IMAGING

Maxar awarded $192m IDIQ contract

Maxar Technologies has announced that it was awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract by the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA), worth up to $192 million over five years.

Under the Foreign Commercial Imagery Program contract, it will provide multiple U.S. allies and partners with commercial imagery services consisting of high-resolution electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and 3D data products. www.maxar.com ‘

AICRAFT launched edge computing device to space

South Australian artificial intelligence (AI) company AICRAFT has successfully launched its edge computing module to set a record for Big Data processing on orbit.

The device was launched on Friday 10 February 2023 on board the JANUS-1 satellite of Antaris Space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of India under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

As a key sub-system of the JANUS-1 satellite, AICRAFT’s edge computing module, named Pulsar, will perform ultra-fast processing of space data using artificial intelligence at lowest power consumption.

In its preliminary tests on the ground, the company has demonstrated the ability to classify 1,250 images of Earth Observation data in about 10 seconds! This was achieved using the device in low-power mode which the company expects to enable 24/7 computation, even on ‘shoe-box-size’ nanosatellites compared to the 10 minutes a day with current market solutions.

The module offers the advantage of being highly customisable depending on the host satellite, mission duration and orbit, making it resilient but also affordable for a variety of customers and New Space entrants. From a software perspective, the module supports over 20 of the most popular machine learning frameworks with users able to develop algorithms for Pulsar in the same way they are developing on desktops and leveraging from open-source software. www.spaceconnectonline.com.au

EvoLand’- new Horizon Europe project

A consortium under the lead of VITO officially launched the new Horizon Europe project EvoLand (Evolution of the Copernicus Land Service portfolio) in Leuven (Belgium) on the 17th and 18th of January 2023. EvoLand will develop and test new and innovative methods and algorithms and implement a bundle of candidate Copernicus Land Monitoring Service prototypes. This will be realised by integrating novel EO and in-situ data with latest Machine Learning techniques to continuously monitor the status, dynamics and biomass of the land surface focussing on five key thematic domains – agriculture, forest, water, urban and general land cover.

GAF AG is part of this new research and development project that includes 10 key-players of the EU Space industry from 5 EU countries. The project will be running for the next 3 years.

Why EvoLand?

Since 2011, the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) provides core products for the monitoring of status and changes in vegetated and nonvegetated land cover/land use state and characteristics, biophysical variables, water and cryosphere conditions. Currently CLMS needs to advance in phase with the new Copernicus 2.0 programme, the evolving user needs, global challenges and technical capabilities, meanwhile maintaining the existing core Copernicus information products and services.

EvoLand – Evolution of the Copernicus Land Service portfolio – addresses these needs in a comprehensive way through a well-designed process, developing innovative methods, algorithms and candidate CLMS prototypes to monitor the status and changes of land use/land cover and various land surface characteristics at high spatial and temporal resolution.

How is the project going to achieve its objective?

EvoLand aims to develop eleven next-generation CLMS product candidates by integrating innovative approaches in data fusion, Machine Learning, continuous monitoring and biomass mapping, as well as through the integration of novel EO and insitu data. In addition, the project will analyse policy, data and infrastructure requirements for the prototype services, interact with the relevant Entrusted Entities (European Environment Agency [EEA], Joint Research Centre [JRC]) and consult other main Copernicus Land stakeholders and users. evenflow.eu

IIT Madras, ISRO sign MoU to build AR astronaut training module

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is going to develop training module for Indian Spaceflight Program using Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality / Mixed Reality (AR / VR / MR).

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) would utilize the advanced technologies created at the newlyestablished eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) at IIT Madras to promote Research and Development (R&D) in the domain of Extended Reality.

A MoU was signed recently between ISRO and IIT Madras. The XTIC will not only develop XR technologies for human spaceflight program but will also impart training to concerned HSFC engineers on this technology and help in establishing a XR/VR laboratory at HSFC.

The XTIC has established ‘CAVE,’ a consortium of start-ups and Industries in the field of XR and Haptics in India. The ecosystem led by XTIC will be utilised for several applications ranging from Outreach and education of the Human Spaceflight Programme to Digital Twins. https://www.iitm.ac.in

Galaxy Onboard by Teledyne Geospatial

Teledyne Geospatial released the Galaxy Onboard, a workflow-focused solution that enables airborne surveyors to deliver quality-controlled processed data in real time. It has lowered the barrier of entry for organizations venturing into airborne mapping with a solution that does not require expertise or months of training. teledyne.com

Omaha Public Power District LiDAR capture for digital transformation

VeriDaaS Corporation is proud to support to the efforts of Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) in their digital transformation project.

OPPD has embarked on a massive 14-county LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) laser mapping program to accurately map and spatially reference all overhead electric distribution facilities. Digital transformation of a utility enhances the GIS and promotes System (GIS) and promotes the use of Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) leading to more efficient reliable power. https://veridaas.com

Lumotive and Lumentum introduce design for 3D LiDAR solutions

Lumotive, the developer of Light Control Metasurface beam steering chips enabling the next generation of 3D sensors, and Lumentum Holdings, a designer and manufacturer of innovative optical and photonic products, jointly announced the availability of the M30 Reference Design, a complete software-defined sensor implementation to enable rapid adoption of LCM-based solid-state beam steering technology. www.lumentum.com