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(Munich, 15/09/16) MARSAT consortium announced it is ready to provide innovative space-based applications using satellite-derived information for the maritime and coastal industry. MARSAT’s main goal is to create integrated satellite-based services to improve safety and efficiency in shipping, offshore industries, emergency response and rescue operations.


MARSAT is an ambitious project, which brings together competence of specialists in satellite data provision and analysis, IT and the maritime industry. This team will lay the ground for improved decision making for shipping route optimization, offshore planning and maintenance as well as emergency events”, said Dr. Knut Hartmann, Project Coordinator MARSAT, “EOMAP GmbH & Co KG.

MARSAT is a consortium of six German companies, EOMAP GmbH & Co KG, Drift & Noise Polar Services GmbH, European Space Imaging GmbH, Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics, SevenCs GmbH, TRENZ AG, and is funded by BMWi, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The kick-off meeting was successfully held at the end of August 2016 at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Space Administration in Bonn, Germany and marked the starting point of this 2.5 year project.

“The use of satellite data and Earth Observation products in the maritime world has an enormous potential. We are at the very beginning, just starting to get a glimpse at the possibilities and huge benefits these innovative technologies will offer.” Dr. Nils Meyer-Larsen, Project Manager, ISL

The technical goals of MARSAT are to create and integrate operational services to allow the maritime industry to take advantage of the most up-to-date satellite information in their day-to-day work. This requires setting up an efficient IT infrastructure to share, integrate and implement satellite-derived data quickly and efficiently from various satellite sources. Services such as ice detection and drift, obstruction and bathymetry mapping will be integrated in maritime information systems so that, e.g., shipping routes can be optimized, up-to date information made available for rescue or emergency events, and base data provided for environmental and coastal use cases within user friendly applications.

“European Space Imaging believes in the potential of the Earth Observation industry to offer integrated, more user-friendly and sustainable services to the maritime industry. By uniting satellite-based information services into existing maritime information structures we will create better services and provide more safety in the industry,” says Adrian Zevenbergen, Managing Director, European Space, Imaging.

MARSAT is a dynamic and steadily growing network of data suppliers, users and academia, and cooperation is more than welcome.

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ReSAC participation in two projects, which are financed by Program BG03 “Biodiversity and Ecosystems” and co-financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM 2009-2014)


GRASSLAND: Assessment and mapping of GRASSLAND ecosystems condition and their services in Bulgaria, Contr. Д-33-90/03.09.2015

Duration: 27.08.2015 – 30.11.2016

The project will contribute to the overall objectives of the Programme for concise inventory of ecosystem services in the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy of the EU. The main task of the project is to describe and evaluate the grasslands in Bulgaria or, more popularly all pastures, meadows and other grasslands, which by preliminary estimates represent about 30% of the country.

The project aims to ensure an opportunity to explore various issues related to the availability of grassland ecosystems, combined with the long-term preservation of their potential. The project will contribute original information about the grasslands outside the Natura 2000 Network, about their distribution, biophysical parameters and capacity for commercial use. The collected and processed information will be fed into the National Information System on Biodiversity to establish a reliable source for monitoring changes and implement adequate conservation measures.

An important part of the project is related to raising public awareness about the benefits of ecosystem services and their importance for the economy of the country. It will be organized seminars on the main users of open grasslands – farmers and representatives of medium and small hotel and tourism business. Cooperative work with the institutions responsible for the protection of Bulgarian nature will introduce them in detail to the methodology applied for Ecosystem Assessment, which will allow systematic monitoring of their status in the future.

Project website


Fig.1 Example of grassland ecosystem types

FEMA: Fresh water ecosystem services mapping and assessment in Bulgaria, Contr. Д-33-87/27.08.2015

Duration: 27.08.2015 – 30.11.2016

The specific goal of the project is assessment of the freshwater ecosystems in Bulgaria, following the national methodology for assessment and elaboration of maps, which comply with the technical specifications of the National Information Network for Biodiversity in freshwater basins, which fall outside of the Natura 2000 Network and/or other protected territories.

