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(March 2015) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has received an order from the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) for the launch of its KhalifaSat observation satellite.

EIAST is an organisation established by the Dubai government in the UAE.

The KhalifaSat satellite will be launched in Japanese fiscal year 2017 (between late 2017 and early 2018) on MHI’s H-IIA launch vehicle together with Gosat-2, a satellite tasked with observation of greenhouse gases, which the Japanese Ministry of Environment, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (Jaxa) and National Institute of Environmental Studies are jointly developing.

The new order for satellite launch services marks MHI’s third from outside Japan. Previously the company was selected by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to launch its Korea Multipurpose Satellite-3 (Kompsat-3), and was contracted by Telesat of Canada to launch its Telstar 12V communications and broadcasting satellite.

The tandem launch of the KhalifaSat together with the Gosat-2 will be the second time MHI performs a joint launch with an overseas satellite; a similar double launching took place in 2012 when the Kompsat-3 accompanied Jaxa’s GCOM-W, an observation satellite for observing and measuring global change based on water parameters.

The KhalifaSat observation satellite is EIAST’s third satellite, following the DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2 respectively launched in 2009 and 2013. Significantly, however, the new satellite marks EIAST’s first satellite wholly developed by Emirati engineers in the UAE, leveraging the experience accumulated from the two earlier launches.

Commenting on the Khalifasat-related order, EIAST director general Yousuf Al Shaibani said: “EIAST is looking forward to this collaboration with MHI. After evaluating MHI’s launch service in terms of H-IIA launch vehicle performance, as well as the group’s technical and operational expertise and its past successful launches, we are confident that they are the ones to entrust with the launch of KhalifaSat, which is a landmark project for EIAST and the UAE in general.

MHI has proven to be very competitive in overall commercial terms and has a very good reputation in the global space technology community. Our 100 per cent Emirati team of engineers are currently at work at EIAST’s specially designed satellite manufacturing facilities on the final stages of KhalifaSat in preparation for its launch.”

“We believe that the success rate, schedule assurance of MHI launch services, and the traditional Japanese traits of meticulous response and sincere attentiveness were highly evaluated by EIAST. The good relationship between EIAST and JAXA also helped MHI win the order,” said Naohiko Abe, vice president and senior general manager of the space systems in MHI’s Integrated Defense & Space Systems business domain.

EIAST is an aerospace development institution wholly funded by the Dubai Government. Its scope of operations presently includes earth observation, satellite navigation and satellite communications. The organisation has a staff numbering some 80 employees. – TradeArabia News Service

(2 March 2015) “SparkIndata”, a Cloud platform developed by an Atos led consortium of 11 partners, was selected as one of 12 R&D projects chosen from 34 candidate projects, to be funded by the major national programme “Investments for the Future” in the “Cloud Computing & Big Data” category.

Atos, an international leader in digital services, sees this as recognition of its proven innovative approach and vast expertise in Big Data and Cloud Computing through Canopy – the Atos Cloud.

“SparkIndata is one of 12 projects selected by the Commissariat-General for Investment for their high growth potential. The aim of these innovative R&D projects is to strengthen our digital activities. Cloud Computing and Big Data transform our environment profoundly and have an impact on all industrial activities and services. Mastering them is a key element of our competitiveness”, comments Louis Schweitzer, High Commissioner of “Investments for the Future”.

Gilles Grapinet, Senior Executive Vice President of Atos highlights: “Atos, a key player in Cloud Computing and Big Data, is proud to be leading the SparkIndata consortium made up of parties recognised as the best in their field. SparkIndata aims to bring together in one single platform different sources of Earth observation data that are cross-referenced with geographical, oceanographic and geoscientific data, to offer a catalogue of innovative services to companies from numerous sectors of activity. We have the ambition to federate other national initiatives at European level, with the help of SparkIndata. “

Within the framework of COPERNICUS (the European Programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation, led jointly by the EU and the ESA)**, our partners and clients have access to large storage and calculation capacity to process high volumes of data and large number of users. They benefit from high added value and real time analysis capacities, pay-per-use and consideration spread across complex ecosystems, thanks to Canopy Helix Nebula platform, made available by Atos. This Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) was developed to meet the needs of European space agencies and is capable of managing all the peak loads thanks to its widespread infrastructure and its calculation capacity. SparkIndata will provide access to environmental data taken from satellites and sensors that enable under the earth’s surface and the ocean floors to be observed. It will also provide a development environment and the opportunity of new services for the benefit of stakeholders in downstream markets (agriculture, urban planning, security, climate, risk prevention, health…).

