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(21/12/2015) Satellite images are playing an increasing role in our daily lives. They are now a fundamental part of climate-change studies and they also provide us with cartographic information on any part of the world to help us improve our security, manage natural disasters and improve governance of the land and its resources in light of the information they provide.

For some time now GMV has been working very actively in the earth-observation applications market, adding value to satellite images. For example is it currently developing services for precision agriculture and environmental activities.

As an expert in remote-sensing and earth observation, GMV has recently been invited to take part in the “Discovery Day Session: The value of Geospatial information for improving land governance”. The event was held in the head office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and broadcast round the world in an endeavor to show the advantages and applications of geospatial information.

Antonio Tabasco, head of GMV’s Remote Sensing Applications and Services, presented a paper on how applications of remote sensing systems can help in decision-taking on food-security and infrastructure-development matters. His speech stressed how technology and agriculture can be brought together in high-precision systems based on satellite images.

The event was organized jointly by The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), DigitalGlobe and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

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The Satellite Applications Catapult is leading the COSMO-SkyMed Radar Science and Innovation Research (CORSAIR) programme for the UK. The move will facilitate access to data obtained from the COSMO-SkyMed satellites for research and development (R&D) activities.


The CORSAIR programme follows the contract awarded to the Catapult and Telespazio VEGA UK to install a ground system to order, receive and process high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Italian COSMO-SkyMed (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation) mission. A bilateral agreement between the UK Space Agency and Italian Space Agency (ASI), will, for the first time, allow, COSMO-SkyMed data to be delivered directly to the UK for processing.


Real-time Applications

The COSMO-SkyMed system is a constellation of four identical X-band SAR satellites owned by ASI and the Italian Ministry of Defence, and operated commercially by e-GEOS, an ASI/Telespazio company. Its data is used on a global basis for near real-time applications such as extreme weather impact assessment, environmental crisis management, and security monitoring both on and offshore. The four-satellite constellation with its high revisit frequency and rapid response time is ideal for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) applications, such as monitoring ground displacement resulting from volcanoes and earthquakes.


The CORSAIR programme is open to any UK research and development activities looking to develop proof of concepts, demonstrators, prototypes or trials for scientific research, products or applications.


Benefits for UK R&D

Stuart Martin, CEO of the Satellite Applications Catapult, said: “The COSMO-SkyMed constellation is equipped with SAR instruments, capable of operating in all visibility conditions at high-resolution. Its ability to see through cloud and at night enables researchers to accumulate data over a wide area in a very short time. A key benefit of this programme is that it gives the UK research community access to data with which to develop new applications or services for commercial applications, as well as for scientific research.”


Applications to CORSAIR

After the success of the first round of the CORSAIR programme, we invite academia and business to apply for COSMO-SkyMed data. Applications for the CORSAIR programme can be submitted at any time through the Catapult website (http://www.sa.catapult.org.uk/CORSAIR) which also contains more information.
We are currently accepting applications and the next round of reviews will take place after the closing date of 1 February, 2016. After this time applications will be accepted and be peer-reviewed at three monthly intervals by an external evaluation team.

  • Period 2: 1 February 2016
  • Period 3: 1 May 2016
  • Period 4: 1 August 2016
    Further dates will be communicated after June 2016


CSK Himage (3m) Multitemporal RGB composite over Wallingford, UK. 2013: R: May 15th G: Aug 19th B: Nov 23rd COSMOSkyMed Product – © ASI 2013. All rights reserved. Distributed by e-GEOS, processed under licence from ASI by Telespazio VEGA UK Ltd.

Article first appeared in the November issue of GeoConnexion UK
Author: Terri Freemantle, Satellite Applications Catapult, Earth Observation Specialist

(Munich, 06/11/15) European Space Imaging (EUSI) completed the 2015 Controls with Remote Sensing (CwRS) program for the European Commission (EC) with 100 % success rate. The Munich-based company collected and supplied very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery over nearly half a million square kilometers and demonstrated again its capacity and reliability as Europe’s leading VHR data provider.

Since 2003, EUSI has been the major provider of VHR satellite data to the European Commission’s Controls with Remote Sensing program to control agricultural area-based subsidies granted under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Since 2010, EUSI also provides VHR imagery for the Quality Assurance of the EU Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). Both programmes require the timely and reliable provision of very high resolution and very high quality imagery over control zones in Europe.

After the 2015 CAP reform, the demand for imagery for the CwRS programme has significantly grown increased by more than 40% reaching 497,000 km² across some 950 control sites. More than half of the sites were collected within 14 days of the window opening and about one third within 7 days. All collections were acquired by the DigitalGlobe constellation of satellites (WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3 and GeoEye-1) and in close cooperation with DigitalGlobe.

