Skip to content

(5 January 2012) MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a provider of essential information solutions, announced today that it has signed an agreement valued at Cdn$ 3 million with EarthView Image Inc., for the provision of RADARSAT distribution rights for three years.

RADARSAT products and services will be available to support government and commercial users in China in areas such as land use management, environmental monitoring, subsidence monitoring, and disaster response.

About MDA

MDA provides advanced information solutions that capture and process vast amounts of data, produce essential information, and improve the decision making and operational performance of business and government organizations worldwide.

Focused on markets and customers with strong repeat business potential, MDA delivers a broad spectrum of information solutions, ranging from complex operational systems, to tailored information services, to electronic information products.

About EV-Image

EV-Image specializes in 3 D visualization software and satellite and aerial image processing services. EV-Image was established in 2004 by SuperMap Software Co., Ltd., the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other investors. The company currently has 270 employees.

(source: MDA)

(13 January 2012) After a year in service, the German Earth observation satellite TanDEM-X, together with its twin satellite, TerraSAR-X, have completely mapped the entire land surface of Earth for the first time.

The data is being used to create the world’s first single-source, high-precision, 3D digital elevation model of Earth. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) controls both radar satellites, generates the elevation model and is responsible for the scientific use of TanDEM-X data.

The TanDEM-X mission – running like clockwork

It is reminiscent of ballet on ice; throughout the last year, Germany’s radar satellites, TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X, have been moving through space in close formation, at times just a few hundred metres apart. Strip by strip, they have recorded Earth from different angles and transmitted high-resolution radar data from their orbit at an altitude of 514 kilometres down to the three ground stations – Kiruna (Sweden), Inuvik (Canada) and O’Higgins (Antarctica). “The mission is running better than expected and there have been no unscheduled interruptions in the programmed formation flight of the two satellites. All safety mechanisms are functioning robustly and in a stable manner,” enthuses Manfred Zink, project manager for the TanDEM-X ground segment at DLR. Over the course of 2011, the distance between the satellites was progressively reduced down to the minimum permitted value of 150 metres.

‘Radar eyes’ working with millimetric accuracy

This satellite mission is the first of its kind; it remains unique and is highly complex, even for experienced engineers. “Following the launch of TanDEM-X on 21 June 2010, there was a six-month test phase, during which we subjected the satellite and its behaviour in near-Earth orbit to intense scrutiny and carried out our calibration work,” Zink recalls. During this time, TanDEM-X commenced formation flying with its identical partner satellite, TerraSAR-X, which was launched in 2007. On 14 December 2010, the operational part of its mission began, collecting data for the high-precision elevation model.

The radar system views the ground from two different points in space, achieving ‘depth perception’ in a manner similar to binocular vision in humans. “The generation of accurate elevation data calls for precise coordination of data from and between both satellites,” explains Gerhard Krieger, systems engineer for the TanDEM-X mission. Differences, for example in the cable lengths on the two radar instruments, as well as the distance between the two satellites, need to be calibrated very precisely. “This is a truly enormous challenge when you consider that a millimetre of variation can cause up to one metre of elevation error,” says Krieger.

The strips of terrain recorded by the satellites are processed into elevation models measuring 50 by 30 kilometres. Due to the ultra-precise calibration, when this ‘basic data’ is compiled at the end of the process to generate a global 3D map, it is already of very high quality. By mid-2013, TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X will have imaged the complete land surface area of Earth – roughly 150 million square kilometres – several times. The intention is to create an exceptionally accurate, global and homogeneous 3D elevation model that promises to be of equal interest for commercial and scientific purposes.

Data quality depends on ground reflectance

Initially, at least two complete coverage cycles of Earth’s land surface were planned. Some parts, one example being the vast majority of Australia’s landmass, were recorded by the satellite duo with sufficient quality during the first overflight. “The level of precision depends on how well the ground reflects the radar pulses transmitted – and subsequently received – by the satellites,” states Manfred Zink. For example, the Sahara is more difficult to image because the signal literally ‘sinks into the sand’ and is lost. For regions of dense vegetation, such as rain forests, additional imagery and careful adjustment of the distance between the satellites are necessary. “We are going to be left with a few blank areas on the map, but we do of course seek to minimise these gaps,” states Zink as he thinks about the coming months.

