately 50 km and continuously flows into the UrthePlatform soon after acquisition, making it particularly accessible.

UrtheDaily™: The next-generation system, perfect for precision ag

UrtheDaily is a planned eight-satellite constellation, which is being designed to acquire very high-quality multispectral imagery, at 5-m resolution, of the entire Earth’s landmass (excluding Antarctica) every day at 10:30 am local time. That’s 140 million km2 of multispectral imagery every 24 hours.

The system’s design is being optimized for agricultural and change-detection applications — for planned delivery of data with high radiometric and geometric quality that enables geoanalytics capabilities that the agriculture industry has yet to see.

With an eye toward speed, these new daily datasets are expected to be delivered via the UrthePlatform within 12 hours following acquisition.

Working in partnership with OptiSAR™

Also being planned, and working in sync with UrtheDaily, is what’s expected to be the world’s first fully-integrated constellation of Optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites.
OptiSAR, which UrtheCast is currently developing, aims to provide the ability to image cloud-free on any given day or night, bringing additional value to the agricultural community.

Highlights:

  • A Constellation of 16 satellites: 8 Optical and 8 SAR
  • L and X SAR bands
  • Flying in tandem pairs in two different orbit planes
  • Ability to image day and night in all weather conditions
  • Very high revisit rates at mid-latitudes

Heightened analysis of infestations, diseases, and floods

When anomalies are detected by Deimos-1, Deimos-2 can provide high-res imagery for closer analysis. With a higher spatial resolution, Deimos-2 imagery is used to precisely outline the affected area(s) and accurately determine the spatial variability.

Deimos-2 also contributes to the surveillance and monitoring of the implementation of the CAP (Common Agriculture Policy, in the European Union), by monitoring the conservation of natural pasture, fallow land, field margins, hedges, trees, and buffer strips, etc.

Deimos-2 is a very high-resolution Earth Observation satellite capable of providing 75-cm pan-sharpened, 1-m pan and 4-m multispectral images with a 12-km-wide swath. Not only is Deimos-2 imagery a powerful data source, it is also an affordable one.

Tasks that can be achieved with Deimos-2 data include defining management zones, planning soil samples, defining maps for variable rate of seeding and fertilizer, prescriptions for variable rates: fertilizer and plant protection products (pesticides, herbicides, etc.), supporting irrigation management and watering systems.

The PanGeo Alliance: for even more variety

With eight members and a growing fleet of Earth Observation sensors, the PanGeo Alliance provides access to complementary imagery and tasking opportunities for ongoing or special projects.

The PanGeo fleet includes 13 operational Earth Observation imaging sensors providing multispectral imagery in a wide range of resolutions (from 20 m to 75 cm per pixel). This unique fleet assures a daily global imaging capability with multiple revisits per day over any target. As members of the PanGeo Alliance, UrtheCast and Deimos Imaging will work with customers to provide custom and complementary data services to fulfill project requirements.

Source UrtheCast

Planned to be launched by the end of 2017, the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) Aeolus satellite will provide global observations of three-dimensional wind fields, which will help ito improve weather forecasting. The satellite will be operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).

ADM-Aeolus will be put into the sun-synchronous dawn / dusk orbit located at an altitude of 408km. It is being developed under Earth Explorer Core mission as part of the ESA’s living planet programme.

ADM-Aeolus satellite design and features

Airbus Defence and Space (formerly known as EADS Astrium) was selected as the prime contractor to provide design, construction and testing services for the ADM-Aeolus satellite. The satellite is being developed at the Airbus Defence and Space facility located in Stevenage, UK.

The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 1,366kg and will feature cubic platform and cylindrical instrument structure. It will have external dimensions including length of 1.9m, width of 2.0m and height of 4.6m. It will have three-axis stabilisation of Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem (AOCS).

The spacecraft will include solar arrays, which can generate up to 2,200W of power that will be stored in 84Ah Li-ion batteries. The mission life of the spacecraft is expected to be three years.

The satellite will be fixed with a single payload called Atmospheric LAser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN), which includes two powerful lasers, a large telescope, and very sensitive receivers. The laser will generate ultraviolet light that will beam it towards Earth, and subsequently the fraction of light that will be scattered back towards the satellite, which will be gathered by Aladin’s telescope and measured.

ADM-Aeolus will explore and measure 120 wind profiles an hour and provide profiles of the wind on a global scale, along with information on aerosols and clouds. It will measure wind to an accuracy of 1m/s in the planetary boundary layer up to an altitude of 30km. It will also offer knowledge of atmospheric dynamics, which will help in the advancement of climate research.

The data provided by the spacecraft will be assimilated in numerical forecasting models, which will enhance the quality of operational short- and medium-range predictions. The objective of the mission is to provide global observations of wind profiles with a vertical resolution that will meet the accuracy requirements of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

ADM-Aeolus satellite launch vehicle details

Arianespace was contracted to provide launch services for the ADM-Aeolus satellite in September 2016. The satellite will be launched a top the Vega light launch vehicle, which can carry satellites ranging between 300kg and 1,500kg in Earth observation missions to polar and low Earth orbits. The rocket will put the satellite in its orbit after a four-stage launch.

The launch will be carried out at the Guiana Space Centre located in Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Ground station details of the ADM-Aeolus satellite

The data collected from the ADM-Aeolus satellite will be sent to SvalSat receiving station located in Norway, which will then be processed into wind profiles and the meteorological offices will use it in weather forecasting.

The satellite will have European space operations centres located in Germany and Sweden. The European space research institute will be situated in Italy, while the European centre for medium-range weather forecasts will be located in the UK.

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