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(By Peter B. de Selding | Oct. 11, 2013 © SpaceNews) PARIS — The German government has put into place a two-step regulatory regime for commercial satellite imagery that subjects proposed sales of the most sensitive data to approval on a case-by-case basis, the German Aerospace Center, DLR, said Oct. 11.

In response to SpaceNews inquiries about where German policy stood following the announcement that Germany’s TerraSAR-X radar Earth observation system would begin marketing 25-centimeter-resolution imagery, DLR said there is no fixed limit to what may be sold.

Instead, DLR said Germany’s Satellite Data Security Act (SatDSiG) and related law set the general ground rules for commercial satellite data sales to assure that commercial imagery from German satellites does not harm German security and foreign policy interests.

For imagery whose sharpness or whose prospective customers give it special sensitivity, a second organization, the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA), must clear each sale.

“These procedures do not include an absolute limit for spatial resolution under which a data set could no longer be sold commercially,” DLR said in its statement, adding that the policy seeks to foster a commercial Earth imagery market. “However, it is obvious that datasets with higher information content face tighter restrictions.”

DLR, which is Germany’s space agency, is a co-investor with Astrium GmbH in the TerraSAR-X satellite system, which includes the TanDEM-X satellite now in orbit. A nearly identical satellite, called Paz, is under construction by Astrium for the Spanish government and scheduled for launch in 2014. Paz images will be marketed commercially by Astrium and Spain’s Hisdesat.

Astrium announced Oct. 8 that the current TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X system had been upgraded, with DLR’s assistance, and now could offer customers 25-centimeter resolution. Images of this sharpness typically will have a small scene size — 4 by 3.7 square kilometers, Astrium said — which will not appeal to many customers seeking broader-area coverage.

Astrium said the higher-resolution mode, called Staring SpotLight, is particularly adapted to defense and security customers.

The TerraSAR-X announcement comes in the context of attempts by U.S. and French geospatial-imagery companies to persuade their governments to lift the current 50-centimeter-resolution limit on commercial sales optical imagery. A sensor’s resolution, or sampling distance, roughly corresponds to the size of the objects that can be discerned in the imagery it collects.

U.S. and French companies have been the most active on the commercial market for optical imagery. Industry officials said that a decision by one to lower the ceiling on what is acceptable for commercial sale likely would force the other to do likewise.

DLR views Germany’s expertise in Earth observation as having export potential not only in imagery but in satellite manufacturing as well.

Astrium in recent months has been in talks with Russian organizations about the possible sale of a TerraSAR-X-type system for the Russian market, and also has invited other nations to join the new German-Spanish partnership to operate a constellation of X-band radar satellites.

Referring to the Russian market, Gerd Gruppe, who heads DLR’s space department, said a recent German-Russian bilateral meeting made clear Russia’s interest in Germany’s satellite Earth observation expertise.

“This is where a vast market could unfold for German manufacturers,” Gruppe said in DLR’s Countdown publication dated September but distributed in October. “DLR could act as an important broker, bringing together German and Russian competencies.”

The following is an edited text of the DLR statement on current German policy:The distribution of “high-grade” satellite-based Earth observation data is regulated by the German “Satellitendatensicherheitsgesetz” (SatDSiG), which can be translated to “Act to Safeguard the Security Interests of the Federal Republic of Germany from Endangerment by the Distribution of High-Grade Earth Remote Sensing Data,” or the Satellite Data Security Act.

The federal law implements the national satellite data-security policy to guarantee that Earth remote sensing data that is commercially available from state-of-the-art Earth remote sensing satellites does not endanger security and foreign policy interests.

At the same time, the act provides legal certainty for the companies involved, and fosters the commercial development of the market for satellite data, derived products and geo-information.

The backbone of SatDSiG is a tight two-layered control procedure covering each individual distribution transaction from high-grade Earth remote sensing systems to prevent harm to security interests and ensure the peaceful coexistence of peoples and foreign relations.

The procedures include technical parameters that define the information content, which obviously include the spatial resolution but also other parameters such as spectral coverage, number of spectral channels and polarization features.

According to the SatDSiG, every request, from both commercial and scientific users, for TerraSAR-X data is subject to a “sensitivity check.” This serves to categorize the order as either sensitive or not sensitive, applying a set of parameters including information content, area to be imaged, who is making the order, and timeliness.