Better understanding Earth as a system

“We want to gain a better understanding of Earth as a system and to employ the data for climate and traffic research, for example,” says Irena Hajnsek, scientific coordinator for the TanDEM-X mission. In 2011, she gave the ‘green light’ for 166 of the research applications submitted to DLR. “Most of these originated in the USA and Germany. The TanDEM-X capabilities are to be used to address questions of land usage and vegetation, hydrology, geology and glaciology,” explains Hajnsek. The two Earth observation satellites can also generate information about the height of the snowline or the change in ice masses of the two polar regions, as well as provide geological maps of regions subject to volcanic and/or earthquake activity. The speed of ships or road vehicles can be measured, as can changes in the natural world. The work performed by these two radar satellites is also valuable for agriculture. “Based on the height and structure of a plant – such as rapeseed, for example – it is possible to draw conclusions about its quality and biomass,” states Hajnsek.

About the mission

TanDEM-X is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with funds from the German Ministry of Economics and Technology in the form of a public-private partnership with Astrium GmbH. DLR is responsible for the scientific use of TanDEM-X data, planning and implementiation of the mission as well as controlling the two satellites and generating the digital elevation model. Astrium built the satellite and shares the costs for the development and use. Commercial marketing of TanDEM-X data is managed by Astrium Services’ GEO-Information Division (formerly Infoterra GmbH), a subsidiary of Astrium.

Source DLR and Spacenews

[HANOI] Japanese experts are to help Vietnam build its first earth-observation satellites in an effort to help the South-East Asian country plan for the effects of climate change and natural disasters.

Last November, Japan announced that it will provide a 40-year loan of about US$93 million (7.2 billion Japanese Yen) to Vietnam for equipment and capacity development connected to the bilateral satellite initiative.

The first two satellites are due to be launched in 2017 and 2020, according to Shohei Matsuura, senior advisor with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Hanoi.

Matsuura said the satellites will track data that will provide background information for future industrial development and land-use planning, as well as support Vietnam’s national efforts to prepare for climate change and natural disasters.

“Climate change is one of the biggest obstacles to development in South-East Asia,” Matsuura told SciDev.Net. “We want to assist Vietnam to take measures against climate change and natural disasters, and this will also be helpful to the surrounding countries.”

Last year, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand were ravaged by heavy flooding that claimed hundreds of lives and caused millions of dollars in damages.

Vietnam is believed to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. It experiences heavy rainfall and has a low-lying coastline. Nearly four in five Vietnamese people live within 100 kilometres of the coast, and natural disasters kill more than 450 people each year, the UN says.

The satellites are just one component of Vietnam’s preparation to become a regional leader in space technology. State media reported in November that a National Space Centre will be built outside Hanoi, at a cost of more than US$600 million, with the goal of providing a research facility for communications, weather forecasting and search and rescue activities

Reached by phone last week, officials at the state-run Space Technology Institute in Vietnam declined SciDev.Net’s request for comment.

The United States has also expressed an interest in helping Vietnam to develop its space programme. In December, Michael O’Brien, associate administrator for international and interagency relations for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the first senior NASA official to have done so.

During his visit, O’Brien signed a statement of intent with Vietnamese officials affirming “strong bilateral interest in cooperation on space-based research, including Earth science, weather research, remote sensing, and educational activities”, according to the US Embassy in Vietnam.

Source

GeoSUR, a Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) open access and web-based initiative for geospatial data-sharing, has received a boost at the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi (12-15 December).

The conference “Networks of Networks” working group accepted GeoSUR – one of the first such regional networks in the developing world – as a “case model”. “This could help to use the lessons we learned as a starting point to build similar networks in other developing regions,” Eric Van Praag, coordinator of GeoSUR, told SciDev.Net.“We can help kickstart a network like this in other parts of the world and probably get some funding or support,” explained Van Praag.

Established in 2007 by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) — a multilateral financial institution that supports sustainable development and comprises 16 LAC countries, Spain and Portugal and 14 private regional banks — the initiative is the first portal to offer access to spatial information for all the countries of the region in one place. The information is generated by more than 60 participating LAC agencies from — ministries, research centres, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), geographical institutes and private companies — and includes regional base maps; infrastructure, land use, land cover and protected area maps; and aerial imagery.

