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GRETA KICK-OFF MEETING – 22/09/2017

space4environment is part of a European consortium that has been contracted by ESPON to analyse green infrastructure and ecosystem services in the context of territorial development (GRETA).

After the successful kick-off meeting, their main responsibility will be to build the foundation of the project by (i) developing a working definition of green infrastructure and (ii) mapping the spatial distribution patterns of green infrastructure and ecosystem service across European regions.

In the 18-months project we’ll be collaborating with colleagues from tecnalia (ES), autonomous university of barcelona (ES), nordregio (SE) and the james hutton institute (UK).

18 August 2017. Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) has signed an expanded contract extension for satellite ground services to the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA).

KSAT will deliver operations support and data collection from the US meteorological satellites S-NPP and JPSS. The agreement has a frame value of 43,8 MUSD (approx. 360 MNOK) for the period 2017-2022.

The services will be delivered from the Svalbard Ground Station in Norway and Troll Ground Station in Queen Maud Land. The activities are coordinated from KSAT Tromsø Network Operation Center (TNOC), located at the company headquarters in Tromsø, Norway.

This is a fixed price contract for the period 2017 – 2022. The maximum value, including all options, is approximately $43.8 million (approx. 360 MNOK). Including this contract KSAT’s order backlog is approx. NOK 2,8 billion (not recognized in KONGSBERG’s reported backlog due to accounting practices).

KSAT provides services related to both data reception from and control of satellites in polar orbits. The ground station in the Arctic (Svalbard) and Antarctica (Troll) are the core elements in the stations “pole-to-pole” concept enabling data reception from critical environmental satellites every 50 minutes.

The contract strengthens the company’s position as the worlds leading provider of satellite operations services.

KSAT is a commercial satellite centre owned 50% by KONGSBERG and 50% by the Department of Trade and Industry through Space Norway. KSAT is situated in Tromsø, Norway, with ground stations located at 15 different locations world wide, including Tromsø, Svalbard, Dubai, South Africa, Singapore, Mauritius and the Antarctic. KSAT operates more than 120 antenna installations and supports approximately 100 different satellite systems more than 30 000 times per month. KSAT is immaculately located for both TT&C (Telemetri tracking & Control), launch support, as well as data reception and near real time Earth Observation services.

(20 September 2017) British satellite company Earth-i today announced a range of new senior appointments to help with the company’s rapid growth as it cements its position at the forefront of the commercialisation of space and the rapid evolution of the New Space market.

In May, Earth-i announced that it will launch Europe’s first large-scale commercial satellite constellation for Earth Observation– and the first in the world to provide full-colour video footage as well as still imagery.

Owning and operating its own constellation is a natural evolution of Earth-i’s existing and well-regarded Image and Earth Observation (EO) analytics business. The new constellation will enable Earth-i to meet the rapidly growing demand for insights derived from high-resolution EO data from commercial organisations that want to improve investment and trading decisions, monitor and track their assets more cost effectively, track changes or activity in critical locations – and predict future events with more certainty.

The new recruits bring years of experience and expertise across the EO and technology industry:

John Linwood – Chief Technology Officer
John is now responsible for the data, analytics and insights platforms that transform Earth-i’s satellite imagery into meaningful analysis and actionable insights for use by a wide range of customers across multiple markets.
Prior to joining Earth-i, John held a number of influential positions. Most recently, he was CTO of Wood Mackenzie, the leading Data Analytics provider to the Energy, Mining and Metals industries; where he led a digital transformation of the company’s global business including eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Data Science and digital distribution of data, analytics and reporting.
He also served as CTO of the BBC, Senior Vice President of International Engineering for Yahoo for five years, and General Manager for Microsoft’s MSN International Engineering team.

Chetan Pradhan – Head of Institutional Engagement
Chetan Pradhan is responsible for Earth-i’s relationships with national, European and global institutions that want to improve their operations by using unique and timely insights obtained from geospatial information.
With 14 years’ experience in the EO industry, Chetan holds a number of high-profile industry positions ensuring that the EO and Space industries’ views and concerns are raised and progressed at appropriate levels within Governmental and institutional circles. He is currently Chair of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), which represents the EO service industry in Europe. He is also Chair of the EO Committee (EOC) of UKspace, the trade association of the UK’s space industry; and previously served as Chairman of the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC).

