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[SatNews] This week, nearly 500 climate experts, policy makers and representatives from space agencies and industry will join in the debate to identify how observations from current and future satellites will address the grand research challenges identified by the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

According to EUMETSAT Director-General Alain Ratier, the purpose of the symposium “is to bring together scientists and space agencies to connect satellite observations to the climate challenges we are facing. This means not only to understand climate change but also to establish on the best possible scientific foundation the climate information services expected by decision makers,” said Ratier.

The symposium will provide new inputs to the design of the global architecture for climate monitoring from space being established by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, in response to the needs of the World Meteorological Organization, the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and theGlobal Climate Observing System (GCOS). A number of high level speakers will open the symposium, including German State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Energy Brigitte Zypries, German Parliament Aviation and Space Group Chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch, WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud, and Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Director Barbara Ryan. Further key addresses will be given by WCRP Director David Carlson and Met Office (UK) Chief Scientist Julia Slingo.

The Climate Symposium 2014 is organised by the WCRP and EUMETSAT, with the support of the European Union, the European Space Agency, and the City of Darmstadt. Other sponsors are GFCS, GEO, JAXA, DLR, NOAA, CNES and NASA.

To read more about EUMETSAT’s contribution to international climate monitoring, follow the EUMETSAT climate blog.
For more information on the Climate Symposium, visit the infosite

(by Jon Campbell, directionsmag) A recent White House-led assessment found that Landsat is among the Nation’s most critical Earth observing systems, second only to GPS and weather. A new USGS study, Landsat and Water — Case Studies of the Uses and Benefits of Landsat Imagery in Water Resources, provides examples of why Landsat is so valuable

A recent White House-led assessment found that Landsat is among the Nation’s most critical Earth observing systems, second only to GPS and weather. A new USGS study, Landsat and Water — Case Studies of the Uses and Benefits of Landsat Imagery in Water Resources, provides examples of why Landsat is so valuable.

Landsat supports many types of resource management

The Landsat satellites have been a central data source for Earth science since the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972. In 2008 the use of Landsat data expanded dramatically when the USGS adopted a free and open data policy. Since then, the amount of Landsat data used, the number of users, and the variety of applications of the data have increased exponentially. Landsat is now used for both research and decision support by users ranging from government agencies and large corporations to individual scientists and entrepreneurs.

Landsat continues to shape our scientific understanding of how the Earth has changed with modern society. Furthermore, Landsat provides decision makers with critical operational information about the Nation’s – and the world’s – crops, forests, and water. For example, Landsat data helps forest managers design restoration after a wildfire and respond to insect infestations or disease. It helps states and counties identify land use practices that affect water quality and helps agricultural agencies forecast crop production both nationally and globally.

Landsat for water resources

Water is managed by many levels of federal, state, local, and tribal governments; by the private sector; through the courts; and through international and interstate treaties and compacts. At all these levels, water users and managers rely more and more on Landsat data about water conditions both ­at the moment and in the context of four decades of Landsat record.

The Nation’s largest wholesaler of water, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, uses Landsat data for mapping and monitoring on the lower Colorado River, including:

• monitoring agricultural water use

• annual estimates of evapotranspiration from riparian vegetation

• estimates of evaporation from the surface waters of the lower Colorado River

• identification of types, locations, and acreages of crops, irrigated lands, and riparian vegetation.

Landsat imagery makes it possible to generate this information at a level of accuracy that would otherwise not be feasible.

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(15 Sept 2014) HySpecIQ, LLC of Washington DC has closed its initial funding round and placed an order with The Boeing Company for two hyperspectral remote sensing satellites. The company will be the first commercial provider of high-resolution hyperspectral information from space.

The satellites will carry a state-of-the-art hyperspectral payload based on proven technology. It will be capable of providing spectral imaging fidelity far exceeding what is currently available commercially or forecast to exist in the near future. Boeing will deliver a complete satellite system initially consisting of two 502 Phoenix small satellites, available for launch in 2018 and essential ground elements including command and control; image processing; and archive and retrieval of collected data. HySpecIQ will separately develop the value added processing and dissemination architecture.

