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e-GEOS, an ASI/Telespazio Company, has been awarded 3 years framework contracts for Emergency Mapping Services in Rush and non-Rush Modes, in support of crisis management, delivering geo information for Civil Protections and other crisis management end-users at European level.

The first contract (Rush), for a maximum amount of 7.6 M€ over 3 years, covers the on-demand and fast provision of geospatial information in support to emergency management activities immediately following an emergency event. The service provision is based on the processing and analysis, in rush mode, of:

(i) satellite and aerial image sensor data of varying spatial and spectral resolution; and
(ii) other geospatial raster and vector data sources.

The second contract (non-Rush), for a maximum amount of 2 M€ over 3 years, awarded in parallel to several consortium, covers the on-demand provision of geospatial information in support to emergency management activities during the phases of the emergency management cycle which are not related to the immediate response, i.e. not requiring rush mode delivery. In particular, information provision relates to the prevention, preparedness and reconstruction phases.

Decision makers and End users of these services are :

  • EU Joint Research Center,
  • EU Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (Global Security and Crisis Management Unit),
  • EU Member States,
  • the European Civil Protection Mechanism,
  • the EU Commission’s Directorates-General (DGs)
  • the international humanitarian aid agencies, such as UN World Food Program, UN-OCHA, etc.

e-GEOS Consortium includes e-GEOS (prime contractor, provider of the service infrastructure,), GAF (Germany), SIRS (France), ITHACA (Italy) as partners and INGV (Italy) as subcontractor.

e-GEOS Chief Executive Officer, Marcello MARANESI, commented : “this continuous investment of e-GEOS during 6 years in know-how and technologies has found a great recognition : being selected by the EU as the sole Rush provider. I am proud for the teams, that invested continuously themselves during so many years. They have covered more than 50 crises around the world over the last 2 years, on a 24/7 basis.”


Floods in Veneto, Bovolenta disaster extent map


Tripoli infrastructure and transportation map


Map derived from COSMO-SkyMed imagery ©ASI, processed and distributed by e‑GEOS
Map of flooding in Sendai district – Japan, derived from COSMO-SkyMed radar imagery from March 12, 2011. The floooded areas are in light blue with the COSMO-SkyMed 3m image in the background

More information at e-geos

Tromsø (Norway), January 11, 2012Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) ConocoPhillips Company [NYSE:COP] and e-GEOS (ASI/Telespazio) have signed a contract for monitoring ice formation and movement throughout the 2011-12 winter season.

The effort will make exclusive use of the unique capabilities of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed constellation of four VHR SAR satellites, owned by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and exploited commercially by e-GEOS, to provide coverage over the area of interest for the entirety of the season. The frequency and duration of the coverage will allow unprecedented detail on the evolution of sea ice conditions using high-resolution, X-band (9.6 GHz) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology.

By acquiring coverage for a full season with hundreds of SAR images, it will be possible for the first time to thoroughly analyze the patterns of ice formation, the characteristics of the ice under winter conditions, and the progression of the spring melt: how rapidly it occurs and the size and prevailing direction of the ice fragments.

The collaboration of KSAT, ConocoPhillips, and e-GEOS further exemplifies each company’s commitment to creating efficiencies and developing technologies to improve ice services in the Arctic.

“Satellite imagery with X-band SAR of ice in Arctic waters allows us to better detect, measure and track ice floes on a daily basis. In turn, it gives us better information of the size and movement of potential ice features, as well as increases our capability to forecast their trajectory”, say Khalid Soofi, Science Fellow, Remote Sensing, and Dom Berta, Manager Harsh Environment Technology, of ConocoPhillips Company.

“This new contract supports the position of KSAT as the lead provider of satellite-based services in the circumpolar Arctic region, where updated and reliable information about ice and ice conditions will become more and more important in the coming years”, says Jan Petter Pedersen, Vice President of KSAT.

“COSMO-SkyMed is showing all its potential in this highly demanding context of professional ice charting over the Arctic. The system is now adopted by industrial users that need reliable operational services in support of their field activities. Its unique revisit capability has demonstrated to be of paramount importance for surveillance operations, over marine areas as well as over land” says Marcello MARANESI, Chief Executive Officer of e-GEOS.

Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) is a world leading commercial satellite centre. Situated in Tromsø, Norway with ground stations in Tromsø, Svalbard, Dubai, Singapore, South Africa and the Antarctic, KSAT is ideally located for both Ground Network support and near real-time Earth Observation services. KSAT supports most of the commercial satellites in orbit and can provide timely imagery and derived information independent of satellite ownership. With a unique ground station network and experienced analysts, ‘near-real-time’ operational information can be provided within 30 minutes. KSAT’s multi-mission maritime monitoring services have been provided to coastguards, pollution-control authorities and oil companies since 1998. For more information, go to: www.ksat.no

ConocoPhillips is an integrated energy company with interests around the world. Headquartered in Houston, the company had approximately 29,700 employees, $155 billion of assets, and $247 billion of annualized revenues as of September 30, 2011. For more information, go to www.conocophillips.com.

e-GEOS is a joint venture of the Italian Space Agency (20%) and Telespazio (80%), a Finmeccanica/Thales company. With an overall revenue of about 80m€, and staff of 250 people, it provides a wide range of Geo-Information products, applications and services on the world-wide market, combining the unique capabilities of COSMO-SkyMed Constellation with other optical/radar satellite and aerial survey data. The COSMO-SkyMed Earth Observation Program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Italian Ministry of Defence, based on a constellation of four VHR SAR satellites, provides all-weather, day and night, world-wide radar data acquisitions.

Contacts:
KSAT: Paul Whitaker – paul@ksat.no ; Richard Hall – richard@ksat.no
e-GEOS: Giorgio APPONI – giorgio.apponi@e-geos.it ; Rémi ALQUIER – remi.alquier@e-geos.it

Press Release
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Rome, May 23 & 24

e- GEOS announces its annual International Conference will be held in Rome, Italy on May 23 and 24 – 2012.

Last year the event attracted 400 attendees from 40 countries and 5 continents.

“Developing new business relations will be our motto this year”, says e-GEOS CEO Marcello Maranesi, “because our attention will be fully focused on making this conference a business development event for our attendees”


Niger River Delta, Nigeria. Mosaic of COSMO-SkyMed images © ASI, processed by e-GEOS

Announcement.pdf

Following Pléiades 1 successful launch, Astrium GEO-Information Service is gearing up to provide 50 cm products to its customers

Back to origins

It all began back in 2001. The decision about the setting up of the Pléiades programme is the result of an in-depth study about the evolution of user needs. A cooperation programme was initiated between France and Italy, taking advantage of all the CNES Earth observation skills, to develop ORFEO, a dual Earth observation system with veryhigh resolution capacity, in which Pléiades (France) is the optical component and Cosmo-Skymed (Italy) is the radar component.

The French Space Agency, CNES, took over the responsibility of project manager for the Pléiades programme. Astrium was appointed prime contractor for the satellite manufacturing, interacting with Thales Alenia Space, who designed the optical instrument. In an agreement signed in 2008, the CNES appointed Astrium GEO-Information Services (formerly known as Spot Image) as the civilian operator and the exclusive worldwide distributor of Pléiades data.

Astrium GEO-Information Services is already exclusive distributor of the SPOT family data, and currently operates SPOT 4 and SPOT 5. The images taken from the SPOT 5 optical satellite have the benefit of combining a wide swath (60 kilometres) with a spatial resolution of 2.5 metres. This characteristic has made SPOT 5’s mission a huge success, providing users and customers with an excellent trade-off between coverage and resolution, for a right balance between the levelof information obtained and the cost to the user.

However, the needs of commercial and military users have progressively widened. They now also require images with increased resolution. The twin Pléiades satellites tie into this vision, adding local detail to the synoptic picture from SPOT. The system will deliver colour imagery products with a resolution of 50 centimetres combined with a 20-kilometre swath, the widest in their class of optical sub-metric satellites.

On December 17, 2011 UTC, Soyuz successfully launched the Pléiades 1 satellite from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), marking a new success for ESA (European Space Agency), CNES (French Space Agency) and Arianespace, who jointly manage the CSG, after its first flight from the launch base on 21 October 2011. The launcher lifted off at 02:02:30 UTC and satellite separation occurred at 02:58 UTC over Perth, Australia. The satellite’s solar panels deployed 30 seconds later.

Only 3 days after the launch, Pléiades 1 returned its first images. The first image acquired by an Earth observation satellite is also the moment when, for the first time, the instruments on board and the ground segment are activated. The collection capability, which includes satellite tasking, image acquisition, data reception and pre–processing, is checked from end to end.