Presenting its five-year report to the Abu Dhabi meeting, the initiative said that 80 per cent of institutions using GeoSUR searched and accessed data, and between 30 and 40 per cent consulted it to support government and institutional decision-making and to download data. Examples of uses for which the system had been used included locating suitable areas to build shelters in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, visualisation of Peru-Bolivia border maps to evaluate the feasibility of undertaking cross-border projects, assessment of the impact on infrastructure projects on protected areas and indigenous communities in Colombia, updating drainage network maps in Ecuador, and development of a flood and landslide hazard map in Venezuela.

“This is an evolving network, and we are putting more and more information into it,” said Van Praag.“GeoSUR is a public tool, so if you have your own GIS system and you want to do some analysis you can actually download it to your computer,” he said. “This could give scientists the chance to collaborate and hopefully build things from the information they download and give the result of their work back to GeoSUR so it can be shared with other users.”

Original article Published by: Science and Development Network

OrbView-3 satellite images collected around the world between 2003 and 2007 by Orbital Imaging Corporation (now GeoEye) at up to one-meter resolution can now be downloaded at no cost through USGS EarthExplorer.

“This is a significant addition to the USGS archive and a valuable resource for the global science community,” said Matthew Larsen, Associate Director, Climate and Land Use Change. “Free access through the USGS archive amplifies the utility of the data, making it feasible for many researchers to study large areas at this level of accuracy.” “Partnering with GeoEye brings forward an important commercial resource in response to the need for authoritative, information-rich data about the land surface of the planet,” said Bruce Quirk, USGS Land Remote Sensing Program manager.

The OrbView-3 dataset includes 180,000 scenes of one meter resolution panchromatic, black and white, and four meter resolution multi-spectral (color and infrared) data, providing high resolution data useful for a wide range of science applications.“The Land Cover Office of the Netherlands is already using this OrbView-3 data as a critical input to developing a global land cover data file,” Quirk continued. “In addition, the high resolution of this data permits validation of land cover categories produced by moderate resolution data.”

The initial data format available is GeoEye’s Basic Enhanced (L1B) product. However, processing to a systematically terrain corrected (L1Gst) product is also available on demand. Eventually, the entire data set will be processed to the L1Gst level.The OrbView-3 dataset joins over 170 separate collections of aerial photography and space-based data cataloged in the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive and available through USGS EarthExplorer.

Original article Published by: U.S. Geological Survey

The Ziyuan III satellite has sent back its first set of visual data days after the orbiter was successfully launched on Jan. 9 to produce high-resolution imagery for civilian use.

According to a statement released Thursday by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, the administration has made hi-res imagery based on analysis of the data and posted it on tianditu.cn, a map website made by the administration with independent intellectual property rights.

The visual data covered an area of 210,000 square kilometers that included the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, said the statement.

The image quality produced from this data is even higher than that achieved by overseas satellites with the same resolution, said the statement, adding that ongoing tests on the satellite might further improve its image quality.

The satellite is expected to compete with its foreign counterparts that currently dominate the country’s hi-res remote-sensing and mapping market.

According to the center, the satellite is tasked with offering services to aid the country’s land-resources surveys, natural-disaster prevention, agriculture development, water-resources management, and urban planning.

The orbiter was developed and produced by the China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is maintaining its position that it will cancel the planned 2013 launching of a series of Earth observation satellites co-financed with the European Commission unless the commission commits to financing their operation beyond 2014, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said Jan. 9.

At a press conference at ESA headquarters here and in a subsequent interview, Dordain said the agency has retained legal ownership of the Sentinel 1A, Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 3A satellites until they are in their operating orbits. As the sole owner, he said, ESA has no need to seek European Commission approval to leave the spacecraft on the ground.

The Sentinel satellites are part of Europe’s multibillion-dollar Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program, on which ESA and the Brussels-based commission of the 27-nation European Union (EU) have together spent some 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion).

ESA was charged with designing and launching the satellites, with the commission to take over the program, and finance its operations and future development. The commission has estimated that it will cost some 5.8 billion euros to maintain and operate GMES between 2014 and 2020.

That plan came unhinged in mid-2011 when the commission decided to remove GMES from the multiyear budget it is preparing for 2014 to 2020. In November, the commission proposed that the 27 European Union nations agree among themselves to fund GMES, with contributions based on each nation’s gross domestic product.