Dr. Nico V. Spyropoulos – Strategic Engagement, EMEA
Nico is responsible for growing Earth-i’s business across EMEA region.
He has over 25 years of Earth Observation (EO) and Satcom industry experience, most recently serving as the Vice President of European Sales for the UrtheCast Corp., from 2013 to 2017. During his tenure at UrtheCast, he led efforts to establish the business in space-based full motion video (FMV).
Nico also served as senior executive of IIS-EOSAT, SpaceCosmotelco, KBI Impuls and 5CI. His business portfolio includes exploitation of various EO missions, special object-oriented software tools and coordination of several European Commission projects funded under TELEMATICS, ACTS, ESPRIT, IST and H2020 covering environmental liability and security, geospatial intelligence and advanced information systems. Nico was also a Eurocourses lecturer at Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra.

Gary Crowley – Satellite Operations Manager
Drawing on almost 15 years in the industry, Gary is responsible for developing Earth-i’s ground segment for satellite operations and data processing – and providing technical support for the company’s new missions and data products.
Prior to joining Earth-i, Gary held a variety of entrepreneurial, product development and problem-solving engineering positions at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, DMC International Imaging Ltd, and Airbus Defence and Space where he worked on DMC operations and the Mission Operations Centre (MOC) as well as new product development to enhance and optimise DMC operations, capabilities and services.

Natasha Hyde – Digital Marketing Manager
Natasha joins Earth-i as it increases its marketing activity prior to the launch of its demonstrator satellite EiX2. She manages Earth-i’s online presence, including website, social media and digital content.
Natasha joined from Satellite Applications Catapult, a technology and innovation company, set up by the UK government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, to foster growth across the economy through the exploitation of space data and technology.

Richard Blain, CEO of Earth-i, said: “We welcome John, Chetan, Nico, Gary and Natasha to the team at this exciting time for both Earth-i and the space industry in general. Our existing EO data business is growing rapidly and the development of our new constellation is progressing as planned.”

About Earth-i

Earth-i currently provides satellite imagery and various analytical services from the DMC3/TripleSat constellation of three very high-resolution optical satellites in conjunction with Twenty First Aerospace Technology (21AT).
In 2019 Earth-i will launch Europe’s first large-scale Earth Observation constellation to offer full colour video as well as still imagery.
It already has a wide range of big budget customers including The World Bank, National and Local Governments and a multitude of specialist geospatial companies and other commercial organisations.
Earth-i is headquartered in the Surrey Research Park in the UK near to a number of other UK space-related companies including SSTL – as well as the Space Centre at the University of Surrey.

18 September 2017. CARTO is a web-based location intelligence platform combining powerful visualisation and analysis with impressive ease of use. GIM is thus able to offer its customers unique insights into the WHERE and WHY of their activities.

CARTO is a leading location intelligence platform that transforms location data into insights for marketing, logistics, store placement and infrastructure management. Users such as marketers and business analysts use this cloud software to understand where things happen, why they happen and to predict what will happen in the future.

CARTO + Belmap = accurate insights

GIM will use CARTO as a data visualisation and analysis tool in its Location Intelligence Center of Competence. GIM can offer its customers unique insights for making strategic decisions, by combining CARTO with its Belmap geodata product and its location intelligence services.

Users in a wide range of sectors, such as banking and insurance, real estate, utilities, retail and consumer products can gain a competitive advantage from location intelligence services such as:

  • drawing up statistical analyses and future scenarios;
  • streamlining services and operations;
  • risk management;
  • analysing sales potential;
  • and so on.

(Munich, 02/10/17) European Space Imaging have partnered with eoVision to produce a book entirely comprised of satellite imagery showcasing the diversity of Europe as seen from space

The book titled Europa – Kontinent der Vielfalt (Europe, the diversity) tells the story of Europe using more than 100 current satellite images to display the present and highlight the past incorporating political, economic and social challenges that are facing the continent. From historical sights of significance that have lasted the span of time to current villages and cities where urbanisation and migration are clearly visible, the satellie images portray Europe in many differing aspects.

European Space Imaging is the market leader of very high resolution imagery across Europe. We are delighted to be able to exclusively partner with EOVision on this project and supply imagery showcasing the diversity of Europe” said Managing Director, Adrian Zevenbergen.

The satellite images included within the book also identify the changing landscapes, natural and man-made, to be found in Europe. Due to the long history of the continent and comparatively dense populations, hardly untouched landscapes are acknowledged, however predominantly the continent is used extensively. Furthermore topics such as border controls, refugee migration, global warming and climate change are discussed.

“It was very important for us to include only the best satellite imagery of Europe available within this book. This is why we chose to partner with European Space Imaging. Not only is the quality of their imagery outstanding, but their flexibility and personalised customer service made the entire process very easy” commented eoVision editor Gerald Mansberger.

