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Remote Sensing

Apr 2012 | No Comment

INDUSTRY | LBS | GPS | GIS | REMOTE SENSING | GALILEO UPDATE

RapidEye imagery contributes to African Malaria Control Project

Rapid Eye imagery is being used by the MALAREO project to assist with malaria control programs in countries in southern Africa. While mosquitoes can obviously not be observed via satellite, their habitats, which are considered malaria risk areas, can be. The MALAREO project, funded by the European Commission under FP7, is a mixed European-African consortium which incorporates years of experience in malaria control with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) EO capacity. Approximately 25,000 square kilometers of RapidEye data was provided via the EC/ESA GMES Space Component Data Access (GSC-DA) covering the MALAREO study area in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.
www.rapideye.net

Kiran Kumar is new SAC, India Director

A S Kiran Kumar, Associate Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, took over as its Director on March 31, 2012. He succeeds R R Navalgund. The SAC is an important facility under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It specializes in designing and developing payloads for various Indian satellites, including the Chandrayaan missions.
Mr. Kumar joined SAC/ISRO in 1975 and contributed to the design and development of electro-optical imaging sensors for satellites in lowearth and geo-stationary orbits, starting from the television payload on the Bhaskara satellites to the latest terrain mapping camera and hyper-spectral imager payloads for the Chandrayaan-1 mission. He played an important role in the development of sensors and the technology needed in satellites for land, ocean, atmospheric and planetary studies.
http://www.thehindu.com

Vietnam selects SPACEBEL for EO satellite

Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) signed contractual pre-agreements with the Belgium-based SPACEBEL, a software engineering company operating in the space and earth monitoring applications sectors, for the supply of an earth observation mini-satellite, VNREDSat-1b (Vietnam Natural Resources, Environment & Disaster Monitoring satellite). The satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2017.
www.spacebel.be

China needs its own space law

China needs its own space law to protect its rights in outer space as well as to regulate its domestic space activities, according to Hu Hao, Deputy Commanderin- Chief of the lunar exploration centre under the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry of National Defence (COSTIND), China. Hu, also a deputy to parliament, the National People’s Congress, said this during the ongoing annual legislative session. A space law could help ensure China’s implementation of the four international conventions that it has joined since becoming a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, as well as solve legal issues amid China’s increasing space cooperations with other countries. China currently has few separate regulations on space activities, which are unable to meet the rising demands of space development, stated Hu.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn

SimActive unveils New Dense DSM Technology

SimActive Inc has released 4.0 of its Correlator3D™ product capable of producing dense digital surface models (DSM). This next generation GPUenabled technology delivers close to three times more points compared to previous releases. Along with very high point density, it features powerful new enhancements for better representation of terrain topography.
www.simactive.com

PCI Geomatics releases GXL aerial v2.1

PCI Geomatics released GeoImaging Accelerator Aerial (GXL-Aerial) version 2.1. PCI has made numerous improvements to the GXL including increases in accuracy and speed, advanced automation, and an enhanced user experience. GXL Aerial v2.1 also adds support for the DMC camera format providing wider usability and flexibility.

www.pcigeomatics.com

Images indicate deforestation in India

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), India, revealed in its report that the forest fire destroyed over 3,500 hectare area (ha) of Nagarhole and 2,000 ha of Bandipur tiger reserve in the country. The report titled ‘A rapid assessment of recent forest fires in Nagarhole and Bandipur tiger reserves,’ cited information gathered from various local sources about the locations and extent of forest patch burnt and active fires detected by MODIS sensor onboard TERRA and AQUA satellites of NASA (corrected for park boundary delineation errors) as well as an examination of RESOURCESAT satellite images available from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).

www.deccanherald.com

Astrium’s PixAgri service helps Canada in crop management

Astrium Services’ PixAgri satellite imaging service for crop management completed its first agricultural campaign for “La Coop federee”, the largest agrifood business in Quebec, Canada. PixAgri has been developed by Astrium Services to help farmers optimise the management and yield of their crops. Working from satellite images, the geo-experts from Astrium in Toulouse provide Canadian producers with information that can detect crop anomalies including drainage faults, excessive leaf growth or seeding problems, in order to improve the quality of their crops and their yield. The system offers a capability to manage farmland thousands acres wide.

www.eads.com