Every order being categorized as sensitive has to be approved by a national agency, the “Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle” (BAFA), the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control. Only following BAFA approval will the requested data be delivered.

These procedures do not include an absolute limit for the spatial resolution, under which a data set could no longer be sold commercially. However, it is obvious that delivery of data sets with higher information content faces tighter restrictions.

Source

(10 October 2013) After nearly tripling its planned lifetime, the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer – GOCE – is nearing its end of mission and will soon reenter our atmosphere.

With a sleek, aerodynamic design responsible for it being dubbed the ‘Ferrari of space’, GOCE has mapped variations in Earth’s gravity with extreme detail. Scientists further exploited these data to create the first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth’s crust and mantle – called the Moho – and to detect sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011, among other results.

In mid-October, the mission will come to a natural end when it runs out of fuel and the satellite begins its descent towards Earth from a height of about 224 km.

(source: ESA)

Roscosmos has prepared proposals for the Ministry of Defense, the meaning of which is to ensure that restrictions on the distribution of satellite data at resolution of less than 0.5 meters from the Russian civilian satellites are lifted.

MOSCOW, October 1 – RIA Novosti. Roscosmos expects that the restrictions on the distribution of satellite imagery in Russia will be lifted before the end of the year, said Advisor of the Russian Space Agency Valery Zaichko.

“We are for the lifting of all restrictions, because it constrains us. The spacecraft is up and running, but you cannot distribute its data. We have agreed that we give information for free to the federal executive authorities, but commercial distribution is restricted. We hope that by the end of the year, this issue will be cleared”, – said Zaichko to the journalists behind the scenes of the “Earth from Space” conference.

According to him, the Federal Space Agency has prepared proposals for the Defense Ministry to ensure that restrictions on the distribution of satellite data at resolution of less than 0.5 meters from the Russian civilian satellites are lifted.

“This requires a presidential decree. Roscosmos hopes that this issue will be resolved before the end of the year,” – he added.

Source RIA Novosti

(09 October 2013) A five-day in-country capacity building workshop on practical application of earth observation technologies for agricultural development, kick-started on Monday at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The workshop is being attended by senior agriculture officials, including project coordinators, monitoring and evaluation officers and technicians.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the International Fund for Agricultural (IFAD), in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and SARMP, organsied the workshop courtesy of the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP).

The main objectives of the workshop are to share the results of the pilot project with key stakeholders, discuss the benefits of using EO services and provide hands-on training to selected government and project staff on the application of EO technologies in The Gambia.

According to officials, the forum will focus specifically on creating clarity and detailed understanding by all actors on how to implement the project.

The workshop will further cover certain topics, such as technical principles, capability and cost of space-borne EO applications for land and resources survey, notably for land cover inventories, land cover change assessment and monitoring, land degradation assessments, topography and environmental protection.

It would also discuss forestry, disaster management and background information on applications with special emphasis on new capacities.

Participants would also be exposed to the overview of the potential advantages of using SAR data for specific applications such as the generation of digital elevation models, crop mapping and monitoring, land cover changes, forest fires impact assessment and burnt areas mapping, landside and subsidence monitoring.

In her official opening remarks, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ada Gaye, hailed IFAD for once again demonstrating its commitment to taking the lead in support of the development of the agricultural sector in The Gambia by initiating yet milestone collaboration between The Gambia and ESA.

According to her, the workshop aimed at monitoring key food crops and providing essential information for better planning and decision-making through earth observations and remote sensing.

Source

(September 2013) A landmark report says scientists are 95% certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming since the 1950s.

The report by the UN’s climate panel details the physical evidence behind climate change.

On the ground, in the air, in the oceans, global warming is “unequivocal”, it explained. It adds that a pause in warming over the past 15 years is too short to reflect long-term trends.

For more information click here

Source: BBC News

(September 2013) ESA’s Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (D-EOP) has opened a Request For Information (RFI) directed at collecting ideas for the implementation of some Thematic Exploitation Platforms (TEPs) as part of the evolution of the Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) operations concept.

TEPs correspond to virtual workspaces providing a user community interested in a common Earth Science Topic with very fast access to:

  • (i) large volumes of data
  • (ii) computing resources
  • (iii) processing software
  • (iv) general platform capabilities

For more information click here

Source: Earthnet Online

Sansa will debut satellite imagery tools called mini Fundisa, which aim to launch schoolchildren “into the world of geospatial information”.

