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RSA Cosmos, planetarium designer, takes advantage of PlanetObserver satellite imagery to enrich its Space and Earth simulation software SkyExplorer.

The partnership between PlanetObserver and RSA Cosmos continues as more and more planetariums use PlanetObserver geospatial data in SkyExplorer software. Developed by RSA Cosmos, SkyExplorer is a unique 3D real time Space and Earth simulation software. With this powerful tool, the whole solar system can be created by using different in-built database. Planet Earth is created with PlanetSAT 15 imagery basemap and PlanetDEM 30 Plus elevation dataset. The result is highly realistic!

Check out the Pic du Midi flyover in the French Pyrenees that has been produced with SkyExplorer, using PlanetSAT 15 satellite imagery and PlanetAIR France aerial photography from PlanetObserver.

Throughout 2016, nearly 10 planetariums have adopted PlanetObserver geospatial data. Those new users are all scattered around the world, from South Korea, USA, Sicily or Turkey. They have chosen PlanetObserver satellite imagery for their high visual quality and faithful picture of Earth reality. A must to discover our planet!

To find out more on PlanetObserver imagery basemap and elevation data, just contact us at +33 4 73 44 19 00 or fill in the inquiry form of the contact page. We will contact you very shortly.

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(22 November 2016) The NorthStar system is revolutionary both in its hyperspectral data acquisition capabilities and in its capacity for real-time information delivery via advanced software analytics.

The commercial space sector is playing a greater role than ever in bringing the benefits of space assets to a wider population. In the Earth observation domain, several commercial initiatives are underway that target the development of large constellations of Earth imaging satellites and the associated provision of geospatial information and services. Existing examples of such private ventures include Google’s Terrabella or Planet Labs, both of which focus on capturing imagery in the optical domain.

Montreal-based company NorthStar is currently developing an entirely new concept that has the potential to revolutionize the geospatial services industry. NorthStar is the first commercial system to combine hyperspectral and infrared sensors to observe the Earth and obtain a wealth of information about any object on the planet. Using software analysis and predictive analytics, NorthStar will generate real-time solutions for the world’s most challenging problems and transmit these directly to end users. Applications of hyperspectral imagery are numerous, covering domains such as energy and natural resources, forestry and agriculture, urban planning, and environmental monitoring.

In addition, the Northstar mission also targets the tracking of space objects, including space debris: NorthStar’s satellites will include sensors designed to detect and track objects in Low Earth Orbit and in Geosynchronous Orbit. This Space Situational Awareness is critical to governments, military organizations, and private operators of spaceborne assets all around the planet.

The RHEA Group is currently supporting Northstar in the mission and system definition phase. Northstar will consist of a constellation of 40 satellites in Low Earth Orbit, the associated ground control stations, a data processing and distribution system, and value-added service platforms that will allow access to cloud-based IT resources, data, products, information, and services.

“The Northstar system offers a state of the art, unique combination of 3 key capabilities: rich data content from hyperspectral imaging, frequent imaging revisit over a geographical area, and real-time information provision. This will open up worldwide new markets and applications of Earth observation. The RHEA Group is proud to contribute to this project from the onset, and will look forward to a prolonged partnership with Northstar”, said Cedric Seynat, RHEA Group’s project manager on the Northstar project.

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(14/11/2016) space4environment part of consortium to implement new Eurostat LUCAS Master Grid

A consortium of LuxSpace, space4environment (both Luxembourg) and Indra Sistemas (Spain) will implement the new Eurostat LUCAS 2×2 km² master grid, the base for the next LUCAS field survey. The master grid represents phase 1 of the stratification: the classification of some 1.1 million points in 10 land cover classes based on orthophoto interpretation. From this master grid the points to be visited in the field (i.e. phase 2) are selected.

For details of the LUCAS stratification and quality control of the data, please refer to the presentation here

In the project space4environment will be responsible for the collection of the image support for interpretation (national orthophotos, Copernicus VHR data), the database design and development as well as the user interface for the photo interpretation.

Indra will be responsible for the photo interpretation of the 714,000 sample points. LuxSpace is responsible for project management and quality assurance and quality control of the resulting master grid.

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(October 2016) Spacemetric in exercise with Sky Eye Innovations and Swedish Rescue Services

Last June, Spacemetric announced a new partnership with the UAV manufacturer Sky Eye Innovations. To better understand their operational conditions and also meet one of their potential customers, last Monday Spacemetric participated in a field exercise together with Sky Eye Innovations and the Rescue Service in Hultsfred.

In critical situations, as well as immediately after an accident, In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), civil protection authorities haves increased dramatically the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), both in critical situations, as well as immediately after an accident, in civil protection in recent years. One reason for this is that the rescue services are able to cordon off an area, including airspace, to ensure the safety, efficiency and timesaving use of UAVs in civil protection operations.