ESA and individual European Union governments, as well as prospective GMES users, have been sharply critical of this scenario. They say that by making GMES an intergovernmental program requiring a fresh set of agreements among nations, the program’s future has been cast into doubt.

ESA’s 19 member governments and the European Council, representing the EU’s 27 government members, reiterated these concerns in a Dec. 6 resolution.

GMES, the resolution says, is “under the responsibility and management of the European Commission.” The resolution also acknowledges that, unlike Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite system, no one as yet has assumed formal ownership of GMES. Galileo is owned by the European Union.

The resolution calls for ESA and the European Commission to “complete an assessment” of GMES ownership as soon as possible, and “urges the European Commission to take the necessary and timely actions to secure the continuity of the programme and reassure GMES users and stakeholders of its commitment to the GMES programme.”

The resolution came six weeks after ESA’s ruling council wrote the European Commission saying ESA could not finance GMES in the place of the commission.

“The decision on the launch of the first GMES Sentinel satellites is in 2012,” the letter, dated Oct. 27, says. “In the absence at that time of EU commitments for the availability of operational funding beyond mid-2014 we will instruct ESA not to launch the satellites.”

Seeking to lower the temperature of the debate, Dordain on Jan. 9 said the council letter should not be seen as a threat to the commission, but rather as a responsible use of expensive satellite assets.

“Launching … the Sentinels without there being a single euro devoted to their exploitation — frankly, it would be a crime,” Dordain said. “It’s not my place to make threats. But I do have to explain to the institutions responsible for GMES that it would be totally unreasonable to launch the satellites … only to switch them off because we don’t have the money to operate them. And it is true that, today, we don’t have the money to operate them.”

ESA has already contracted with the Arianespace launch consortium for a Soyuz launch for the first Sentinel satellite in 2013 and has the necessary funds to commit to this launch and to the launch of the other two “A” models of the Sentinel spacecraft, also planned for 2013.

Given that the European Commission’s preparations for its 2014 to 2020 budget are likely to stretch into 2013, the commission is unlikely to be able to commit to GMES financing in 2012. Dordain said that is OK.

ESA, he said, is not asking for a financial commitment in 2012, but for some kind of “guarantee that there will be someone to finance operations.”

“Where would my credibility be if I launch them and then wash my hands of the program — without knowing who the satellites belong to or who will operate them — and consider that I’ve done my job? No, a satellite costs a certain sum of money so that it will be operated. Not to turn them on in orbit would be even more problematic than to leave them on the ground. That’s our message.”

RELATED ARTICLES
“New Pressure To Add GMES Back to Long-term Budget”:
“European GMES Program at Risk as Battle Over Funding Escalates”:
“Researchers Call Plan To End GMES Commitment a ‘Disaster’”:
“European Commission Urged To Put GMES Back in Budget”:

by By Peter B. de Selding
Source Spacenews

A review of crisis response using Earth observation techniques is now available online. The Respond Atlas outlines global events where remote sensing assisted in preparing for and responding to disasters and humanitarian crises.

The Respond project began in 2004 as a European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. During its five years of service, hundreds of maps were produced to assist in relief efforts linked to crises such as the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, the 2004 Asian tsunami and even Sudan’s refugee situation in Darfur.

The project has recently released a portfolio of its services, called the Respond Atlas.

“Respond has successfully demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of using satellite-derived services to support the international humanitarian community,” said Francesco Pisano, Manager of the UN Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT).

“It was able to provide important information for crisis response operations and to open the way to the use of geospatial information in decision-making processes in humanitarian contexts.”

Respond’s users came from five main groups: EU bodies, UN organisations, international humanitarian aid organisations (like the Red Cross), donor governments and international non-governmental organisations.

Over the course of the project, more than 38 user organisations signed up to receive Respond services.

The service provided mapping far beyond the disaster response phase by supporting recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. Earth observation-derived mapping was used for years following the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the products were also used for resettlement.

The maps were produced by a network of public and private value-adding centres such as DLR ZKI (Germany), SERTIT (France) and Geneva-based UNITAR/UNOSAT. The network was led by UK-based Astrium Geo-Information Services.

Respond also worked closely with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’, an international collaboration that gives rescue and aid workers rapid access to satellite data in the event of a disaster.

