Pleiades 1B, captures its first images using e2v sensors
Pleiades 1B, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Earth observation satellite, has captured its ô€‚¿ rst images using e2v high performance imaging sensors. www.e2v.com/

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/

Designed for a wide range of survey applications, the SIRIUS UAV is a fixed wing structure ideal for corridor mapping roads, pipelines and power lines, calculating stockpile volumes, monitoring erosion, reconciliation and progress reporting.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch 58 space missions, including sending spacecraft to moon and Mars, an exclusive satellite to keep a round-the-clock watch on the country and deploy 500 transponders in the next fi ve years. The space agency also aims to deploy its own version of the GPS by putting into orbit a constellation of seven satellites which would form the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).

China will promote the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to strengthen the nation’s marine surveillance, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said. The SOA verified and accepted a pilot program of using drones to undertake remote-sensing marine surveillance in Lianyungang, a costal city in eastern Jiangsu Province.

Dismayed over “negligible” returns from sale of satellite imagery, a Parliamentary panel has asked the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), India to be more competitive in data marketing. The Public Accounts Committee, in a draft report on activities of the NRSC, appeared to brush aside Department of Space (DoS) contention that remote sensing was treated as a “public good service” rather than commercial activity

DigitalGlobe and GeoEye have announced that the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a defi nitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $900 million. The combination of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye will create a global leader in earth imagery and geospatial analysis with a more diversifi ed revenue base, a superior fi nancial foundation and signifi cant growth potential.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) released its 2012 State of the Satellite Industry Report. Globally, 2011 revenues for the satellite industry totalled USD 177.3 billion, a growth of 5 percent. This is the fi fteenth year that SIA has commissioned the Futron Corporation to conduct this annual survey.

China successfully launched the remotesensing satellite Yaogan XIIII recently from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi. The satellite was carried into space aboard a Long March 4B carrier rocket which blasted off at 3:06 p.m. Beijing time, according to the center.

GeoEye has announced a strategic relationship with Geostellar, an innovative technology company that is transforming the solar energy industry to supply Earth imagery, digital surface models and other mapping data to help Geostellar dramatically expand its service. Geostellar has built a breakthrough analytics platform that automatically determines how quickly a given property owner can recoup an investment in solar energy. It has built solar maps in Washington D.C., Boston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, where government agencies have made aerial imagery freely available.