Spacemetric’s role

Spacemetric develops the software Sky Eye Map Sense, which accompanies all of Sky Eye Innovations devices. In the software, the user is able to collect all the images and movies from the UAV, search for image products and display these on a map where the positions of all images and movies are recorded. The user can share his/her data with other users via a web portal. One example of the use of this feature is in missions involving several emergency services, all in need of immediate access to the collected material. Furthermore, the Spacemetric software has an extremely useful additional capability – it supports the retrieval and use of data from satellites. The user is thus able to see both real-time image products from UAVs, giving a detailed insight of the situation, and the latest satellite images, offering simultaneous views over larger areas for overview.

Real-life operation with UAVs

During the Hultsfred forest fire-fighting operations last summer, a Sky Eye Innovations UAV flew in the final fire extinction stage in order to identify the need for additional extinguishing. The mission was flown with a FLIR A655 which, through special software, allows filtering of pixels against selected temperature values. At the time of the mission, this software was not available for use in the field, but Fire Chief Michael Hesselgård is still pleased with the results and sees great benefits in having a flying system that carries this type of thermal-imaging cameras.

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(21 November 2016)After consistent wins at the Copernicus Masters – one of Europe’s most prestigious and lucrative competitions in the field of Earth Observation (EO) – Edinburgh-based space services and management company Astrosat has set the challenge this year.

Astrosat posed an End-To-End challenge to aspiring space services companies, looking for a space based solution to an earthbound problem.

After a tough competition, the eventual winners were National Space Centre (Ireland), which came up with a proposed sensor suite designed to monitor seaweed growth, titled Seaweed Crop Assurance, Monitoring, Prospecting, & Ecological Resource (SCAMPER) management.

With seaweed production becoming a multi-billion Euro food crop, the team at the National Space Centre took note of the present difficulty in accurately quantifying the seaweed available. The best currently available method involves selective surveying and relies on estimation and extrapolation, with data collection methods running at least two years behind actuality.

With a tricky earth bound problem in its sights, the team went on to impress Astrosat judges with a clear and coherent set of plans to use novel sensors and services to monitor Intertidal – fast growing seaweed beds which are exposed at low tide – as well as Submerged seaweed – slower growing, underwater beds which are very difficult to accurately assess.

Alan McLarney, Chief Technical Officer at Astrosat, said: “National Space Centre (Ireland) was chosen as winner for the Astrosat challenge as its SCAMPER concept was targeted at a real world commercial need which could not yet be served from space.
“Most importantly they presented solid technical benefits and a realistic business case for how this service would run if it were to be deployed.
“This showed the National Space Centre (Ireland) had really thought through what the benefits of using MUSES were for both themselves and for their end customers. We really like that kind of thinking at Astrosat and are looking forward to working closer with them”.

The winners will not only receive a bespoke support package worth €8,000, but will get the chance to work with Astrosat in making SCAMPER a reality with a satellite data quota worth €10,000.

For further information, contact Ola Domagalska at info@astrosat.biz

Barcelona, 15 December 2016. A new article by TRE ALTAMIRA published on TunneTalk.com to illustrate the benefits of our satellite technology for the tunnelling industry.

“Ground motion monitoring has become an important part of risk management when planning tunnelling projects. It increases the efficiency and safety of the tunnel excavation works and assists asset protection. For the large number of tunnelling projects to be carried out worldwide in the future, consistent monitoring is imperative to ensure the stability of the operating environment and to prevent project slippage.

TRE ALTAMIRA has developed and is using radar satellite technology to detect ground movements on the surface of the earth”. To continue reading the article, please open the TunnelTalk.com page here

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The ESA-funded project the Expansion of EO Uptake in Developing Countries (EODAT) aims to demonstrate the benefits of EO technology as an operational support tool for MDBs/IFIs project planning, implementation and monitoring.

GISAT has been involved in multiple successful assignments within the framework of the European Space Agency (ESA) collaboration with multilateral development banks and international financial institutions (MDBs/IFIs) under the Earth Observation Envelope Programme, Value Adding Element (EOEP VAE). During these years, it has served to World Bank, Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank to demonstrate the value adding of Earth Observation (EO) products and benefits for the planning, implementation and monitoring of international development projects.

MDBs/IFIs gradually recognises potential of EO based products and services for activities in developing countries through dedicated projects financed by long-term loans or grants for infrastructure development with significant socio-economic impact. In the current project, ESA is promoting the European and Canadian service capabilities based on its latest satellite missions highlighting the open data and sustainability service elements.