The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) will on Tuesday, as part of Global Space Week, launch Fundisa: satellite imagery tools to support the high school geography curriculum.

Earth observation and space science are seen as important ways to monitor South Africa’s land usage, resources, urban development, among many other things, but a lack of skills in the field is a constant problem, both in government, research institutions and the private sector.

At the launch of Global Space Week on October 3 at the Hartebeesthoek site, Sansa chief executive Sandile Malinga was more effusive when addressing learners: “These are the new technologies, the new skills that will drive our country and our economy. It requires learners to step up to the plate and rise to the challenge. The opportunities are there for you.”

The Fundisa education programme and disc – already distributed to universities – “are set to help increase understanding of Earth observations among grade 10 to 12 learners”, Sansa said. “These resources, which include a portal for students, will also help raise awareness about the value satellite imagery adds to geographic information system analysis.”

In Fundisa, there is a “wealth of imagery, open-source processing tools”, Malinga said. Sansa disburses this resource every year to universities, but this is the first time that it is going to schools. We call it mini-Fundisa,” he said. “We want to initiate [school learners] into the world of geospatial information. You don’t just want them to see a pretty picture. [In the long run, once they have graduated], we want them to extract information that will allow us to plan better, mitigate disasters better and stimulate the economy.”

Sansa is the country’s major hub of satellite imagery, which it shares with many groups in South Africa. Sansa Earth observation managing director Jane Olwoch said: “Sansa provides the satellite data, products and services from various earth observation satellites to government department and other stakeholders for use in addressing numerous societal deficiencies such as provision of formal housing while understanding the movement of informal settlements, managing our scarce resources like water and providing real-time data for monitoring and management of disaster and recovery.”

‘Investment in space science’

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s information and communications technology unit, the Meraka Institute, uses imagery provided by Sansa to track, monitor and predict fires around the world. Government departments on both a national and provincial level also receive satellite imagery so that they can better plan and deliver services.

“Space impacts our daily lives and it is important to understand that investment in space science and technology is important for our people and economy,” said Humbulani Mudau, chief director of space science at the department of science and technology.

Space is one of the department’s grand challenges; it is seen as a way to train highly skilled researchers and professionals, and to get young people interested in science, technology and engineering-related fields

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(September 2013 by Cécile Barbière for EurActiv.fr in Paris) Backed by EU funding, satellite data is increasingly used to monitor urban development and natural resource use in developing countries, EurActiv France reports.

Forest protection, urban growth planning and water resources are growing issues for developing countries, where the lack of scientific data represents a big challenge.

Several international space programmes help bridge this gap by providing this valuable data to developing countries within the framework of international cooperation.

“This type of programme is especially aimed at countries that do not have tools for collecting and processing data efficiently,” says Anna Burzykowska, a specialist of Earth observation at the World Bank.

Through the project Eoworld, the World Bank, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), provides for five years the collection and analysis of satellite data in more than twenty countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The space agency provides free images, as well as the processing and analysis in the context of specific projects. The World Bank is responsible for defining and implementing the projects, engaging local stakeholders, facilitating access to available in situ data and providing final feedback on the quality and benefits of the project results.

In a coastal community in North Africa, a project has allowed to observe the adaptation to climate change in the region and locate the areas where the land sags.

“The results obtained during the observation have shown the extent of the problem with our government counterparts,” says Sameh Wahba, project manager at the World Bank. “Following this, authorities immediately decided to incorporate risk mitigation policies in their plans for adaptation and resilience,” she says.

Since 2010, the French Development Agency has also launched a programme to monitor the evolution of forests in Central Africa. Achieved through an agreement with EADS-Astrium, this programme provides data to tropical forest countries to improve the protection of their natural heritage, something that would be impossible without satellite images.

Satellites provide real-time data on a variety of development issues: climate change, rising sea levels, water quality, floods and movement or urban growth.

“Being able to monitor very large areas with limited resources is one of the main challenges that developing countries face,” says Zoubida Allaoua, Director in the Network of the World Bank for sustainable development.

These non-invasive technologies are also particularly useful in areas of conflict, where the collection of field data can be extremely difficult.

Still, if the satellite images are usually available free of charge, the cost of processing and analysis remains very high, and often beyond the reach of developing countries. They are therefore highly dependent on international cooperation in this field.