“HySpecIQ will unlock the potential of high resolution hyperspectral data with proprietary analytics to create high value information products for clients,” said Joseph D. Fargnoli, HySpecIQ Executive Vice President of Product Development. “Our tailored hyperspectral-driven decision support tools, risk management products and monitoring capabilities will drive focused solutions targeted to the specific business information needs of our clients and partners. Our capabilities will enable the delivery of information products to key markets, including the global oil & gas, mining, agriculture and environment monitoring, as well as U.S. government agencies and partner countries. The ability to serve these markets using satellite technology offers tremendous benefits heretofore impractical, including lower data collection and processing costs, more frequent revisit capabilities, access to denied territories and detailed environmental monitoring.”

HySpecIQ has partnered with Boeing, which will design and manufacture the satellite system and serve as channel partner to select customers. “Boeing’s in-depth experience in the delivery of commercial space systems was the deciding factor in their selection,” said William R. Sullivan, HySpecIQ executive chairman. “Working closely with Boeing’s team will allow us to bring forward a technical design with unparalleled remote sensing capability that will set a new standard in this industry and provide customers with the timely cost effective solutions they need.

“Boeing demonstrated its confidence in HySpecIQ and the market for hyperspectral remote sensing analytics by entering into partnership as a data channel provider and signing the first data sales contract. Boeing offered an attractive and multi-dimensional package that includes assistance in selling services and attracting investors as well as access to Boeing’s government customer base. This demonstrates their commitment to meeting the needs of the government and commercial market,” Sullivan said.

HySpecIQ will manage sales, processing and distribution of the hyperspectral informatics products to the global civil, commercial and government markets while Boeing will provide services for the U.S. Government Intelligence community and select foreign worldwide customers.

HySpecIQ
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(September 2014) Azerbaijan: Negotiations between Azerbaijan’s Space Agency Azercosmos and the French Airbus Defense and Space on the transfer of control of LEO satellite SPOT-7 is in its final stage, Communications and High Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov informed media.

Azercosmos and Airbus Defense and Space signed an agreement to jointly launch the SPOT 7 satellite in May this year.

The satellite launch was an important step in the implementation of the agreement on strategic cooperation with Azercosmos, which involves the joint use of satellites and empowerment in the area of geo-information. Works on the harmonisation of documents for signature have already been completed, and the related documents have been prepared, Abbasov said. He also told media that the project is expected to kick-off by the end of the year 2014.

Source: Azernews
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(Nereus Consultation). Copernicus (formerly GMES) is a European Earth Observation Programme. While delivering satellite-based services and information on the state of our environment and security purposes, it contributes to better informed decision making, long-term planning, effective deployment of resources and thus more efficient public spending.

Although various Copernicus services and products are already available, few local and regional authorities (LRA’s) actually use them. Consequently, ESA and NEREUS launch a series of workshops dedicated to specific topics. The objective is to dialogue with LRAs, to raise awareness and to learn about regional needs or potential obstacles for Copernicus deployment.

The present consultation is meant to identify workshop topics that are of priority for local and regional authorities across Europe – DEADLINE: 31/10/2014.

Note: The consultation is restricted to senior managers working in regional/local administrations and/or to key persons who are responsible for the subject area within their administration. To complete the online consultation will take only 3-5 mins.

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© GeospatialWorld, September 2014. The earth observation industry is becoming more user-driven. Marcello Maranesi, CEO, e-GEOS discusses how his company has moved from data acquisition and supply business to value-added products and services.

There is a definite change of dynamics in the earth observation industry with a data-deluged world increasingly turning to analytics. How has the EO companies reacted to this trend?

This change from data to analytics is definitely progressive. About 20 years ago, we were talking about remote sensing. That was our business. Then it became earth observation, and then the concept got broader and became geoinformation. Now, we are talking about a whole new subject of geomatics because our data and information layers which are derived from satellites have to be compiled for application solutions. This means that they have to be embedded into a software procedure that ultimately contributes to the operational workflow of an end-user, which can be an institution or an industry. EO data is valuable only in the sense that it is capable of contributing to the process of decision making that the end-user is interested in. We are only contributing to a solution. We are not the solution, and our products and services are valuable if they provide the customer with analytical information suitable for its decisions.