The general goal of the project is to improve the integration of biodiversity into sectoral policies and, more specifically, in water resource management, including an assessment of the societal benefits, which freshwater ecosystems generate.

Using available information of various sources numerous GIS layers will be elaborated with specific values of the freshwater ecosystems of rivers and lakes. The results obtained will serve to integrate the freshwater ecosystems’ values into the Second River Basin Management Plans, Regional Development Plans and to support the national Biodiversity Information System with data/assessments.

The main target group of the project comprises of representatives of the central and local authorities, scientists and researchers, non-governmental organizations, business organizations, students and direct beneficiaries, such as fishers, farmers and tourist organization.

The main project activities are collection of data about freshwater ecosystems, mapping and assessment of services relating to freshwater ecosystems, formulation of scientific conclusions and dissemination of the project results and publicity.

Project website


Fig.2 Example of standing waters, water courses, and water bodies

ReSAC solve and develop high-tech tasks in the field of geo-informatics, integrating the methods of remote sensing and geographic information systems. The results are widely used in decision-making process of land management and land use, environmental management, inventory of soil, forestlands and water resources, urban planning, infrastructure, assessment of natural and anthropogenic environmental risks, citizen awareness, etc.

In both projects ReSAC is responsible for digitization and georeferencing of all data, visual interpretation, modeling and creation of GIS databases to create a modern digital map of the different ecosystem types in Bulgaria – freshwater and grassland ecosystems. ReSAC also responsible for development and maintenance of projects website and WEB GIS portal, and conducting of training courses on GIS applications and Web-based GIS for the experts-biologists.

For more information:
Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC
61, Tzar Assen Str., fl. 2, 1463, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Tel: +35929800731 / Fax: +35929818216.
E-mail: vassil.vassilev@resac-bg.org

TERRASIGNA representatives participated in the 2016 GEO Workshop for European projects on Earth observation that took place between 31st of May and 2nd of June in Berlin. The event was jointly organized by the European Commission, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure of Germany, and the Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science.

Our delegation presented the C-Land mobile application, developed by TERRASIGNA under MYGEOSS initiative of the European Commission for development of innovative apps in the environmental and social domains. C-Land addresses the need for informing citizens and non-expert users on the changes occurring on European level on land cover, at different spatial and temporal scales. Several case studies are included, such as: draining lakes from river floodplain, coastal specific processes, the impact of wind farms on the natural environment, reed fire detection in wetlands, forest extension in Europe on decadal scales and many others. Datasets are coming from open data domains and they are covering different types of processing level, from raw satellite imagery (further processed in-house by TERRASIGNA) to synthesis products offered by various European institutions.

The dynamics of these events are presented in an interactive and user-friendly manner, as to provide maximum level of understanding with minimum effort from user’s point of view.

The application can be use on Android mobile phones and tablets and can be downloaded here

space4environment is part of an international consortium led by IGN-FI that has been awarded a JRC framework contract for the independent validation and accuracy assessment of global land cover and land cover change mapping products.

This current framework on hot spot monitoring aims at instituting a complementary service to the Copernicus Global Land Service adding more detailed and localized thematic land information. The initial focus of the products is on protected areas in Africa.

Apart from the thematic validation in which all partners participate, space4environment is specifically responsible for controlling the logical consistency of the data.

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The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Space Agency (ESA) brought together the main private industries and public institutions in the downstream and the space sectors to discuss the “Innovation Drivers in Downstream Space Activities.” – See more at: http://www.rheagroup.com/downstream-space-activities-play-major-role-market-growth/#sthash.Ig360ANJ.dpuf

The workshop was an excellent opportunity to explore the full range of initiatives, including innovation governance models and policy measures that could contribute to the growth of the space economy. As innovation can be triggered by many factors, participants examined the type of measures that can be used to track innovation and its impact on the creation of new applications.

