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The 2016 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference will take place in EUMETSAT’s home town of Darmstadt in Germany from 26 to 30 September 2016. This is particularly fitting as 2016 sees the 30th anniversary of EUMETSAT’s establishment in 1986.

In Germany, Darmstadt holds the official title “City of Science” and is also known as the “City of Weather, Space and Science”, as it is a major centre of scientific institutions, universities and high technology companies and the home town of EUMETSAT and the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of ESA.

The EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference is a forum that brings together meteorologists, scientists and researchers from around the world to share their experience and knowledge during plenary, poster and workshop sessions. In 2016, the conference will discuss advances in nowcasting and short-range numerical weather prediction (“limited area modelling”), marine meteorology and oceanography, amongst other topics and have a special session on the Arctic challenge.

The performances of short-range weather forecasting systems of the National Meteorological Services need to continue to improve to fulfil the increasing demand for accurate nowcasting services and to deliver timely warnings that help save lives and reduce losses to property and infrastructure. Indeed, these requirements are further growing due to our increasingly weather-sensitive global economy and vulnerable society. In response, new generation geostationary satellites such as Meteosat Third Generation will deliver even more diverse, accurate and timely observations from space which can be fed into short-range numerical weather prediction models and provide forecasters with critical inputs to their challenging tasks.

As the needs of the users of weather services continue to grow, they are now beginning to encompass “environmental” prediction of air quality and ocean and climate services. The role and use of satellite observations in these areas will be topics addressed at the conference.

The session on the Arctic challenge acknowledges the growing interest in the Arctic region and its critical importance for short, medium and extended range forecasting in our changing climate. It will discuss progress made in improved weather and environmental prediction services for this region.

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The results of the joint NEREUS-ESA project Improving Copernicus among Local and Regional Authorities will be presented on Tuesday 28th of June 2016 at the European Parliament, during an event under the auspices of Patrizia Toia, Member of European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the ITRE Committee.

European local and regional authorities (LRAs) are responsible for territorial management and environmental policy implementation. Information gained by COPERNICUS Sentinel satellites can provide an effective support in this respect. However, this opportunity is not always fully known or readily exploited. Through this project, NEREUS and ESA joined forces in order to familiarize LRAs with Sentinel-based potential applications, discuss roadblocks and potential recommendations to overcome them.

Draft programme

REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY

Tech giants Apple and Alphabet (Google), considered to be the world’s two most valuable companies, have both recently sought to strengthen their spatial data capture capabilities with strategic investments into new spatial technologies.

The ABC of satellite imagery

Alphabet, the parent company behind Google, has invested in spatial data capture by planning the launch of a constellation of Earth observation satellites for next-generation mapping and geospatial applications. Google has announced its Skybox Imaging group, a which provides commercial high-resolution Earth observation satellite imagery, high-definition video, and analytics services, was re-branded as Terra Bella and will oversee the ambitious new plans.

Founded in 2009, Skybox Imaging was acquired by Google in 2014 for $500 million after having raised a total of U.S. $91 million of private capital. The company launched its first satellite, SkySat-1, in November 2013, followed by SkySat-2 in July 2014.

“We are building an entirely new class of imaging satellites,” notes the brand new Terra Bella website. “We’ve developed a high-resolution, small satellite platform capable of rapid response, high-resolution imagery at a fraction of the cost of traditional imaging satellites.”

“We also use a two-dimensional sensor array with a proprietary image filter to capture a higher quality image by taking multiple frames per second and stitching them on the ground. This also gives us the ability to capture the first-ever commercial high-resolution video of Earth from a satellite.”

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

On the other hand, Apple has recently shown an interest in surveying technology, with the establishment of a patent for a new LiDAR sensor.

The patent, entitled “3D depth point cloud from timing flight of 2D scanned light beam pulses”, specifies hardware and functional processes of a new type of LiDAR sensor. The Apple design usss a fixed mirror, a scanning mirror, a photodetector and a laser emitter.

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(21 March 2016) The “Big Data from Space” conference was held from the 15th to the 17th of March 2016 at the auditorio de Tenerife (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain), being co-organized by the European Commission, ESA, Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC) and the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen).

The proceedings of the conference are now available, consisting of a collection of 108 short papers corresponding to the oral and poster presentations presented at the conference. They provide a snapshot of the current research activities, developments, and initiatives in Big Data from Space.

Big Data processing is becoming a key topic in the Earth Observation data management, being collected by space-borne and ground-based sensors. These data are qualified as ‘big data’ given the sheer volume of sensed data, their high velocity, their variety, as well as their veracity.

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RICHMOND, BC, March 29, 2016 /CNW/ – MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (“MDA” or the “Company”) (TSX:MDA), a global communications and information company, today announced that it has been awarded two contracts with a total value of several million dollars from DigitalGlobe Inc. to provide new ground station solutions to two international customers. The ground stations will receive and process imagery and data from DigitalGlobe’s satellite constellation, and are also configurable to receive and process data from the RADARSAT-2 Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, enabling future integration of electro-optical and radar imagery capabilities.