Is this trend demand-driven or supply-driven?
Initially our industry was more supply driven but we are progressively becoming user driven. And this would remain so since new capabilities will be added. For example, hyperspectral sensors will determine a completely new era in terms of the quality of information that can be acquired. We will see users playing a major role as they start demanding user-specific applications and services.

As far as e-GEOS is concerned, we have made a move from data acquisition and supply business into value-added products and services. We have also started application solutions, where we go inside the operational workflow of an end-user in specific market segments to understand how we can bring value to the existing workflow, speed-up their operations and make them more efficient by adding new capabilities and competitive advantage. Our Integrated Space Applications, where e-GEOS combines earth observation with navigation information derived from GPS (and in the future from Galileo) as well as with space telecommunications, benefits from being part of the Telespazio Group who is a major player in all space service sectors.

We need to capture the culture of the segment or industry where the customer is operating in. It is not only sufficient to be a technology or data provider. e-GEOS needs to become a multi-technology and multi-culture organisation. And this is quite exciting for us.

Which are the main business areas of your company? What is the USP of e-GEOS and what sets you apart from your competitors?

Our major business areas are defence, agriculture, environment protection, land management and maritime surveillance. From the industry side, oil and gas and transportation are also two key areas of interest for us. In terms of geographic markets, around 80% of our revenues come from the international market with the remaining 20% from Italy.

e-GEOS is a JV between Telespazio (a Finmeccanica/ Thales company), which is the majority shareholder, and the Italian Space Agency. We benefit from our cooperation with a number of companies that are part of Telespazio Group, which has subsidiaries in Europe, including countries like Spain, France, UK, Germany and Romania as well as outside such as Argentina, Brazil and the US. So these subsidiaries help e-GEOS in pursuing local geographic markets through local presence.

We use various types of data sources like satellite, aerial and different sensors to provide a variety of data products in form of services, applications and solutions. All these leverage the competitive advantage of Cosmo-SkyMed SAR satellite constellation that provides unique operational capabilities. We have a complete portfolio of products and services among the whole value chain. We have the capability of providing services for data reception, acquisition, archiving and processing, and also supply and distributing. In addition, we have a number of value-added products and geographic information layers. With our focus on application solutions, we are concentrating on specific vertical markets and trying to enter into the operational workflow of the end users to provide a clear benefit in terms of economic value for the customer.

Our unique capability resides in our ability to exploit radar data into applications. We started developing products and services based on radar data in early 2000. Initially these products and services were more technically driven. Later, with the help of competitive contracts from the European Union, we developed and tested more application products with a strong involvement of the end-users. We are a leader in providing environment and maritime services within Europe as demonstrated by our role in the GMES (now Copernicus) European programme. Our Munich-based subsidiary GAF is also a great asset. It has undertaken and successfully delivered more than 200 projects for governments and investment banks such as World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Asian Development Bank, in more than 100 countries. For us, it is just one step further in enabling our customers to get the best out of new technologies and capabilities from geospatial information.

The European Commission has agreed to permit free access to data from its Sentinel series of earth observation satellites. Will this move affect your business?

We do not have data comparable to that of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2. Sentinel 1 is in C band while COSMO-SkyMed is in X band; Sentinel 1 has 25m resolution while COSMO- SkyMed is 1 and 3 metre resolution. Even when users need a lower resolution, the combined use of both the satellites provides better revisit or geographic coverage.

In fact the Sentinel data and our COSMO-SkyMed ones data are complementary in terms of resolution and bands. So, we see only a positive impact on our businesses. Availability of Sentinel 1 and then Sentinel 2 data would lead to a number of applications that stands to benefit from free and open data distribution. In the process, the availability of Copernicus data will support commercial business based on COSMO-SkyMed data, and improve our applications and services to end-users and even enable us to lower our prices.

How do you see the low-cost nano-satellites affecting the current setup of the EO industry?