The explosion of the volume of data available and the development of SMACS digital technologies (Social-Mobile-Analytics-Cloud-Security) are at the core of what Atos considers “the third digital revolution” (the 1st being computing and the 2nd Internet). Atos has the objective of seizing the opportunities which arise from this disruption in order to always be ahead in supporting its customers and partners in their digital transformation and thus consolidate its position as global leader in digital services, secure Cloud and Big Data.

COPERNICUS is the European Earth Observation programme, led jointly by the EU and the ESA, aiming to create independent European observation capacity on different scales (local, regional, global) for the environment and safety, in support of European policies (environment, agriculture etc.) and the Union’s international commitments.

11 partners

Atos, TerraNis, Geomatys, Geosigweb, Mercator-Ocean, CNES-Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, IGN-Institut national de l’information géographique et forestier, BRGM-Bureau des Recherches Géologiques et Minières, IRIT-Institut de Recherche Informatique de Toulouse – Université Paul Sabatier, EI Purpan-Ecole d’Ingénieurs de Purpan, Aerospace Valley.

About the Commissariat-General for Investment

The Commissariat-General for Investment (CGI) is responsible for the future investments programme in France and ensures “the coherence of the Government’s investment policy”. The future investments programme is translated in calls for national projects aimed at selecting excellent, innovative and with high growth potential projects.

About Atos

Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a Global digital services leader with 2014 pro forma annual revenue of circa € 10 billion and 86,000 employees in 66 countries. Serving a global client base, the Group provides Consulting & Systems Integration services, Managed Services & BPO, Cloud operations, Big Data & Cyber-security solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry. With its deep technology expertise and industry knowledge, the Group works with clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation.

Atos is focused on business technology that powers progress and helps organizations to create their firm of the future. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, and Worldline.

(source: Atos)

(Bonn, Germany, 26-28 May 2015) 2015 will be a decisive year for the international community paving the way for sustainable development worldwide. Three important processes led by the United Nations are underway leading to three agreements expected for 2015: the Post 2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2015), the Sustainable Development Goals (September 2015), and the new Climate Change Agreement (December 2015).

Geoinformation and especially Earth Observation provide indispensable data to support informed decision making at local, national, regional and global level to reduce disaster risks, improve adaptation to climate change, prepare better for unavoidable losses and damages, and deliver on the promise of sustainable development.

The United Nations/Germany International Conference on Earth Observation – Global solutions for the challenges of sustainable development in societies at risk aims at bridging the gap between Earth Observation experts and decision makers to find Earth observation solutions that match the challenges of governments in societies at risk. The objectives are to address important challenges, demonstrate existing solutions, identify future potential, and facilitate collaboration. The space community has already started a global effort to contribute to the new framework for disaster-risk reduction. The conference will serve as a platform to facilitate the coordination of this open group to help countries in their efforts to institutionalize the use of space-based information for disaster risk reduction. Sustainable development, adaptation to climate change, managing climate-change induced extreme weather events, dealing with losses and damages, and reducing disaster risks are strongly interlinked processes. The conference will provide a setting for decision makers and experts to agree on ways to use Earth Observation in combination with in-situ data to track progress in reaching the targets in the Post-2015 frameworks.