MDA’s proven design for mobile and fixed ground stations provides operators with local control, satellite data reception, and the option to process data in near real-time or send it to archive for future use. The ground stations maximize the advantages of MDA’s modular multi-satellite ground station infrastructure and rapid upgrade capability and can be extended to support additional satellites.

Norman Hannaford, the general manager responsible for the ground station business said, “These contracts reinforce MDA’s position of delivering operational ground system solutions for the world’s most advanced remote sensing satellites.”

About MDA

MDA is a global communications and information company providing operational solutions to commercial and government organizations worldwide.

MDA’s business is focused on markets and customers with strong repeat business potential, primarily in the Communications sector and the Surveillance and Intelligence sector. In addition, the Company conducts a significant amount of advanced technology development.

MDA’s established global customer base is served by more than 4,800 employees operating from 11 locations in the United States, Canada, and internationally.

The Company’s common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “MDA

Related Websites

Crowne Plaza, Brussels, Belgium on the 26th and 27th of April 2016

As an integral part of the stakeholder consultation process in preparation of the publication of the European Space Strategy, the European Commission has initiated an action to ensure the fully-fledged development of the Copernicus Value Chain. The ultimate objective is of the workshop is to obtain a clearer view of the Copernicus ecosystem as well as to properly identify the barriers to entry and key enablers for market uptake so as to allow the Copernicus program to produce all the expected benefits.

The workshop aims at identifying specific needs and expectations from the widest possible range of stakeholders and communities to foster the full development of the Copernicus Value Chain. It will gather a mix of representatives from the Copernicus ecosystem, actors from the information technology industry and big data domain, as well as existing and potential end-users of Copernicus data and information from a variety of industrial sectors. Two themes will be particularly addressed: data dissemination platforms for Copernicus and market uptake of Copernicus, including support to companies in the EO downstream sector.

For more information and to register, please visit.

BRINGING SPACE TO EARTH
30 May – 03 June 2016
The Hague, The Netherlands

Registration for the fourth edition of European Space Solutions open!

Hosted by the 2016 Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU, the conference brings business and policy makers together with users and developers of space-based solutions for five inspiring days of talks, workshops and networking. Don’t miss this chance to learn about new possibilities and how they are fuelling game-changing innovation!

PROGRAMME

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As of April 1st 2016, all Earth imagery from a prolific Japanese remote sensing instrument operating aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft since late 1999 is now available to users everywhere at no cost.

The public will have unlimited access to the complete 16-plus-year database for Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, which images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER’s database currently consists of more than 2.95 million individual scenes. The content ranges from massive scars across the Oklahoma landscape from an EF-5 tornado and the devastating aftermath of flooding in Pakistan, to volcanic eruptions in Iceland and wildfires in California.

Previously, users could access ASTER’s global digital topographic maps of Earth online at no cost, but paid METI a nominal fee to order other ASTER data products.

In announcing the change in policy, METI and NASA cited ASTER’s longevity and continued strong environmental monitoring capabilities. Launched in 1999, ASTER has far exceeded its five-year design life and will continue to operate for the foreseeable future as part of the suite of five Earth-observing instruments on Terra.

“We anticipate a dramatic increase in the number of users of our data, with new and exciting results to come,” said Michael Abrams, ASTER science team leader at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, home to ASTER’s U.S. science team. ASTER data are processed into products using algorithms developed at JPL and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan. A joint U.S./Japan science team validates and calibrates the instrument and data products.

ASTER is used to create detailed maps of land surface temperature, reflectance and elevation. The instrument acquires images in visible and thermal infrared wavelengths, with spatial resolutions ranging from about 50 to 300 feet (15 to 90 meters). ASTER data cover 99 percent of Earth’s landmass and span from 83 degrees north latitude to 83 degrees south. A single downward-looking ASTER scene covers an area on the ground measuring about 37-by-37 miles (60-by-60-kilometers).

ASTER uses its near-infrared spectral band and downward- and backward-viewing telescopes to create stereo-pair images, merging two slightly offset two-dimensional images to create the three-dimensional effect of depth. Each elevation measurement point in the data is 98 feet (30 meters) apart.

The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provide scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and changes over time. Example applications include monitoring glacial advances and retreats, monitoring potentially active volcanoes, identifying crop stress, determining cloud morphology and physical properties, evaluating wetlands, monitoring thermal pollution, monitoring coral reef degradation, mapping surface temperatures of soils and geology, and measuring surface heat balance.

ASTER data are now available via electronic download from NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) at the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and from AIST. To access the data, visit:

https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/dataset_discovery/aster

or

https://gbank.gsj.jp/madas/

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Following the successful publication of the 1st edition in 2009, the 2nd edition maintains its aim to provide an application-driven package of essential techniques in image processing and GIS, together with case studies for demonstration and guidance in remote sensing applications.

The book therefore has a 3 in 1 structure which pinpoints the intersection between these three individual disciplines and successfully draws them together in a balanced and comprehensive manner.

The book conveys in-depth knowledge of image processing and GIS techniques in an accessible and comprehensive manner, with clear explanations and conceptual illustrations used throughout to enhance student learning. The understanding of key concepts is always emphasised with minimal assumption of prior mathematical experience.

For more information please visit our product page

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