Nano-satellites are going to be more and more important in the future. Having a technology which is delivering high results at lower cost and faster time is going to dramatically change the business. We are used to high-performing satellites which cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Nano-satellites may not have the same performance in terms of resolution and collection capacity, but they will surely open up new applications and new ways of making business for the industry, especially because their low cost will enable the launch of many of these satellites in a constellation model. With many satellites in orbit, we will have the capability of imaging a given site on the earth at different times of the day, something we are not used to. We welcome the availability of these new satellites as they enlarge the possibilities for our applications.

How do you envision the EO industry shaping up in the coming times?

In the past, the EO industry was split between the satellite operators, data distributors and value-added producers. Now satellite operators and data distributors have already merged. On the other hand, value-added producers are progressively fading because the game is not anymore to add value to the data or just process the data, but it is to start from the customer side and define/provide him with a specific solution for the specific market segments.

The EO industry is now trying to combine various types of data for producing variety of services and solutions. Therefore, the so-called EO industry is transforming into a geoinformation industry. I am convinced that in the coming times the geoinformation industry will progressively enter the world of information technology and open up a new sector called geomatics. We will be interfacing more and more with IT companies providing specialised solutions to specialised segments to be embedded into an overall system or service for an end-user.

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(September 2014) Denver—V1 Media welcomes the staff of Earth Imaging Journal (EIJ) as we combine forces to address an Earth observation market that is marked by significant growth prospects and exciting opportunities. The bi-monthly print publication is a great fit with V1 Media’s online geospatial outlets and multimedia production capabilities.


“The timing was right for EIJ to be combined with a proficient publishing firm that shares the same values as our expert staff,” said Jeff Specht, founder and current publisher of Earth Imaging Journal, and principal of Earthwide Communications. “I’m excited for EIJ to grow and continue meeting the demands of the dynamic Earth observation market.”

V1 Media is a global integrated media and learning company serving organizations and individuals that measure, model and manage our natural world as well as those that design, develop and engineer today’s built infrastructure. The company is focused on a better understanding of Earth systems and a better-performing built infrastructure.

“We’re excited to expand the online presence of EIJ and to get back into print,” said Matt Ball, founder and editorial director of V1 Media. “There’s a lot of new ground to cover with the successful launch of the next-generation Worldview-3 satellite, the expansive plans of new micro satellite constellation providers, and the emerging importance of unmanned aircraft systems.”

“The timing of this acquisition couldn’t be better in terms of planning for the year ahead as well as the increasing importance of Earth observation,” said Kevin Carmody, group publisher at V1 Media. “The marketplace has embraced the content and polished presentation of EIJ over the years. We’re eager to support that effort while also parlaying that experience into our new endeavors. It offers great synergy between our publications Informed Infrastructure, Sensors & Systems, Asian Surveying & Mapping, and GeoSpatial Stream. This acquisition will also help us better serve our advertisers.”

The transition will take place commencing with the November/December issue of EIJ, with online updates and other offerings ongoing.

About V1 Media

V1 Media publishes Earth Imaging Journal (http:/www.eijournal.com), Sensors & Systems (http://www.sensorsandsystems.com), Informed Infrastructure (http://www.informedinfrastructure.com), Asian Surveying & Mapping (ASM) (http://www.asmmag.com), and the video news site GeoSpatial Stream (http://www.geospatialstream.com). Each of these publications deals with the combination of sensors and systems for different geographies and for related disciplines. Engineering, surveying, positioning, GIS, BIM, and remote sensing are key areas of coverage with the goal of increased infrastructure performance and efficiency, and better stewardship of our planet. We deliver our content via print publications, websites, video, e-newsletters, e-learning, and events.

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[Via Satellite 09-03-2014] OmniEarth has completed the purchase of IRISmaps in a stock-for-stock transaction.

OmniEarth anticipates the acquisition will accelerate its growth in agriculture and energy: the top two markets the company is currently focusing on. IRISmaps portfolio of customized cloud-based geospatial solutions already includes asset and environmental monitoring products that agriculture and energy customers have deployed.

OmniEarth intends to continue with IRISmap’s existing energy portfolio. Once the company’s constellation of up to 18 remote sensing satellites is operating, OmniEarth plans to develop new products with rich data fusion and new analytics. Lars Dyrud, CEO of OmniEarth, will lead both companies.

