Deimos-1, the first Spanish Earth Observation satellite, was launched in July 2009, and it is right now completing its first two years of successful operations.
Deimos-1 has been designed specifically to provide high-resolution coverage of very large areas, thanks to its 640-km wide swath at 22-metre resolution. Its data are used in a wide variety of applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.
DEIMOS Imaging (DMI) owns the complete Deimos-1 Earth Observation system, providing operations, mission planning and data processing, and offering an end-to-end service to customers worldwide.
Taking advantage of the large experience of ELECNOR DEIMOS in similar ESA projects, DMI has developed an advanced mission planning system (PlanEO) which allows optimising image acquisition scheduling in order to complete large coverage campaigns while avoiding clouds. PlanEO is now fully operational in DMI premises in Boecillo, Spain.
The data processing chain has been also continuously improved, increasing the productivity and the quality of the final products, through an on-going cooperation with the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Valladolid and a constant feedback from the users of Deimos-1 data.
The current level of capability of the Deimos-1 system allows to image huge areas within a very short time-frame, providing the equivalent of a single cloud-free acquisition.
During its first year of operations DMI was responsible for an ambitious ESA project aimed at covering in a few months all tropical rainforests in South America and Asia, in the frame of the TropForest initiative. In 2010 Deimos-1 also contributed significantly to the DMCii coverage of the sub-Saharan Africa, acquired for the European GMES programme.
Taking advantage of the improvements in its capabilities, in the first five months of 2011 Deimos-1 has acquired a complete, and almost cloud-free coverage of the sub-Saharan Africa (see image). This dataset will be completed in 2011, and it will soon become available to all European users through the GMES Space Component Data Access (GSCDA).
DMI is also currently providing a complete and almost cloud-free coverage of the Continental US at 22m resolution every two weeks, combining Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 data (see image), which is used to monitor the US 2011 crop season. Each image is processed and delivered within 72 hours from acquisition, allowing the prompt use of the time-sensitive data by the whole user community.
At the beginning of its third year of operations, the Deimos-1 system keeps improving, in order to provide an even better service to its customers.
About DEIMOS Imaging S.L.
DEIMOS Imaging S.L. (DMI), a Spanish private company, is the owner and operator of the Deimos-1 satellite, and markets its images and value-added products worldwide.
DMI was formed in 2006 and is the company devoted to Earth Observation within ELECNOR DEIMOS, the technology division of ELECNOR. ELECNOR is one of the largest industrial corporations in Spain, involved in engineering, renewable energy, new technologies, and the development and construction of large infrastructure projects.
For more information, please see www.deimos-imaging.com
Notes to editor:
High quality images of the coverages are available upon request from DEIMOS Imaging.
Press contacts:
Fabrizio Pirondini, Business Development Manager,
DEIMOS Imaging S.L.,
Tel: +34 91 806 3450,
Email: fabrizio.pirondini@deimos-imaging.com