A special interest was given to the role of satellite information and big data in the creation of innovation in the changes in the traditional space applications’ paradigm. Representatives from public institutions such as ESA, the UK Space Agency, and private companies including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, CGI IT UK, and what3words, shared their experiences using satellite capacity and big data opportunities.

John Auburn, RHEA Group’s strategic advisor, presented the company’s strategy for downstream applications and innovation on the space-based technologies for creating new business opportunities for other industries, such as transport, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, and aviation. “RHEA Group is extending its product range to other sectors, and we are proud of our space industry background, that had facilitated our engineering contributions and growth to other areas.”

See more at

Satellite remote sensing industry is evolving and anyone working in it needs to become familiar with the Data, information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) pyramid as this is one map, albeit simplistic, of the industry’s and our current journey.

Historically, satellite data was either sold as the original image or with a small amount of processing undertaken. If anyone wanted to do anything beyond basic processing, they had to do it themselves. However, things are changing.

According to a recent Euroconsult report, at least 3,600 small satellites will be launched over the next decade. The United Nations Office on Outer Space Affairs only lists 7,370 objects that have ever been launched into space, of which only 4,197 are still in orbit. We’re increasing the number of objects orbiting the Earth by 85% by smallsats alone, larger satellites will add even more.

The volume, variety and speed of this data collected by these satellites will present a step change not only in the type of applications companies will be able to offer, but, crucially, also in customer expectations – more and more they will be looking for added value.

One way of considering this is through the DIKW pyramid, which can be seen at the top of the blog, it’s credited to American organisational theorist Russell Ackoff in 1989, building on the ideas of Milan Zeleny two years earlier.

A simple summary of the pyramid starts with the collection of data which means nothing in its own right, it is simply data. Information is derived from data by asking the who, what, where, when and how questions. Knowledge is information to which expert skills and experience have been added to create more value – which is more profitable in a business context. Finally, wisdom is understanding what actions to take based on the knowledge you’ve gained.

Applying this to satellite remote sensing for agriculture, one example might be: data is the satellite data/image of the field. Information is knowing when the image was taken leading to where in the growing cycle the crop was. Knowledge is applying scientific algorithms to know the soil moisture, how much nutrients are in the soil or how much vegetation is present in various parts of the field. Wisdom is knowing what nutrients and fertilizers to apply, based on the knowledge gained, to improve crop yields.

A lot of Earth observation products are at the data or information level, with a few at the knowledge level, and even fewer at the wisdom level. Customers more and more want wisdom products, and they aren’t that interested in what was required to create them. When you add to this the additional types of geospatial information, e.g., optical and radar used together alongside airborne and in-field ground based measurements, the variety of open datasets and the new science and technological breakthroughs, things are going to look very different, very quickly.

We’d accept that the DIKW isn’t a perfect tool, nor a perfect representation of our industry, but it is simple, indicative and worth thinking about. We wrote about our intention to create products in an earlier blog. We’re a long way from the wisdom sector, but are hoping to be firmly within the knowledge sector and collaborating to create wisdom. It’s not easy and some companies will find it harder to do than others, but is going to be the future. How are you preparing?

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Sustainable agriculture, food production systems, safe food production as well as assisting farmers in decision making are the objectives of an innovative proposal submitted in the context of the program “Horizon 2020 – IoT-01-2016 on IoT Large Scale Pilots” by a group of international organizations and companies, including NEUROPUBLIC S.A.

The project “DEMETER – Building a Data-Driven Innovative and Sustainable European Agri-Food Sector through IoT” is about the development and implementation of large scale pilot actions of smart agriculture, aiming at implementing loT technologies in existing corporations and procedures in the agricultural sector, in various agri-food environments, production sectors, systems and types of agricultural holdings. In this context, two pilots will be designed and implemented in Greece:
(a) automated irrigation systems in bean farms (Kastoria and Prespes) and corn farms (Drama) and
(b) traceability of beef and pork meat products (BIKAS S.A., Imathia).