Cécile Barbière for EurActiv.fr in Paris

Source#!

(September 23rd, 2013) [SatNews] Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has said that Pakistan’s first Remote Sensing Satellite System (RSSS) will be launched soon to meet the national and international user requirements in the field of satellite imagery.

While addressing the eighth convocation of Institute of Space Technology (IST) last Saturday, he said the government wanted to make more sophisticated satellite system in the country, adding the satellite system could be helpful in the socio economic development of the country.

He said there was an important role of space technology in the development of different sectors including agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure development, education, health and transportation. He said the rate of economic development in the country remained very low during the past decade due to lack of political stability and policy discontinuity.

While addressing the newly graduated students, he said they should have an optimistic approach about the country and called to play their role in the economic development of the country by applying their research based knowledge into their professional careers. He said, “Pakistan is not under-developed, but it is an under-managed country.”

Earlier, the Federal Minister awarded medals and degrees to students of three departments of the institute including Aerospace Engineering, Communication System Engineering and Material Science and Engineering.

While addressing the students, Engineer Imran Rehman, Vice Chancellor of IST said the IST had achieved the fifth rank among all engineering institutes and universities in the country.

“The IST is likely to get a university status in November this year due to its best performance,” he said. He said the country was facing multiple crisis including water and energy crisis, and they could help the country to overcome those crises by applying their first hand knowledge and skills that they acquired during their stay in the institute. (Source: Business Recorder.)

Satnews

(SpaceNews, By Peter B. de Selding | Sep. 24, 2013) BEIJING — Even as the U.S. and French governments debate whether to permit the commercial sale of optical Earth observation imagery sharper than 50 centimeters in resolution, Astrium Geo-Information Services of Germany is designing a next-generation radar satellite with a 25-centimeter ground sampling distance, an Astrium official said here Sept. 24.

The satellite, called TerraSAR-X Next Generation, would provide data continuity to users of the current two-satellite TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X radar system that in 2014 will be complemented by the Spanish Paz radar satellite.

TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and Paz satellites have sensors capable of delivering images with a resolution as sharp as 1 meter, meaning they can detect objects of that diameter and above. When Paz is launched, the three satellites will be spaced 120 degrees apart in a polar low-Earth orbit of 514 kilometers to reduce the amount of time it takes for the two current satellites to revisit an area of interest.

Built by Astrium Satellites, Paz is owned by Hisdesat of Spain. The two companies have agreed to form a single sales unit with common direct-access stations for users to be able to process Paz and TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X data seamlessly.

To reduce the revisit time over a given area of the Earth to less than 10 hours, the constellation would need to include between three and five satellites, said Thomas Schrage of Astrium.

The business case for a second-generation TerraSAR-X has been complicated by the noninvolvement of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, in its financing, and by the less-than-stellar sales of radar data. Astrium officials have said a new product, called World DEM, to be introduced next year, should clinch the business case for building the next-generation TerraSAR-X.

Astrium officials hope to use the work they are performing for the German Defense Ministry, under contract to OHB AG of Bremen, Germany, on a second-generation German military radar reconnaissance system to build TerraSAR-X NG.

In a presentation here to the 64th International Astronautical Congress, Schrage said the second-generation TerraSAR-X could be launched in 2018.

Schrage suggested that the German government has already approved, in principle, the idea of a commercial satellite distributing 25-centimeter-resolution data on a commercial basis with a specific data-sales law. Another German industry official disputed that, saying the government has reached no decision on whether it will loosen its current 50-centimeter limit on resolution.

Using aerial imagery, Schrage presented side-by-side images of what is discernible with TerraSAR-X’s 1-meter imagery and what is possible at 25 centimeters. The difference was striking.

Confirming German government policy and proving the business case to Astrium management — which has already authorized spending some $400 million on the French Spot 6 and Spot 7 satellites without any French government support or government data-sales commitments — are not the only hurdles to TerraSAR-X NG.

The satellite system would transmit data in X-band at 1,200 megahertz — frequencies that are not yet authorized for this purpose by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations affiliate that regulates wireless broadcast frequencies.

The ITU’s governing body is scheduled to meet in 2015, and the 1,200-megahertz spectrum’s use for Earth observation transmissions is expected to be on the agenda.

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