“With the growing number of areas to be covered and the ever demanding specifications we are extremely proud to continually achieve a success rate of 100% in this challenging and important campaign. Through leveraging our global team, between European Space Imaging and DigitalGlobe, our staff worked around the clock to achieve this goal.” says Adrian Zevenbergen, Managing Director of European Space Imaging.

European Space Imaging takes advantage of operating their own ground station which, in combination with direct satellite tasking and taking real-time weather conditions into account, leads to the speedy delivery of data for distribution to European Union Member State administrations.

In 2016, the demand for VHR imagery is expected to grow further to accommodate the requirements of the CAP of the European Union. European Space Imaging is looking forward to continuing its role as dependable imagery partner and to supporting the EU Commission and EU Member States with data supply into the future.

About CwRS and LPIS QA:

Since 1993, the European Commission (EC) has promoted the use of “Controls with Remote Sensing” (CwRS) as a system to control agricultural subsidies granted under the EC’s Common Agricultural Policy. Following the real time evaluation in 2003 and the successful operational application since 2004, the EC’s Joint Research Centre (Director General (DG) JRC), in agreement with DG AGRI, provides VHR satellite remote sensing data to the EU Member States (MS) administrations for their CwRS area-based subsidies.

Since 2010, VHR Imagery acquired under the CwRS campaign has also been used for the quality assurance of the Land Parcel Identification System – which is the main geo-database in the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS – the main administration tool for managing of farmers’ applications).

The DG JRC provides technical guidance regarding the CwRS strategy as well as managing the image acquisition, ordering and communication with the MS administrations and image providers. Also, in close cooperation with the MS, it supports the definition of the imagery required. Satellite imagery is acquired through third party suppliers selected by the DG JRC such as European Space Imaging who has been a key third party imagery supplier to these campaigns since the programs’ inception.

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. Their current ’best’ offering is 30 cm data from the DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 satellite.
EUSI also operates 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.

To learn more please contact:
Penelope Richardson, Marketing Manager
European Space Imaging
Arnulfstrasse 199, Munich 80634
Tel: +49 (0) 89 1301420
Fax: +49 (0) 89 13014222
marketing@euspaceimaging.com
www.euspaceimaging.com

(Nov 2015) BlackBridge is the leading partner of the project ForMoSa, an Innovator III project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) through the Data User Element.

The project aims at developing methodologies for forest degradation monitoring and algorithms for sensor interoperability in the frame of REDD+ MRV. For this project, BlackBridge has teamed up with Wageningen University and FAO, two world-class organizations with an active involvement in REDD+. Wageningen University provides scientific support for the development of novel approaches for deforestation and forest degradation monitoring, whereas FAO’s role in this project is to validate the outcome methodologies and results from the test sites in Peru, Vietnam, and Ethiopia.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for us to develop methods and workflows to further increase the usefulness of EO data for REDD+ MRV. Advancing sensor interoperability and forest degradation assessment will definitely provide some grounds for that,” said Rene Griesbach, project manager for BlackBridge. Inge Jonckheere, from FAO, states,

“Accurate deforestation and forest degradation monitoring are critical to support developing countries in their readiness for REDD+. We are very pleased to participate in this project with top players in this domain and contribute to the development of new EO-based methods to tackle these challenges and share them with the REDD+ countries.”

Blackbridge

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(Nov 2015) Euroconsult today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with the World Space Risk Forum (WSRF) whereby Euroconsult will assist in the WSRF’s commitment to the creation of a comprehensive platform for the global space risk community.

The alliance will primarily be focused on developing valuable insights on space risk data, analysis of industry trends, and providing a global networking platform for the space industry. Since 2010, the WSRF has hosted a series of events attended by industry-leading space risk experts, including manufacturers, operators, underwriters, space agencies and reinsurers.

The main forum event will be held in Dubai, November 2016, to coincide with other UAE-based announced space events including Abu Dhabi Global Space Congress 2016. The 2016 WSRF will develop existing and future themes and aims to attract new industry players to the space risk arena.

Identifying the wide range of space risks to be covered, Lucy Gilchrist, Head of the WSRF, commented: “We have to open our minds to all the risks that could be out there for our industry, such as economic, geopolitical, technology, legal, regulatory, environmental and societal risks, to share knowledge and greater understanding. This is why we strongly believe in working with Euroconsult going forward. They share the WSRF vision that understanding risk is key to a safer space.” Gilchrist continued, “The UAE offers a dynamic and strategic focus point for global space related topics, leading the discussions for the region and helping set the agenda on a global scale.”

Euroconsult CEO, Pacôme Révillon, explained their decision to support the WSRF initiative: “The space sector is currently in a unique transition period, which involves shortened innovation cycles and a larger number of public and private stakeholders around the world. These trends result in new opportunities but at the expense of new risks for space projects. With over 30 years of experience in consulting, research and executive-level events in space markets, we are excited to bring our expertise to the WSRF. Our strategic partnership will aim at broadening the range of risks addressed throughout the event and across the space community to support the success of future space initiatives.”