Athens, Greece (resampled at 1 m).Copyright: CNES 2012 © – Distribution Astrium Services / Spot Image

Mid-January, the satellite reached its final orbit. The tasking function was activated bythe civilian operator, Astrium GEO-Information Services. Pléiades is now well positioned to start releasing the first products. The commissioning phase will last until early March, when all parameters and processing elements have been fine-tuned and tested to deliver reliably high-quality images.

Very-high resolution and reactivity

Pléiades 1 is the first of a two-satellite constellation. It will later be joined by Pléiades 2 (around twelve months after the first), operating on the same orbit but phased 180° from its twin. Added to their oblique viewing capability and exceptional agility, this orbit phasing allows the satellites to revisit any point on the globe daily—ideal for anticipating risks and managing crises effectively.

The Pléiades satellites’ gyros enable them to tilt very quickly along and across track to image different areas of interest. Each satellite will be able to collect imagery anywhere within an 800-km-wide ground strip, covering 200 kilometres in 11 seconds or 800 kilometres in 25 seconds, including stabilization time. That kind of performance results in a reduced average acquisition window for the users, allowing more images to be collected during the same pass: collection opportunities are more numerous, conflicts between contiguous requests are minimized.

The agility will also make it possible to image multiple targets (typically 15 targets over 1,000 km within a corridor of +/-30 degrees), collect large mosaics in a single pass (up to 100 × 100 km in the same pass), conduct stereo and tri-stereo viewing for accurate 3D applications, and support coastal, border or corridor surveillance to closely match any user’s needs.

The ground operations component is also organized with maximum responsiveness in mind. Work plans are uploaded to the satellite three times a day by three stations around the globe, making it possible to task requests up to two hours before satellite pass. This reduces the lead time between tasking requests and image acquisition to a minimum. Customers with receiving stations configured for direct tasking will be able to refine tasking plans at the last moment (30 minutes prior to satellite arrival above the cone) according to the latest weather forecasts or emergency requests.

Dubai, UAE (resampled at 5 m).Copyright: CNES 2012 © – Distribution Astrium Services / Spot Image

A lot of work has gone into designing image production systems. The fully automatic orthorectification process is capable of generating a 20 km x 20 km colour image in less than 30 minutes and a single-pass mosaic of 60 km x 60 km in two to three hours.
On the user side, everything from ordering through to data delivery has been made as flexible and easy as possible. New acquisitions, catalogue data, subscription offers, online monitoring services and more mean that imagery is just a click away, ready to use.

Next steps

The first of a new generation of satellites operated by Astrium Services, Pléiades 1 will be followed between 2012 and 2014 by SPOT 6, its twin Pléiades 2 and finally SPOT 7. As the end of SPOT 5 is now scheduled for mid-2015, the question was raised about how to continue delivering the service SPOT 5’s users have come to expect. This was the brief underpinning the design of SPOT 6 and SPOT 7. An in-depth market survey and careful canvassing to ascertain users’ expectations were conducted. Conclusions led to keep the best features of SPOT 5, retaining a 60-kilometre swath, while improving agility and product resolution (1.5 meters).

Astrium Services CEO Eric Beranger officially announced funding for the SPOT 6 & 7 programme in June 2009. This is the first time in the remote-sensing industry that a satellite has been built with entirely private funds, proving Astrium GEO-Information Services’ confidence in this market.

The two satellites are currently under development: the SPOT 6 optical instrument is now coupled with the satellite platform. After a phase of mechanical and environmental testing, SPOT 6 launch is scheduled for September 2012. SPOT 7integration has also started and will be ready for a launch in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Built around a similar architecture and phased on the same orbit, this constellation of 4 satellites, composed of Pléiades 1, Pléiades 2, SPOT 6 and SPOT 7 will ensure even better responsiveness and availability of 50-centimetre-to-1.5-metre products through to 2023. 