Not all disasters have a rapid onset. Some, such as drought and famine, can grow for months before being recognised as a crisis needing international intervention. Once an emergency was recognised and assistance requested, Respond provided reference mapping from archived satellite imagery to compare to newly acquired satellite data specifically tasked to monitor the event.

Satellite maps also supported programmes to help internally displaced persons and refugees. Customised maps were delivered to UN refugee agency and other non-governmental organisations for the planning and placement of shelters, as well as life-line services such as power, water and sanitation. Maps were also used for rehearsing evacuation plans.

Today, the members of the Respond consortium are actively engaged in realising Earth observation capacities for crisis response with leading providers from Europe involved in the European Commission’s GMES SAFER project.

In October, the team provided crisis mapping following the Charter’s activation after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey.

Continued availability of Earth observation data is prerequisite for the continuity of crisis mapping services in the long term. The upcoming Sentinel missions – developed specifically for the operational needs of the GMES programme – are essential to the supply of rapid multisensor coverage over disaster-stricken areas.

Original article Published by ESA and processed by UN-Spider

On 23 November 2011, over 30 years of archived data from the US Landsat Earth-observing satellites became available, free of charge. The majority of these products are unique to ESA’s (European Space Agency) archive and have never before been accessible anywhere else by the scientific user community.

In its archives, ESA holds around two million products that cover Europe and North Africa. The total amount of data available is worth about 450 terabytes – that’s equivalent to about 900 000 hours of audio recorded at CD quality. ESA has been acquiring Landsat data at European stations since the 1970s.

ESA has been acquiring Landsat data at European stations since the 1970s.

“The missions were the main data source for many years during the 1980s when Earth observation started at ESA’s ESRIN centre in Italy,” said Gunther Kohlhammer, Head of the Ground Segment Department.

ESA revised its Earth observation data policy in 2010 to adapt to the “Joint Principles for a Sentinel Data Policy”. This policy was approved by ESA Member States participating in the GMES Space Component Programme, and supports the concept of providing free and open access to data.

To access the data, users can submit a brief project description and request data at “EOPI”: http://eopi.esa.int/esa/esa?cmd=aodetail&aoname=landsat

ESA then assigns the project a quota based on the system’s current processing capacity. When the data are ready, the user will receive directions for online retrieval.

In order to allow improved and faster access, ESA will soon begin gradually to process all data into an online archive for users to access independently. Owing to the vast amount of data, this process will take about two years.

ESA’s ESRIN centre, Italy

The Landsat series goes back to 1972, with Landsat-5 and -7 currently in orbit. Landsat-8 is due for launch by early 2013.

The 40-year-old Landsat programme is jointly managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey. ESA supports the Landsat series as a Third Party Mission, meaning it uses its ground infrastructure and expertise to acquire, process and distribute Landsat data to users.

“It is great finally to open the archives. We are keen to get the data to the users – especially in preparation for Sentinel-2, which is built on the heritage and knowledge of 40 years of Landsat,” says Bianca Hoersch, Third Party Mission Manager.

Source GMES.Info]=631&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=e005486b755807faa11bb02364489d8f

December 2011, Rome, Italy – UNOSAT and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch of the World Food Programme have decided to increase their cooperation in the area of geospatial information for crisis preparedness and response.

WFP, the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger and bringing relief to millions of people during crisis and emergencies, makes use of geographic information systems and solutions to optimise its work and efficiency. The work of UNOSAT in satellite derived analysis and advanced applied research in GIS solutions is a natural match for WFP geo-information requirements.

Since 2003 WFP operational staff in the field have access to the mapping products released by UNOSAT’s Humanitarian Rapid Mapping service. The implementation of UNOSAT new strategy dubbed “data in hand” has been the opportunity to review and strengthen the working relationship between UNOSAT and WFP. In this framework, UNOSAT extended to WFP free access to FirstLook, a commercial on-line service giving access to very high-resolution satellite imagery over crisis areas. This was done in a move to provide WFP for a few months with a free trial of this technology that UNOSAT analysts use daily to produce humanitarian and human security information products.

Furthermore, WFP and UNOSAT have agreed to work together to expand their cooperation in information exchange, data sharing, and joint geospatial products. The Chief of WFP Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch and the Manager of UNOSAT agreed to develop these areas of collaboration further in 2012 with the view of establishing a formal agreement during the same year.

Photo: courtesy of WFP / copyright WFP/David Gross

Source