Europa – Kontinent der Vielfalt will be available from Sunday 15 October 2017 and can be purchased from www.eovision.at

28th July 2017. GAF’s GEO-Information experts have now signed up Planet, one of the global leading providers of high frequent Earth Observation data to extend GAF’s multisource satellite data and service portfolio for a new quality of timely observations.

GAF customers in Germany, Europe and worldwide can now access Planet’s substantial portfolio of optical satellite data, as well as derived value-added products, through a new partnership. According to GAF’s CEO, Dr. Peter Volk, the generation of data and monitoring services offered by Planet perfectly complements the available sources and enables new services. Specifically, important domains like Defence, Security, Insurance and Agriculture will benefit from this unmatched imaging and data capacity made available by an experienced service provider like GAF.

With its current constellation of about 190 satellites, Planet can image the entire earth every day with 3-5 meters ground sampling distance (GSD) and offers RGB, RedEdge and NIR spectral bands. This constellation includes 7 SkySat satellites, which offer high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images at sub-1 meter GSD. Planet products Planet Monitoring and Planet Basemaps are available through GAF using the Planet Platform or via Planet API.

“Planet looks forward to continuing our successful and trusted partnership with GAF as one of the leading companies in the geospatial market in Europe” says Dr. Marcus Apel, Director Strategic Accounts at Planet. “This partnership with GAF ensures users have access to Planet’s latest data and products, and can leverage one of the largest Earth Observation archives currently available”.

Planet is an integrated aerospace and data analytics company that operates history’s largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites, collecting a massive amount of information about our changing planet. Planet designs, builds and operates 190 satellites, and develops the online software and tools that serves data to users. Decision makers in business, government, and within organizations use Planet’s data to develop new technologies, drive revenue, power research, and solve our world’s toughest challenges.

Download the Press Release

e-GEOS closely monitored Hurricane Harvey affected areas through its Rapid Mapping Team and operational teams (active H24) in Rome and Matera who are continuously supporting both public and private US organisations.

Thanks to the satellite constellation COSMO-SkyMed managed by the ASI (Italian Space Agency) and the Ministry of Defense, Italy plays a key role in Hurrican Harvey Emergency Support. The maps (six) already available for the area, provide impact data on Houston, Corpus Chirsti and all major cities and submerged inhabited areas.

e-GEOS (joint venture ASI – Telespazio) is the distributor of Italian constellation data and thanks to its network of agreements with major US Data Analysts (URSA and ORBITAL INSIGHT), it is supporting private and public entities involved in Emergency management, providing images that can detect large-scale impact, and will secure constant monitoring of the situation in the coming days, still considered critical.

ASI, through e-GEOS, is at the center of the analysis and information system that is supporting the government agencies involved using the COPERNICUS-EMS (the world’s largest Emergency Support System), contract with European Commission with prime role of e-GEOS leading a European consortium of companies. The #emergency and #RapidMapping team, in which besides e-GEOS and its German subsidiary GAF is also active the Italian Ithaca, is operating h24 updating with new data the 6 areas of interest.

Value-added products are made possible by the e-GEOS platform, FLooD , which allows to have the first estimates of affected areas, just few hours after receipt of satellite data.

Important sources of appreciation have come from European authorities, from the highest representatives of the European Commission and directly from the US organizations involved in the post event management, as well as European and American citizens.

COSMO-SkyMed is a scientific and technological excellence, thanks to the skills of the Italian space industry, the joint ventures Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio” said Roberto Battiston, President of the Italian Space Agency. “I would also like to point out that, thanks to the ASI institutional network and the e-GEOS management capability, this constellation is a world-wide standpoint in emergency management and rapid mapping. A global community service that with the second generation of new COSMO satellites will be even more efficient “.

Massimo Claudio Comparini (CEO of e-GEOS) commented: “Emergency management is one of the many activities in which space technologies, and in particular Earth Observation, shows its full impact on society and economic activities. e-GEOS in this context contributes to cutting-edge solutions based on the use of the COSMO-SkyMed radar constellation, the data fusion with optical data, and more and more the development and processing of high-quality information products (Data Analytics). It’s a must to warmly thank all the operational teams that are facing this period of emergencies with intensive work done also on fires monitoring and other natural hazards that have hit Italy and Europe over the past few weeks

Thanks to a bilateral agreement, ASI supplies 7,000 COSMO-SkyMed images to NASA each year. Emergency activations are also planned in this framework, such as Harvey Hurricane.

Value-added products are made possible by the e-GEOS platform, FLooD , which allows to have the first estimates of affected areas, just few hours after receipt of satellite data.

Source

The Swedish Armed Forces has awarded Spacemetric an extension to a current contract for maintenance and support of software systems managing reconnaissance imagery from the JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighter, and video data from UAVs deployed on international missions. Both solutions build on Spacemetric’s Keystone Image Data Management System.