Casablanca, Morocco (full resolution). Copyright: CNES 2012 © – Distribution Astrium Services / Spot Image

More information at
Charlotte GABRIEL-ROBEZ
VHR product manager
GEO-Information Services
Astrium Services
5 rue des Satellites, BP 14359
F-31030 Toulouse Cedex 4 – France
Tel: +33 (0)5 62 19 40 40
www.astrium-geo.com

January 2012

GeoEye and ScanEx to Provide High-resolution Satellite Data for Russia’s Countrywide Cadastral Project

December 2011

Results of the 5th International Conference “Earth from Space – the Most Effective Solutions”

RS technologies for agriculture and agro-insurance: “Earth from Space…” issue #9 materials in free access

Pleiades 1 satellite launched. EADS-Astrium consortium will be another submeter resolution images supplier

“Earth from Space” association entitled to organize the next 6th International EFS Conference

Tropical Intact Forest Landscapes on Earth Occupy Less Than 4 mln sq. km.

The DMC Disaster Monitoring Constellation Augmentation

Application of space imagery data for investigation of economic activity consequences in the basin of the transboundary Argun River

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Rapideye contracted to cover China third year running. Rapideye overing Lithuania in Multi-Year contract

RAPIDEYE CONTRACTED TO COVER CHINA THIRD YEAR RUNNING

Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, December 7, 2011 – RapidEye, a leader in wide area, repetitive coverage of Earth through its constellation of satellites announced today that it has signed a contract with China’s Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) to cover almost five million square kilometers of China over the next few months. This is the third consecutive year that RapidEye was a successful bidder to cover China for the MLR.

“With its five satellites and the strongest satellite imagery collection capability to our markets, the RapidEye system performs extremely well when serving clients such as MLR,” commented Mr. Bing Sun, CEO of Beijing Eastdawn Information Technology Co. Ltd.(EDIT). “We strongly believe our partnership with RapidEye brings the best satellite technology available as well as service know-how to the Chinese market.”

“There was a tremendous amount of preparation by our Chinese distributor, EDIT to position us. The competition is getting more severe, but EDIT represented us well,” commented John Ahlrichs, Vice President of International Sales for RapidEye. “Of course, the sales process was made easier because we have proven to the MLR twice before that we are reliable and can deliver high quality data over wide areas on time or ahead of schedule.”

The agreement between RapidEye and the MLR would require a delivery of nearly five million square kilometers of China (more than 50% of the country) with less than 10% cloud cover. Some key areas that will prove a challenge are the traditionally cloudy areas of Tibet and the Southeastern provinces.

“With an order such as this, there’s really no better system than ours to deal with historically cloudy areas,” commented Massimiliano Vitale, RapidEye’s Chief Operating Officer. “We will never get the areas cloud free, but our system will have a better chance because of our quick return capabilities.” In anticipation of the order, RapidEye began imaging the area of interest (AOI) in early August. Currently the imaging campaign is scheduled for completion in later this month, earlier than in previous years.

Source

RAPIDEYE COVERS LITHUANIA IN MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT

5 Satellites Shine When Given Challenge of Cloudy Regions
Brandenburg / Havel, Germany, November 17, 2011 – RapidEye, a leader in wide area, repetitive coverage of Earth through its constellation of satellites announced today that a second full coverage of Lithuania has been delivered and accepted by the Institute of Aerial Geodesy (AGI) in Kaunas, Lithuania.

This fulfills two-thirds of a multi-year, full coverage contract that was negotiated last year.

“Since Lithuania is above 54 degrees north and experiences quite wet summers, it’s a cloudy region,” commented RapidEye’s Market Manager, Clemens Stromeyer. “This is a situation where our system really shines. It can repeatedly return to an area, which allows for a combination of images to be used for generating full country coverages with very little or no cloud cover during the vegetation season. This is of great benefit to our customers.”

The Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture plans to use RapidEye’s satellite images for monitoring agricultural land use and particularly for detection of abandoned agricultural land.

“Pan-sharpening of RapidEye’s multi-spectral five meter satellite imagery in combination with half meter aerial photography will enable detection of even smallest land cover changes,” commented Gintaras Rumšas, Technical Director of AGI. “This will be an important source of information for institutions responsible for implementation of strict EU requirements related to agricultural subsidies. Lithuanian authorities will implement targeted policy measures towards reduction of abandoned lands by flexible tax-compensation policy, so it is crucial to obtain regular updates on land use changes across the whole country.”

Environmental monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency and maintenance of nature protection areas network will be yet another priority area for the use of high resolution satellite imagery.

AGI currently takes part in a ICT-PSP project “HLanData”, which – among other activities – is focusing on the development of practical solutions for implementation of an integrated land monitoring system in a trans-boundary pilot area of Latvia and Lithuania.