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©Matt Ball. Sensors&Systems. The small satellite market has been heating up over the past few years, with many new companies looking to launch constellations of satellites.

Surrey Satellite has been at the forefront of this movement, with a mission to change the economics of space, and a growing commitment to the market in the United States. Sensors & Systems (S&S) editor Matt Ball recently spoke with Doug Gerull, chief operating officer of Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC (Surrey), about the company’s growing presence in the United States, the evolution of the small satellite market, and upcoming missions that will soon fill the satellite manufacturing clean room in their Colorado office.

S&S: One of the things that fascinates me about Surrey overall is the scientific innovation with all of your off-the-shelf sensors that are also combined with launch scheduling, bringing high-performing satellite platforms to a much broader audience. Now you’ve added the Orbital Test Bed (OTB) that allows for space testing of sensors, providing essentially a laboratory for testing. It’s almost as if you’re pioneering scientific rigor for satellite development as a service.

Gerull: In the case of OTB, we are selling reliable platforms to access space. Going to space on a Surrey bus is a safe way to get there, that has been proven. Also, because we are cost effective, it’s an affordable way to get there.

We often talk about closing the business case, and keeping it closed is one of the difficulties for organizations that have payloads orphaned by other programs. You have a payload that often costs X millions of dollars, a certain amount of years of time and effort, and then you find that your ride to space is gone through a change in another program. Getting another ride to space, both in terms of platform and launch, can be difficult.

Our OTB concept has many advantages — Surrey has a rapid launch tempo, we’re open to accommodating other payloads, we have a lower price point, we have experience, and we work globally. That gives our customers a way to get to space that they may not have otherwise.

On larger and more complex programs, the ability to squeeze in and put your small payload on there and get to space can be really hard to accomplish. We give our customers an avenue to get there.

S&S: With the OTB concept, it sounds tricky to design and tune the satellite to meet the needs of a diversity of sensors.

Gerull: We have to design the spacecraft to accommodate all of the payloads properly. From the various pointing requirements, communications bandwidth downlink and payload operations. We’ll be controlling the OTB mission from here, downlinking the data from the various experiments to our own dish and then sending the data to the various payload providers. We do offer a complete service that makes it a lot easier for customers to concentrate on their science.

A good customer example is NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a very accomplished group of scientists and engineers. They are putting the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) up on our platform, but we’re actually running the satellite, and downloading the data, and that lets them concentrate on the science of their mission, and the payload itself.

S&S: How did you go about determining the orbit of OTB, and working with the various payload customers on integration?

Gerull: We already had an idea of what OTB was going to accomplish from our perspective, and we had to take payloads that were compatible with that. The orbit wouldn’t be compatible with an earth observation mission, for example, because those are typically near polar and sun sync. It worked out that these payloads are all compatible, and the testing platforms were all good for them.

S&S: Does it take longer sometimes than others on these shared payloads to fill your available capacity?

Gerull: The question about filling all the seats on the ride is very much on our minds because we plan on repeating this experience. In the case of OTB itself, it’s a specialized skill to take the five payloads, including our own composite experiments, and integrate them all. All of these components and missions, whether solar or radiation detection, or the atomic clock, all have different parameters, have to be run at different times, send out at different data rates, etc.. They have to be positioned, with some that need to look in a certain direction and not be obscured. They all assume they’re the only thing on the payload for their own experimental objectives.

The skill set to take all the payloads and put them on a single satellite so that they all work, and everyone gets the benefit of a shared ride, is pretty unique. It’s like a very complicated Lego set where all the pieces are random shapes. The team we have in the United States is getting more accomplished at that, and we plan on keeping that as a business line. The team in the UK is already well experienced with that, because they’ve been doing it for some time.

S&S: For satellite launches, do you have a number of slots on different rockets lined up? Is that the way it works?

Gerull: There are hard arrangements with a time and date and a mission in mind, and then there are softer arrangements where you keep your eyes and ears open. You’d think that it would be more discrete and nailed down because these launches are very expensive, but it’s not like that. Sometime Surrey will negotiate a block of launches in advance in anticipation of business to get a better price. It’s like any other commodity, where you can negotiate economy of scale if you have it.