About the World Space Risk Forum

The World Space Risk Forum is the main space risk forum in the world. Global satellite industry revenues are increasing yearly and are estimated to be in excess of $208bn for 2015. Growth in the Middle-East region, Asia and Africa is expected to hit more than 10% a year over the next 10 years. The region is a significant investor in high technology which makes it a major player in the future of space development. The space risk industry facilitates this development through the provision of insurance solutions for clients that protect their assets, revenues and liabilities to third parties. www.worldspaceriskforum.com

About Euroconsult

Euroconsult is the leading global consulting firm specializing in space markets. As a privately-owned, fully independent firm, we provide first-class strategic consulting, develop comprehensive research and organize executive-level annual summits for the industry. With 30 years of experience, Euroconsult is trusted by 600 clients in over 50 countries. Euroconsult is headquartered in France, with offices in the U.S., Canada and Japan.

PRESS CONTACT
Annette Chatterton
+33(1) 49 23 75 30
chatterton@euroconsult-ec.com
www.euroconsult-ec.com

At the end of 2015, EUROSENSE was awarded by Het Waterschapshuis with a large LiDAR and orthophoto-project in the Netherlands.

It is common knowledge that the Netherlands are fighting water since many years. In the frame of the update of the digital terrain model (DTM) of the Netherlands, AHN3 (Actueel Hoogtemodel Nederland), Het Waterschapshuis tendered LiDAR-projects for 2016 and 2017 on several areas of the Netherlands. The project consists in a LiDAR-data acquisition during the leafless season with a point density of about 7 points per m². The LiDAR-data need to be processed into an accurate DSM and, after filtering, into a DTM providing detailed information on the (micro)relief in Netherlands. In total, the awarded parcels comprise over 6.000 km² and consist of over 350 flight lines. The flights need to be executed over two winter seasons of which the first season already started on the 1st of December 2015.

Het Waterschapshuis also coordinates and manages the yearly stereo and orthophoto coverage of the Netherlands in 10 cm GSD (leafless season) and 25 cm GSD (late spring/early summer flights).

The airborne acquired imagery needs to be processed into a detailed orthophoto. For the summer flights also a CIR coverage needs to be delivered. This last product is a.o. used by the Ministry of Economy (dep. Agriculture) to update the LPIS (Land Parcel Identification System).

EUROSENSE has been awarded with 2 parcels (Southern part of the Netherlands -10 cm and the complete territory of the Netherlands -25cm). In total, the awarded parcels comprise 15.000 km² for the 10 cm coverage and 50.000 km² for the 25 cm including buffers. Both contracts are foreseen to be executed in 2016 and to be repeated in 2017.

The 25 cm coverage of 2017 will be the 10th countrywide coverage of the Netherlands executed by EUROSENSE since 1996. The importance of this time series is increasing more and more and the data are very valuable for trend analyses, urban sprawl monitoring and change detection.

With these contracts, EUROSENSE becomes one of the most important data providers for these initiatives coordinated by Het Waterschapshuis. Het Waterschapshuis is a cooperation agreement between several Dutch governmental organisations, such as Rijkswaterstaat, the provinces, the water management organisations,….

Source Eurosense

A consortium led by DHI GRAS (Denmark) and including GeoVille GmbH (Austria), ITC (Netherlands) and Brockman Consult (Germany) as well as the technical universities in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Vienna (Austria) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to carry out the 1.5 million Euro project “GlobWetland Africa”.

African wetlands are among the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, but they are also experiencing immense pressure from human activities, the most important being drainage for agriculture and settlement, excessive exploitation by local communities and improperly planned development activities. The future of African wetlands lies in a stronger political will to protect them, based on sound wetland policies and encouragement for community participation in their management. Since 1971, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been the intergovernmental treaty providing the framework for national actions and international cooperation for the conservation and wise usage of wetlands. To date, 169 countries have adopted the Ramsar Convention and have designated 2,220 wetland sites of international importance for a comprehensive area of more than over 214 Million hectares.

The European Space Agency and the Ramsar Secretariat have jointly launched GlobWetland Africa as a major initiative to provide the major actors involved in the implementation of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Africa (i.e. the African Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention, the Ramsar regional initiatives existing in Africa, the African river basin authorities, and the international/regional conservation agencies active in Africa), with Earth Observation methods and tools to assess the conditions of wetlands under their areas of jurisdiction/study, and to better monitor their trends over time.

Photo: Okavango Delta, Botswana (© DHI GRAS) GlobWetland Africa will help African authorities to make the best use of satellite-based information on wetland extent and condition for better measuring the ecological state of wetlands and hence their capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. To this end, an open source and free-of-charge software toolbox will be developed for the end-to-end processing of a large portfolio of EO products (including wetland inventory, wetland habitat mapping, inundation regimes, water quality, mangroves mapping and river basin hydrology) and the subsequent derivation of spatial and temporal indicators on wetland status and trends, from local to basin scales.