Please keep checking this website regularly for the latest information about the conference. More details are available in the information note and in the agenda

Deadline for applications for those requesting financial assistance is 13 March 2015. Click here to apply

Event Organisers: UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER
Co-organisers: German Aerospace Center (DLR ), German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) with the support of Secure World Foundation and the City of Bonn
Venue Country: Germany
Venue City: Bonn
Venue: UN Campus Bonn
Date: 26/05/2015 to 28/05/2015
Registration Deadline: Friday, March 13, 2015
Language of event: English

In a move that aims to energise innovation in the UK geospatial industry, Ordnance Survey is opening a London-based Geospatial Innovation Hub to attract new players, new visions, new thinking and new markets.

In the past five years OS, through its GeoVation Challenges, has awarded almost £650,000 in funding 28 new ventures, and Britain’s mapping agency believes its new Hub, the location to be announced in March, will build on this. OS anticipates the Hub will expose and expand industry opportunity for existing and new participants through the innovative adoption and application of its UK geospatial assets.

Cathrine Armour, former Programme Manager for Abu Dhabi’s Global Environmental Data Initiative, joined OS last November to work alongside Peter ter Haar, OS’s Director of Product and Innovation, on delivering the Hub.

Cathrine says: “One of the biggest challenges facing the geospatial industry and all those operating in it is: Innovating. As a major industry body there is a responsibility, and an opportunity, for Ordnance Survey to support the geospatial industry and take it forward with this Innovation Hub.

“To increase the relevance of our industry we need to expose ourselves to new thinking, to undertake thought leadership and share this in a way that as an industry we lift our gaze. The Hub will enable OS and its partners to work collaboratively with fringe industries, new media, digital and emerging technologies. Our industry is changing. How data is accessed is changing. How data is captured is changing. The industry must respond to these developments and organisations must evolve. It is a competitive environment and organisations that remain static risk stagnating and the danger of being displaced by the new and those evolving.”

The Hub, located on the fringes of London’s Knowledge Quarter, will be home to a multifunctional team of entrepreneurial thinkers drawn from OS’s own talent pool and the broader geospatial industry, as well as those new to the industry that have been selected from developer, new media space and creative and design communities. The idea is for OS to assemble a wide range of skills that apply to the process of innovation that complement and push each other towards achieving the goal of step change in geospatial products and services. To see those products and services become geo-encapsulating rather than geo-centric.

Cathrine explains: “OS has its own product development team at its headquarters in Southampton, but the Geospatial Innovation Hub is not only about product development. The Hub will be a creative focal point for partnering on open and closed innovation. It will be an arena for experts from across OS and the industry, all of whom have an intimate knowledge of our data, APIs and application development. We want to connect with individuals and SMEs who have identified opportunity, envisioned the solutions and are seeking technical, geospatial expertise, guidance and support. It will also be the place where established UK and global organisations can partner with us to work on the creation of specific products or services that will challenge how we use location to solve problems and create new markets. Above all, it will be an imaginative environment focused on the horizon and beyond.”

Source

(23 February 2015) The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the United Nations University (UNU) have agreed to continue to strengthen their cooperation.

Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the DLR Executive Board, and Jakob Rhyner, Vice Rector of UNU in Europe and Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn, signed an agreement to this effect on 23 February 2015.

DLR has been cooperating with UNU in Bonn for many years, particularly with regard to Earth observation. This includes the field of hydrology, where UNU is able to contribute its substantial expertise on the topic of water quality, and, more generally, in the area of assessing environmental risks and vulnerabilities. DLR contributes mainly by providing satellite Earth observation data and scientific analyses. DLR and UNU have worked together on numerous projects over the last 10 years – including the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) project. GITEWS is an early warning system installed off the coast of Indonesia, which was developed after the catastrophic seaquake on Christmas of 2004,” Wörner explained: “It is our goal to noticeably and tangibly enhance the social benefits that Earth observation data can offer.”

“As the academic arm of the United Nations, UNU is tasked with developing sustainable solutions to pressing global challenges. In order to do so, we rely on many different kinds of data and information. We are able to generate some of this information on our own, for example through interviewing affected household members or conducting focus group interviews. Very often, we do, however, combine our data with information from other sources, such as the data derived from satellite systems. It is in these cases that the cooperation with DLR is invaluable for us,” said Rhyner.