We tend to get most of our benefit in the UK because of our rapid tempo. We’ve worked with every satellite launch provider, with the exception of the Japanese and Chinese. All of the launch providers know that Surrey will be launching more satellites every few months. The team in the UK has a lot of experience and knows what the launch industry is doing with a high degree of certainty.

Bigger missions that have a high cost tend to be more concrete, tying up their own rocket at times, and you won’t see other aerospace manufacturers running around to the extent that Surrey does, interfacing with everyone in the launch industry all the time to see if there is space available. Sometimes we end up brokering the launch service as a separate business because we’re active and we know what’s going on.

We’re not the biggest or most expensive, but we are very active when you look at the number of satellites that we put up.

S&S: That ties into the more and more smaller satellites, with the micro satellite revolution that seems to be upon us. The barriers are coming down with the commercialization of space, with a lot of new companies out there.

Gerull: You have to think that the trends are in that direction. There are a lot of reasons that this is happening as it’s a complex model, but one of the key things is that it’s less and less about capacity and more about capabilities. There was a tight equation between size and what you could do with it up until recently. As the technologies started to minimize, and as technologies started to make their way to space that weren’t exclusively designed for space, we’ve had more interest. We’ve had astronauts take their phones into space and have had more computing power in those than the processors running the Shuttle.

As the capabilities of parts from ground-based industry became usable in space, it drove costs down. For instance the CAN Bus, which is used in automotive circles, has been used in Surrey’s satellites for a long time now. It’s reliable, as the auto industry has to make things reliable because they can’t tolerate a lot of defects. We gain a very flexible networking interfacing system that is designed for a huge industry that is going to keep it stable and modern, and they are paying for the development costs. Taking those parts to space keeps the costs down, and instead of getting all the aerospace manufacturers to downsize and standardize their products, the auto industry is paying for ongoing research and development. They keep it up to date, and it’s the standard across manufacturers.

The capabilities of payloads have also improved. Now, small telescopes that would take a lot of mass and weight to accomplish a certain resolution a few years ago are now being miniaturized. The capabilities are no longer completely tied to the size of the spacecraft, and that means we now get small spacecraft that have the capability of a very large one just a decade ago. That trend line is just continuing. The capabilities are getting better, and the spacecraft sizes are getting smaller, so it’s great for Surrey.

S&S: Weight is such an issue in space, are you shaving off any weight on the components as you make them ready for space?

Gerull: We’re looking at innovative ways to make use of excess launch capacity. Sometimes the space within payloads right now is not utilized. So there’s been some experiments and missions where they use an “ESPA ring” to actually be the spacecraft rather than just the mounting space between. There are often two to three thousand kilograms that could go to space, but the space just isn’t being utilized for technical, time constraints, or other issues.

Sometimes miniaturization is not the goal. Components are getting pretty small anyway, and now it’s a state of taking existing components and integrating them, without the need to miniaturize things ourselves. The trend in electronics is to make things smaller, which is in our favor since we don’t have to accelerate that. Materials are getting stronger and lighter, generally, too.

It’s mainly a matter of taking advantage of the latest tools, new capabilities, engineering and science, and applying them to the problem as opposed to us having to go out there and address miniaturizing the components. Surrey has excelled at taking advantage of things that are there, and putting them together in creative ways to come up with a new solution that’s smaller, cheaper, faster — and changing the economics of space.

S&S: Low earth orbit (LEO) is pretty much where most of your satellites are placed, is that right?

Gerull: That’s true if you analyze all the missions we’ve done to date. That’s been the most benign environment for smallsats. Going back close to 30 years now, the parts that we have to work with are more radiation and fault tolerant generally than they were then, and we have built larger spacecraft for higher orbits and tougher radiation environments.

GIOVE-A (the precursor to the European Galileo navigation satellites) has been up there nine years now in a NEO orbit. So, we’ve proven that we can build a satellite quickly and robustly, in a very short timeline (it was built in just two years) to send a signal down so that they could verify the signal frequency.