The proof-of-concept and proof-of-value of the GW-A Toolbox will be provided through a set of use case demonstrations executed over +70 pilot areas spread across the African continent. In addition, the project will also organize regional training courses for the partner organizations and ensure technical assistance during a period long enough to allow for an appropriation of the provided methods, tools and products.

As an ultimate objective GlobWetland Africa will aim to enhance the capacity of the African stakeholders to develop their own national and regional wetland observatories, and thereby also acting as a key contributor towards the development of a Global Wetlands Observing System (GWOS).

About:

GlobWetland Africa is a project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with the Africa Team of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

For further information please contact Senior Project Manager Christian Tøttrup, cto@dhi-gras.com

A consortium led by DHI GRAS which includes GeoVille GmbH (Austria), ITC (Netherlands) and Brockman Consult (Germany) as well as the technical universities in Copenhagen and Vienna has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to carry out the 1.5 million Euros GlobWetland Africa Project.

African wetlands are among the most productive and biologically-diverse ecosystems in the world, but they are also experiencing immense pressure from human activities – the most important being drainage for agriculture and settlement, excessive exploitation by local communities and improperly planned development activities.

Since 1971, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been the intergovernmental treaty providing the framework for national actions and international cooperation for the conservation and wise usage of wetlands. To date, 169 countries have adopted the Ramsar Convention.

The ESA and the Ramsar Secretariat have jointly launched GlobWetland Africa as a major initiative to provide Earth Observation (EO) methods and tools for major organisations involved in the implementation of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Africa. These tools will help the major players assess the conditions of wetlands under their areas of jurisdiction or study, and to better monitor their trends over time.

GlobWetland Africa will help African authorities make the best use of satellite-based information on wetland extent and condition for better measuring the ecological state of wetlands. This will increase their capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. The project will also organise regional training courses for the partner organisations and ensure technical assistance during a period long enough to allow for an appropriation of the provided methods, tools and products.

Ultimately, GlobWetland Africa aims to enhance the capacity of the African stakeholders to develop their own national and regional wetland observatories, and thereby act as a key contributor towards the development of a Global Wetlands Observing System (GWOS).

Read the full news article over at DHI GRAS

Christian Tottrup
Senior Project Manager, GRAS
cto@dhi-gras.com

At @Geocento, we have been working for the last couple of years on improving our web platform EarthImages.

Following user feedback we recently released a new, simpler, version for the “occasional” use. This version doesn’t require any registration and is exclusively focused on catalogue/archive imagery. It was recently used in the futurelearn “Monitoring Climate from Space” course.

The link to this new version is http://eilite.geocento.com

Here’s an example

In a nutshell:

  • EarthImages is a suite of web applications for finding, selecting and ordering the satellite imagery you need. It is free to use and we provide imagery at no extra costs.
  • The catalogue service currently supports access to over 30 million individual satellite footprints – spanning the last 33 years of free and commercial (SAR and Optical) imagery. We recently added the Sentinel 1 and 2 catalogues.
  • The future acquisition service makes use of our sister company’s (Taitus) technology (SaVoir) to accurately calculate the opportunities over an area of interest.

Source

(17 September 2015) Spacemetric and ÅAC Microtec have announced today their partnership on innovative technologies for smart downlinking of satellite Earth observation data.

The new Bluestone technology will optimise the downlink of imagery from satellites to ground stations addressing the problem of handling the ever increasing volumes of data generated in space.

Mikael Stern, Spacemetric’s CEO, commented “Bluestone is a critical enabler as constellations of imaging satellites face the challenge of getting high-value data back to Earth at a sustainable cost”. The collaboration between the two companies sees ÅAC Microtec providing expertise in onboard systems while Spacemetric brings long experience in ground-based image data management and processing.

“This innovation is a solution that bridges the traditional gap between space segment and ground segment systems”, noted Mikael Andersson, CEO of ÅAC Microtec, “and in doing so opens up a wide range of new opportunities that add value for the customer by saving costs on downlinking large amounts of data.” The technology underpinning Bluestone is the subject of a recent US patent application.

About Spacemetric

Spacemetric is a leading provider of image management solutions for satellite and airborne sensors, streamlining data access and processing from image capture to analysis. Spacemetric solutions are deployed worldwide in a wide range of operational applications with customers including Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, Airbus, ESA and Harris.

ÅAC Microtec AB

ÅAC Microtec is a leading supplier of compact, capable and reliable avionics for small satellites. To date, ÅAC Microtec systems have orbited the Earth onboard US, Japanese and European satellites.

(source: Spacemetric, ÅAC Microtec)