“We’re very happy to see this evidence of the trust the Armed Forces puts in Spacemetric’s products and services”, says Bob Moll, Spacemetric’s Sales Manager. “Our solutions for the Swedish Armed Forces are rapid, efficient, and battle-proven. One third of the Tactical Air Reconnaissance missions in the 2011 operations over Libya were carried out by the Swedish Gripen aircraft supported by Keystone”, says Bob. “It’s no surprise that Keystone solutions are also attractive to other nations.”

For more information, please contact:
Dag Åsvärn, Key Account Manager, dag@spacemetric.com
spacemetric.com

The production of Airbus’ four new very high resolution satellites, which together will form the Pleiades Neo constellation, is well on schedule for launch in 2020.

They will join the already world leading Airbus constellation of optical and radar satellites and will offer enhanced performance and the highest reactivity in the market thanks to their direct access to the data relay communication system, known as the SpaceDataHighway.

This first batch of four optical and very agile satellites will double the number of visits per day anywhere on Earth and offer a re-tasking rate which is five times higher than previous constellations. Each satellite will be adding half a million km2 per day at 30cm resolution to Airbus’ offering.

These images will be streamed into the OneAtlas on-line platform, allowing customers to have immediate data access, analytics and correlation with Airbus’ unique archive of optical and radar data.

“With Pleiades Neo, we will have the most advanced high-resolution constellation on offer for both commercial and secured governmental applications with another four satellites added to our existing Airbus fleet of 10 accessible Earth observation satellites,” said Evert Dudok, Head of Communications, Intelligence and Security at Airbus Defence and Space.

“The fact that Pleiades Neo is equipped with the latest Laser Communication Technology gives our customers an advantage of speed that will be unrivalled in our industry for a long time.”

Pleiades Neo will utilise the SpaceDataHighway to ensure the highest system reactivity, lowest latency and high volume data transfer. Thanks to the very high communication bandwidth possible with lasers of up to 1.8 Gbit/s and the geostationary orbit positioning of the relay satellites, up to 40 terabytes per day can be transmitted securely in quasi-real-time to Earth, as opposed to the delay of several hours sometimes experienced today.

The four satellites will be equipped with reactive Ka-band terminals that will allow last minute tasking updates, even if the satellites are beyond their ground stations’ line-of-sight. This is an important asset for customers, when it comes to the assessment of natural disasters and first line response for civil and military applications.

The integrated next generation laser terminals are optimised in terms of power and will save 60% in mass and size compared to currently used terminals. They are designed by Tesat Spacecom and developed under a partnership between the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Airbus.

These generational advancements have the added advantage of driving significant cost efficiencies in design and integration. Development and verification are supported by the DLR’s Space Administration with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The SpaceDataHighway, also known as the European Data Relay System (EDRS), was developed through a public-private partnership (PPP) between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus, and actually benefits to the Sentinel satellites of the European Union’s Copernicus programme. Pleiades Neo will be the first commercial constellation to be equipped with this technology, and therefore able to provide a unique responsiveness level.

Thanks to Pleiades Neo, customers will take advantage from increased monitoring capability and operational efficiency. In line with Airbus’ strategy for increased digitalisation and connectivity, its next-generation ground segments will foster access to the information, offering machine learning and automated analytics applications. They will also provide multi-mission capabilities and large-scale image processing.

Entirely funded, manufactured, owned and operated by Airbus, Pleiades Neo is a breakthrough in Earth observation domain and will provide customers with high-level service continuity for the next 15 years.

Source

In a meeting organised with representatives of the Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, Nicolas Hulot, French Minister of Ecology, set blue economy targets in a key phrase: “We must accelerate”.


This event dedicated to blue growth, which took place in France on July 21, 2017, enabled the minister to meet representatives of French civil society, military, and companies working on marine related issues and innovative projects approved by the Pôle Mer label.

The blue economy and the challenge of climate change are of prime importance. By 2015, the French maritime sector represented 310,000 jobs and 60 billion euros in turnover. From deep sea exploration to marine renewable energies, maritime transport and services, ports and research, oceans are a sustainable source for the development of blue growth: technological innovation, renewable energies, sustainable management of marine resources, etc.

Fighting illegal traffic at sea through satellite imagery

Four companies presented their activities to the minister, including CLS with the ALMACEN project, which detects illegal activities. The ALMACEN project aims to develop a new service to combat environmental crime and in particular illicit trafficking involving the maritime sector. This project relies on the exploitation of maritime big data mainly from satellite sources to characterize the behavior of ships.