Imaging

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China launches Turkish remote sensing satellite

A Chinese Long March rocket successfully launched a Turkish remote sensing satellite last month. The 450-kilogram satellite, built by Turkey’s Space Technologies Research Institute and Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc., with a camera system provided by South Korea, is designed to provide imagery of the Earth at resolutions as high as 2.5 meters. http://www.spacetoday.net/

Source of Huaihe River Pinpointed with the help of RS

Chinese scientists have pinpointed the source of the Huaihe River and remeasured the length of the river, which, along with the Qinling Mountains, is regarded as the geographical line dividing China’s north and south. The river is 1,252 kilometers long and its drainage area is 274,657 square kilometers, according to the new fi ndings of the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Liu Shaochuang, a leading scientist in the research project, said, “We found the longest headstream in the drainage basin of the river and pinpointed its source based on high-resolution remotesensing images. Then we conducted fi eld investigations to the source area to confi rm the fi ndings.” http://english.cri.cn/

Remote Sensing Space Centre in Haiti

Within the framework of the bilateral cooperation France-Haiti, the Research Institute for Development (IRD) and the State University of Haiti (UEH) have signed an agreement for the establishment on the campus Roi Christophe (North), of an antenna of Environmental Monitoring Satellite Aided (SEAS). This antenna will allow to receive images of the Caribbean region, taken from various satellites. www.haitilibre.com/en/

New law in making – aerial photography banned in Hungary

In Hungary the state wants to forbid to taking photographs or images from the air. From early 2013 only 3 or 4 specially authorized universities and organizations can make close-air photos. The regulation also applies to foreign tourists. http://www.hir24.hu/

Iran to launch 2 new homemade satellites soon

Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) has announced that the country is preparing to put two new home-made satellites, called AUT SAT and Sharif SAT, into orbit in the near future. The Islamic Republic in February announced plans to display its new achievements in space fi elds by sending heavier home-made satellites to higher altitudes by the next few years. http://english.farsnews.com/

DigitalGlobe and MapBox bring Location Intelligence to every online user

With the new MapBox Satellite service, users can incorporate DigitalGlobe’s high-resolution satellite imagery as their maps’ base layer for added quality and ground detail. It also allows users to integrate crowd-sourced information directly from OpenStreetMap (OSM) for increased relevance and location intelligence. www.digitalglobe.com

DigitalGlobe- GeoEye merger approved by shareholders

Shareholders of imaging satellite operators GeoEye and DigitalGlobe have approved the merger of the companies in a transaction that would create a single major provider of commercial satellite imagery to the US Department of Defense, the companies announced. www.digitalglobe.com

US Congress reforms the export control framework for satellites

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) congratulates the U.S. Congress for passing this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that reforms the export control framework for satellites and related items. The satellite export control reform provision in the NDAA reverses a 1998 requirement to treat exports of satellites differently from those of other hightechnology products, a reform that SIA has sought for over a decade. The legislation will provide a more even playing fi eld for U.S. satellite companies, spurring economic and job growth and bolstering the leadership of the U.S. Space community for many years. www.sia.org

Pléiades 1B satellite launched, joins Pléiades 1A

Astrium has announced successful launch of Pléiades 1B optical satellite. It joined its twin Pléiades 1A to form the fi rst ever high-resolution earth-observation constellation of its kind. Astrium Services will be the exclusive distributor of imagery from Pléiades 1A and 1B. This daily revisit capability of the satellite will bring added value to users of satellite data products around the world. Astrium

GeoEye announces fi rst sale to the Government of India

GeoEye has received an order from the Government of India for stereo imagery from the high resolution GeoEye-1 satellite to support development of India’s freight railway corridor. Stereo imagery provides three-dimensional viewing and feature recognition for a number of engineering applications, including threedimensional feature extraction. RITES, a Government of India Enterprise, made the six-fi gure purchase through the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), GeoEye’s Master Reseller for India.