DLR and UNU expect that their agreement will result in even closer ties between science and practice, additional joint projects in the field of Earth observation and climate change, as well as sustainable resource protection. The two organisations will also collaborate on satellite communication and navigation, with the goal of increasing knowledge and knowledge transfer. This may also include exchange programmes for experts and the joint supervision of doctoral and masters students. The German Remote Sensing Data Center (Deutsche Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum; DFD) at DLR is already cooperating with some of UNU’s doctoral students. Just recently, DLR and UNU submitted a joint proposal for the water and land management project CATCH-MEKONG.

The agreement between the two organisations will run initially for a period of five years.

Source

The University of Pavia has built a relevant track in providing very successful and appreciated Summer Schools on Data Fusion in Aerospace.

This will be the fifth in the series of International Summer Schools.

This year’s course will merge into the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society 2015 Summer School (GR4S), on the occasion of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2015, or IGARSS 2015 – “Remote Sensing: Understanding the Earth for a Safer World”, which will be held the following week (26-31 July) in Milan.

This year’s GR4S will offer to the attendees an exploration on Earth Observation data fusion capabilities and the opportunity to evaluate results concerning risk indicator collection and analysis in order to use data in a dynamic way to the purpose of mapping risk and its components.

Web site

(Dec 2014) The JRC has released a new report providing a comprehensive overview of its work in relation to disaster risk reduction and response including their policy background and context.

As a leader in natural disaster research and automated warning systems, the JRC contributes to minimising the impact of disasters in Europe and around the globe.

This report showcases the tools and methodologies developed by the JRC to help in all phases of disaster management, from prevention and preparedness to recovery and reconstruction, through to forecasting and early warning.

Read more…

(Source JRC)

(Jan 2015) INFORM, a global, open-source risk assessment tool has been launched by the European Commission and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a forum for coordinating humanitarian assistance between UN and non-UN partners, to identify possible humanitarian crises requiring international assistance.

INFORM will provide easily accessible and specific data on the potential risk of humanitarian crises and disasters, enabling governments and international response agencies to act on the basis of actual risk, to define accurate preparedness levels and to monitor risk trends.

The new mechanism includes risk profiles for 191 countries based on a wide range of indicators related to the risk of natural and man-made hazards, vulnerability, aid dependency, economic or gender inequality and ability to respond and mitigate disaster impacts.

Furthermore, in the context of the ten-year international disaster risk reduction plan, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the use of science in disaster risk management has been highlighted as a key element in the discussions leading up to next year’s Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, to be held in Sendai, Japan.

Full story

UN-Spider

(Jan 2015) The first telecommunication satellite Azerspace-1 will monitor the seismologic situation of Azerbaijan, which is located in a highly seismically active zone.

Azerspace-1, launched in February 2013, covers Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa and offers digital broadcasting services, internet access and data transmission for disaster monitoring and communication exchange between the stations of the monitoring system.

The Control Systems Institute of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences highlighted how satellite data can be used for the diagnosis and management of Robust Noise Monitoring, designed for seismic research and grounded on an analysis of seismic noises.

The exchange of seismic information will involve 35 monitoring stations located in the country and the system will be equipped with a special software, which transfers seismic acoustic signals directly to the server of the Institute, developed with the support of the Communications and High Technologies Ministry.

This new mechanism is capable of warning about the possibility of an earthquake within a radius of 300-400 kilometers in 5-20 hours.

Moreover, experiments are currently underway to determine the coordinates of the centers of earthquakes.

Source

(Jan 2015) The Japanese government is currently planning the development of an operationally responsive small observation satellite to be launched in case of a disaster or military emergencies.

The creation of this disposable satellite is part of the draft Basic Plan on Space Policy, released by the Japanese government’s Committee on National Space Policy.

As per the Basic Plan, a pre-assembled satellite, measuring 70 centimeters in length, width and height, and weighing between 100 and 150 kilograms, would be sent into orbit in case of an emergency.

The satellite would fly at a relatively low altitude to provide detailed information of the damages occurred in a specific area.

Source

The Sydney Morning Herald