“Based on experience of the ongoing FP7 project ‘Geoland 2’, we are developing specifications and methodologies for production of a high resolution land cover database along with an interactive on-line analysis and reporting service, which will be presented as a prototype of land monitoring service to public authorities of both countries,” noted Dr. Gediminas Vaitkus, Head of AGI Applied Research Center. “RapidEye imagery will be used as the major source of information in this project, with a potential of becoming key element for a long-term land monitoring program in eastern Baltic.”

The third and final coverage of Lithuania to complete the contract is scheduled for delivery to AGI by this time next year.

To view the full archive of RapidEye imagery, visit EyeFind and discover how many square kilometers of fresh data from around the globe are available from Lithuania or any other country! Enter your parameters and immediately find what you need. http://www.rapideye.de/products/eyefind.htm

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December

PCI Geomatics to Release 32-bit Version of Flagship Geomatica Software Suite

Geomatica 2012 Service Pack 1 Released

PCI Geomatics completes beta development of its ArcGIS Synthetic Aperature Radar tools

November

PCI Geomatics Recognizes Academic Excellence of Carleton University Students

PCI Distributor Geo-Alliance presenting GXL Workshop at the Earth from Space Conference – held in Moscow, Russia

Geomatica 10.3.2 Service Pack 2 Released for 32 bit systems

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(2011-12-21) Metria have on a contract from the World Bank and financed by the European Space Agency mapped rain forest in north western Liberia.

Metria have for the World Bank and financed by the European Space Agency performed a land cover classification of two forest areas, approximately 738,500 ha in north-western Liberia. The work has been conducted together with the Austrian consultancy firm GeoVille to support the government of Liberia and the World Bank with data to implement monitoring of and management for sustainable use of forest resources. Sustainable forest use includes resource extraction, social- and cultural elements as well as nature conservation measures. The EO products of the project are very well suited for the identification of untouched forest areas, with presumably high biodiversity and conservation value. The products will set a benchmark for the level of accuracy, thematic as well as spatial, available for regional forest management and planning in Liberia and West Africa. The products delivered are land cover classification including density classes of the forest as well as land cover of the agricultural domain and a digital elevation model.

The project and the monitoring scheme was presented in November 2011 at the Masasi workshop, an annually occurring dialogue platform for government representatives and researches working with natural resource management in southern Tanzania.

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(2011-12-21) Metria works for WWF, with vegetation mapping and environmental monitoring in the Mtwara Development Corridor in Southern Tanzania. The keystone species of the area is the african elephant currently under great preassure due to increased poaching in the area.

Metria works for WWF on the design of a Wildlife Corridor and an environmental monitoring system in the Mtwara Development Corridor in Southern Tanzania. The monitoring schemes focus on the integrity of the Eastern Selous Niassa Wildlife Corridor, an important conservation goal in WWF’s strategy for the protection of elephants and forests in the Ruvuma wilderness. Metria have within the scope of the project reviewed various monitoring schemes in Tanzania and abroad. The project has resulted in a modified and customized approach for the monitoring of the Mtwara Development Corridor.

The approach blends a combination of field efforts with well as HR and VHR imagery classification combined with vegetation change analysis. Within the framework of the project a vegetation map of the protected areas for the Selous Niassa Wildlife corridor have been produced, greatly enhancing the knowledge base of the land cover in existing protected areas.

The project and the monitoring scheme was presented in November 2011 at the Masasi workshop, an annually occurring dialogue platform for government representatives and researches working with natural resource management in southern Tanzania.

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Kongsberg Spacetec (KSPT) as prime contractor has successfully conducted the factory acceptance test for the Sentinels 1,2 and 3 Demodulation and Front End Processing System (DFEP).

The DFEP consists of the well proven KSPT products MEOS™ Capture HRDFEP, MEOS™ Capture HRTG, and MEOS Control.

For information about our: MEOS™ Data Acquisition systems

In addition it includes the Data Gate & Archive unit manufactured by the Italian company Advanced Computer Systems (ACS).

The acceptance proved that integrating well known and reliable products fulfills the high quality requirements from the customer (European Space Agency). The Sentinels require high performance during operations, and the systems proved to meet these strong requirements.

For more information about the contract: KSPT Modems to ESA Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 Satellites

Sentinels 1,2,3

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