Besides NEUROPUBLIC, some of the Greek companies and organizations participating in the proposal are, among others, GAIA EPICHEIREIN, BIKAS S.A., as well as the Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (ICCS) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

The budget of the submitted proposal exceeds €37 million and is being coordinated by the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland. This joint effort brings the best associates at European level together and aims to prove that an integrated approach based on Internet of Things technologies (IoT) can support sustainable agriculture and the food production systems, the production of safe food as well as the farmers in the decision making process.

NEUROPUBLIC S.A. (www.neuropublic.gr) is an innovative company specializing in the development of high demand integrated information systems and applications in Web and Cloud environment, that have been successfully in use for over 10 years by more than 800.000 end users in agriculture, local government and healthcare. A pilot Smart Agriculture program has been initiated recently, based on telemetric stations designed by the company itself (GAIA TRON).

In the context of DEMETER project, NEUROPUBLIC will use the network it has already developed with the telemetric stations designed by the company itself, for the implementation of smart agriculture services such as smart/automated irrigation services for the pilot of irrigated crops and traceability services for the pilot of meat traceability of the project.

GAIA EPICHEIREIN S.A. (www.c-gaia.gr) is the result of the strategic partnership between NEUROPUBLIC, Piraeus Bank and more than 70 Greek farmers’ associations. The company supports a web platform developed by NEUROPUBLIC, offering services and systems for Greek farmers and other members of the agri-food chain (agronomists, retailers and consumers), with 725.000 total active users and 2 million subscribers. The services it provides include tools for farm management, electronic commerce of agricultural products, automation of bureaucratic procedures, e-learning and information, networking, traceability and precision agriculture. In the context of DEMETER project, GAIA EPICHEIREIN provides the end users that will participate in the aforementioned pilot programs.

BIKAS S.A. (www.bikas.gr) with registered offices in Veroia, includes modern facilities for slaughter, cold storage and cutting beef and pork meat, as well as processing, packaging and transport/distribution of these products with certified procedures in accordance with EN ISO 22000, HACCP standard and under IFS certification audit. The company already uses a traceability system according to national and European regulations. In the context of DEMETER project, BIKAS S.A. has been selected from all over Greece, after thorough investigations, to participate in the pilot program for the improvement of the services provided to its clients, through specific IoT solutions (equipment and web applications for personal computers and mobiles), automating the procedure of meat traceability.

The Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (ICCS – - www.iccs.gr) was established in 1989 by the Ministry of Education in order to carry out research and development activities in various telecommunication-related sectors, information systems and relevant applications. ICCS is closely associated with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (SECE) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). It engages extensively in programs co-financed by European Union. Since 2000, it has taken part in 347 European innovative research projects (being a supervisor for 52 of them). For these activities it has been funded with more than €100 million by European Union. In the context of the DEMETER project, ICCS will be responsible for the integration and interaction of various heterogeneous technology solutions brought also by the project associates, as well as for the assurance of data interoperability and dissemination.

The assessment of the proposal is to be completed by the end of September.

Source

(01.07.2016) The Norwegian Minister for foreign Affairs, Mr. Børge Brende, witnessed the signing of an Implementing Agreement (IA) between KSAT and VENG SA (a CONAE owned company)Thursday, covering joint activities related to ground station development as well as satellite operations.

The KSAT Pole-to pole network will be augmented with this new ground station in Argentina. KSAT and VENG will establish a new satellite ground station in Terra del Fuego. The satellite ground station will host CONAE and KSAT antennas. Several important satellite programs will utilize the infrastructure to optimize satellite data reception and control.

In December 2015, the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) signed a framework with NATIONAL COMMISSION ON SPACE ACTIVITIES OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC (CONAE) for developing space activities in areas of mutual interest. The current initiative is implemented as a direct consequence of this agreement.