Objectives

The general objective of the Expansion of EO Uptake in Developing Countries (EODAT) project is to demonstrate the capability to provide high quality geo-information services in the context of World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank activities, based on new generation of ESA EO Sentinel sensors and thus create strong premises for their sustainable use in multiple thematic domains. The project aims also to demonstrate the benefits of EO technology as an operational support tool for MDBs/IFIs project planning, implementation and monitoring in 11 pre-selected service cases.

EO data can provide a wide range of past and present environmental information that can also be a useful tool to support the monitoring and management of MDB/IFI projects. The consortium team has been in direct contact with WB and IADB representatives in order to identify EO services and products that can demonstrate on specific use cases general support potential for such operational activities of MDBs/IFIs.

Service Cases and Users

GISAT is responsible for two service cases:

i) Monitoring sustainable forest use and land use change in Bolivia using EO derived information and
ii) Assessment of coastal flood risk evolution as a result of the development of upstream hydropower infrastructure in Mexico.
Both services will be provided to the Inter-American Development Bank colleagues and local stakeholders.

The Team

The Expansion of EO Uptake in Developing Countries (EODAT) project is led by TERRASIGNA (RO) as Prime Contractor. Due to the complementary expertise required, the team is then composed by GISAT (CZ), Treemetrics (IL) and University College Cork (IL).

In this assignment, GISAT capitalizes its long standing worldwide expertise in EO based land cover / land use applications acquired within Copernicus programme in sustainable development context as well as previous practical experiences with EO based support of international financial institutions.

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment
Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

Barcelona, 21 December 2016. Mitigating the risk for neighbouring structures and contributing to urban management with InSAR: the success of Ville de Dax.

Geological, mining and flood risks are some of the phenomena affecting the Ville de Dax, in France. Its municipality started a programme aimed at a better heritage management using satellite technology. Our InSAR studies in partnership with ANTEA Group, an engineering and environmental consulting firm, have confirmed the trends already observed but also revealed other phenomena unknown to the date like the subsidence of some neighbourhoods and variations in the stability of some key infrastructures, among others. This 7-year project also established that some areas that were considered at risk have recovered stability.

This project is a unique example of the use of satellite technologies for land and urban management. It started in 2009 with an historical study that was later extended to a monitoring study from 2012 up to present due to the benefits provided for the risk and urban management in the area. TRE ALTAMIRA holds a partnership with Ville de Dax since 2009 and was the successful bidder of the CNES Research and Development tender as well as two further tenders for studies in the area.

Read the French version at the Institut InSpace Newsletter

(14/12/2016) Qatar is almost completely dependent on desalination for its drinking water supply. Today Qatar has a rather limited storage capacity, in case the desalination system fails. Through the construction of megareservoirs they want to increase storage capacity and thus water security.

VITO signed a contract with Kahramaa Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation. The contract will allow VITO to support Kahramaa in their capacity to monitor and safeguard the water quality in water storage reservoirs.

Kahramaa is planning and executing the construction of megareservoirs in the near future ensuring increased water security in Qatar. The water quality will be monitored using underwater drones in combination with modeling software to visualize water quality in the interior of the reservoir. Apart from the water services, VITO and Kahramaa hope to further enhance their collaboration also in the field of energy technology.

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In many areas of the world, subsidence related to the lowering of the water table is modifying the landscape and provoking costly environmental hazards. Major deformations of an industrial dike were analysed and quantified.

EUROSENSE considered the Dead Sea (the Earth’s lowest lake) as a model. Its water level was 395m bMSL in the 1960s. Due to water diversions in the catchment area, as of 2016, the level has dropped to about 430m bMSL. Here, as in other parts of the Anthropocene world, from China, to Iran, to Turkey, to Canada and the United States, consequences of human interventions are rapidly modifying the environment. Aggressive geomorphic processes leading to accelerated degradations are taking place and affecting landforms and infrastructures.

In Tectonic terms, the lake is a pull-apart basin resulting from the motion of the Dead Sea Transform fault. Since the 1960s, a slice of brine of about 35 km3 has been lost. The water table is dropping more rapidly in the lake than in the coastal zone creating an ever-increasing head difference. Consequently, groundwater moves towards the sea to compensate for the imbalance, provoking the reactivation of the area’s paleo-channels with subsidence, sinkholes, and landslides.

Since the 1980s, industrial-touristic infrastructure has covered newly emerging lands in geomorphic hazards-prone areas of the coastal zone. Time series analysis of high to very high resolution visible/radar satellite images acquired from the 1970s to present, revealed major landscape evolution. Such dynamic systems prevailing in recent decades permitted the study of human/environment interactions to help minimize their effects.

EUROSENSE analysed and quantified major deformations of an industrial dike. The results underline the necessity in the Anthropocene of careful analysis of relevant data sources acquired before and during subsidence, particularly in karst topography zones and prior to the development of major human activities in economically appealing environments around the world.

Source EUROSENSE