Following on from that, Surrey builds the Galileo payloads, and they go out of our facility at a consistent rate. They get put on a different vendor’s spacecraft, but we have capability to build both payloads and platforms. Lastly, we are developing and going through certification now, our new GEO (geo-stationary) platforms, which is the toughest radiation orbit. We intend to play more in the GEO belt.

S&S: Is there a move toward more constellations of your own? You’ve certainly pioneered earth observation satellite constellations with DMCii, and a lot of these new companies are talking about having more than 20 satellites with daily imagery refresh rates.

Gerull: It’s part of our customer’s plans, so it’s part of our plans. The constellations are a direct result of the fact that satellites are more cost effective and more affordable now, so that lends itself to being able to afford more and then examining if that helps the mission. Better yet, a mission that might not have been possible with one more expensive satellite might be possible for four or five less expensive ones.

For example, when revisit time is the point of interest, one big satellite may help you capture a lot of data, but you may not revisit as often. Those equations are changing quickly.

The general trend is that satellites are smaller, less expensive, and more capable so you have options of what you can do with more of them. This gives you the systems like RapidEye and others that are good examples. That’s what you can do with multiple satellites that are less expensive; and of course your risks are spread. Constellations are a natural outgrowth of more capable small satellites, and that’s just going to grow I think.

DMCii as you mentioned is a constellation of satellites of different types that can be activated for missions such as disaster response. We have customers that built the satellites for their own reasons and own missions, and then the idea was to provide a secondary source for distributing their extra capacity. We have all these customers with disparate needs, and their data business provides them a compelling cost recovery, but our main mission is still to build satellites, so we’re not a competitor to any earth observation data providers.

S&S: The new small satellite companies are marketing themselves as Internet-based data providers, with Silicon Valley locations as their calling cards. What’s your take on these companies?

Gerull: Kudos to Skybox and Planet Labs, with their business models and innovation, and certainly raising awareness. The long-term test will be the products that they will deliver for geospatial use. They have definitely cut new ground in terms of speed of financing. If there’s one big takeaway from Google’s purchase of Skybox, it’s a validation of smallsats.

S&S: Are you seeing more interests from new startup companies that are looking to Surrey to build a constellation?

Gerull: Yes. That is getting into our strengths. We are an open company in the sense that we sell everything we make. We’re also vertically integrated in the sense that we build telescopes, we build sensors, we build our own reaction wheels, you name it. There’s very little of the spacecraft that we don’t build internally.

The other way we’re open is that while we’re vertically integrated we’re not wedded to our own telescope, for example. If a customer comes to us with an idea for a new remote sensing system that requires something different than what we’ve engineered, we look to other sources before building a new one.

Because Surrey has a track record of being cost effective, we have a heightened launch tempo, and we have a high capability in a broad array of domain expertise (communications, navigation, earth observation), so we are a logical choice for entrepreneurial efforts. Our legacy is heritage systems, and deriving systems from baselines that have already flown, which is how we keep the cost down. The fact that we’ve done it before means when we sit down with the customer, and if they use all our capabilities to design a complete system, they get the maximum benefit out of Surrey.

We get a lot of interest, and of course we can’t talk about the companies because they’re often competitors of each other. We’re in the satellite building business, and it’s exciting right now because a lot of interesting things are occurring.

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Legendary investor Warren Buffett advises to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

One way we can try to measure the level of fear in a given stock is through a technical analysis indicator called the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which measures momentum on a scale of zero to 100. A stock is considered to be oversold if the RSI reading falls below 30.

In trading on Friday, shares of DigitalGlobe Inc (NYSE: DGI) entered into oversold territory, hitting an RSI reading of 26.7, after changing hands as low as $26.73 per share. By comparison, the current RSI reading of the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is 36.7. A bullish investor could look at DGI’s 26.7 RSI reading today as a sign that the recent heavy selling is in the process of exhausting itself, and begin to look for entry point opportunities on the buy side. The chart below shows the one year performance of DGI shares:

Looking at the chart above, DGI’s low point in its 52 week range is $26.02 per share, with $43.13 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $26.92. Find out what 9 other oversold stocks you need to know about

According to the ETF Finder at ETFChannel.com, DGI makes up 2.86% of the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (AMEX: XAR) which is trading lower by about 1.5% on the day Friday.