KSAT president and CEO, Rolf Skatteboe, says he is pleased to have signed this agreement, which will allow KSAT and Argentina to work closer together. The new satellite ground station will be an important addition to KSAT global network. It will cost –efficiently be integrated in the world largest network for satellite operation and control.

In addition, local data reception from Argentinian radar satellite, combined with the KSAT multi-mission near real-time services for Maritime Situational Awareness, will enable unprecedented vessel detection services, supporting the battle against illegal fishery on a global scale.

Source

(June 2016) The Norwegian Space Center has awarded Kongsberg Spacetec AS a contract to demonstrate their lightning-fast SAR processor MEOS NRT-SAR.

Where traditional processors generate standardized products from pre-processed level-0 data, the MEOS NRT-SAR processes directly on the raw data stream as it is received from the satellite,saving several minutes in processing time. In addition, this processor can be tuned to generate optimized products for each specific end user or downstream application.

Under this new contract, Kongsberg Spacetec will put MEOS NRT-SAR into semi-operational use in parallel with the national Collaborative Ground Segment. The Norwegian Space Center will use the system to assess the benefits of faster processing, shorter delivery times and custom processing parameters for the national services and key users.

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Cambridge, ON – June 22, 2016 – exactEarth Ltd. (TSX: XCT), the leading provider of Satellite AIS data services (Joint-venture of Hisdesat and COMDEV) announces announced today the successful launch of the M3MSat (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite) by the government of Canada. M3M contains a high performance AIS satellite payload and exactEarth has exclusive license with the government of Canada to commercialize the AIS data produced from the satellite.


“We are pleased to extend our congratulations to Defence Research and Development Canada and to the Canadian Space Agency on this significant achievement,” said exactEarth CEO Peter Mabson. “M3M adds another important asset to our global constellation of satellites. This will lead to improvements in satellite vessel detection and enhanced update rates for all of our users worldwide.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that, to the extent they are not recitations of historical fact, may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding exactEarth’s future plans, objectives or economic performance, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, including statements regarding, among other things, the intentions of the parties, the use of any intellectual property, further investments that may be made by exactEarth and new markets that may be exploited by either party. exactEarth uses words such as “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “likely”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “plan”, “forecast”, “project”, “estimate” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and analyses made by exactEarth in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors exactEarth believes are appropriate under the relevant circumstances. However, whether actual results and developments will conform to exactEarth’s expectations and predictions is subject to any number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties. Many factors could cause exactEarth’s actual results, historical financial statements, or future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. These factors include, without limitation: uncertainty in the global economic environment; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; delays in the purchasing decisions of exactEarth’s customers; the competition exactEarth faces in its industry and/or marketplace; the further delayed launch of satellites; the reduced scope of significant existing contracts and the possibility of technical, logistical or planning issues in connection with the deployment of exactEarth’s products or services.

About exactEarth Ltd.

exactEarth is a leading provider of global maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. Since its establishment in 2009, exactEarth has pioneered a powerful new method of maritime surveillance called Satellite-AIS (“S-AIS”) and has delivered to its clients a view of maritime behaviours across all regions of the world’s oceans unrestricted by terrestrial limitations. exactEarth has deployed an operational data processing supply chain involving a constellation of satellites, receiving ground stations, patented decoding algorithms and advanced “big data” processing and distribution facilities. This ground-breaking system provides a comprehensive picture of the location of AIS equipped maritime vessels throughout the world and allows exactEarth to deliver data and information services characterized by high performance, reliability, security and simplicity to large international markets. For more information, visit exactearth.com.

About Hisdesat

Hisdesat was founded in 2001 as operator of government services by satellite to act primarily in the areas of defense, security, intelligence and foreign affairs. Since 2005, the company provides secure satellite communications to government agencies of different countries and is currently developing new satellites in two areas: Earth Observation and Information of the worldwide maritime traffic by satellite (AIS). More information: www.hisdesat.es

For further information:
Araceli Serrano
PR Communications Manager
Tel: +34 91 4490149
aserrano@hisdesat.es