EC issues Galileo restructuring plan
The European Commission has proposed changes in running and funding the Galileo and Egnos satellite navigation systems, but deferred proposals on procurement competition and private sector involvement. The proposed revamp was recently submitted to the European Parliament and the European Council, which in June agreed to abandon the public-private partnership arrangement that had been set up to manage and fund deployment of the 30-satellite system.
Lack of clear governance was pegged as a major shortcoming of the original managing structure. Under the new setup, the Parliament and Council are to be fully responsible for political and program oversight, the latter through a new European Global Navigation Satellite System Program Committee. The European Commission will act as owner or sponsor of the project, under the supervision of the GNSS Committee.
The European Space Agency will act as prime contractor, under contract to the EC, with responsibility for the In Orbit Validation (IOV) spacecraft, the 26 Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites and the related ground segment. The agency will report regularly to the Parliament and Council on program progress. The GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA), which had been created to manage negotiations with the private sector under the original public-private partnership scheme, was given a new job. The GSA will be beefed up and made responsible for preparing market services, handle accrediation/certification, and serve as advisor to the Commission.
The EC determined that the cost of building and deploying the system would not exceed 3.4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) – in line with earlier estimates – provided that there are no further delays or major changes in procurement policy. www.aviationweek.com

Multiple benefits from LIDAR and ortho imagery
Forestal Arauco S.A., a leading forest products companies in South America is using LIDAR and imagery and realizing significant benefits to their operations. It has contracted Digimapas Chile to acquire, process and map 7,500,000 hectares of aerial LIDAR and ortho photo data of forested areas in Chile. On a weekly basis, Digimapas is delivering DTM, DSM; LIDAR intensity images; true ortho images in RGB and CIR; and LIDAR wave form data. It is being used for updating general forest inventory.

VNU-HCM plans to establish the Institute of Space Science and Technology
Vietnam National University – Hochiminh City (VNU-HCM) plans to establish the Institute of Space Science and Technology (ISST) to educate and carry on research in the disciplines of space science and technology, to develop applications of space technology for socio-economy. It will also aim at collaboration with other scientific institutions. With this mission, President Board of VNU-HCM expects collaborations, supports from international institutions on space science and technology. Dr. Tran Vinh Phuoc, Associate Professor in GIS & RS of the VNU-HCM is assigned to hold the Head of the Project Establishing the ISST.

GPS-enabled mobile gaming gets out of the lab in Germany
Students from the University of Bonn, with the game publisher Ravensburger Spiele and T-Mobile have invented Scotland Yard – to go!, a wireless version. The players are equipped with a Ultra Mobile PC including a GPRS connectivity and a GPS receiver. The GPS-enabled device provides the current location of the different players which is fed to a webserver. www.gpsbusinessnews.com

GAORFID Inc. announces LocateWare software
GAORFID Inc., Canada announces LocateWare, an RFID middleware that reports real-time location of people, animals and things. It enables tracking, locating and identification for a wide range of businesses. www.gaorfid.com

Leica TPS1200+ Total Station
Leica Geosystems introduces TPS1200+, its most competitive total station ever. It provides the market’s most accurate reflectorless EDM with the smallest laser dot and measures distances over 1000 meters. It has also launched Leica GNSS Spider V3.0, which provides the full range of GNSS Network RTK services including GPS & GLONASS.

Galileo to support global search and rescue
The detection of emergency beacons will be greatly improved by the introduction Galileo. It will carry transponders to relay distress signals to search and rescue organisations. In connection with this, representatives of the Galileo project attended the recent 21st annual Joint Committee Meeting of COSPAS-SARSAT, the international programme for satellite-aided search and rescue. The partners in Galileo are committed to developing the Galileo search and rescue component as an integral part of MEOSAR (Medium Earth Orbit Search And Rescue, the future worldwide search and rescue satellite system. Galileo joined the meeting in a formal capacity as a major contributor to the MEOSAR programme, following the signature of the ‘Declaration of Intent to Cooperate on the Development and Evaluation of MEOSAR’. It is a programme to equip satellites that operate in medium- Earth orbits with payloads that receive signals from distress beacons on Earth. These signals are then relayed to rescue organisations, giving them the location of the emergency.
www.gpsdaily.com

Nothing Succeed like Success! GSLV-F04 successfully launched – Places INSAT-4CR in Orbit
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F04, had a successful launch on September 2, 2007. It placed India’s INSAT-4CR into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. This was the fifth flight of GSLV and the fourth successful one.
GSLV was commissioned after both its developmental test flights conducted in April 2001 and May 2003 were successful. GSLV was designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Russian supplied cryogenic stage was used for third stage propulsion, the guidance and control of the stage has been implemented by ISRO. INSAT-4CR was developed by ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore. The payloads were developed by Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. The successful launch of GSLV-F04 demonstrated the operational reliability of GSLV as well as reiterated the endto- end capability of ISRO.
http://www.isro.gov.in/gslv-f04/photos/index.htm

GIS to fi ght dengue epidemic in Bangkok
Authorities in Bangkok are resorting to a GIS to ease the dengue epidemic in the Thai capital. According to Bangkok governor, a longer rainy season and changing temperatures have favored the breeding of the mosquito that transmit the fatal disease. He added, the GIS will help the city officials to find critical epidemic areas. www.allheadlinenews.com

GPS technology aids biologists in research
Satellite tracking technology may help state biologists learn more about the habits of mountain goats while helping keep track of them. Two goats shall be the test animals for the tracking experiment, said officials of district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Baker City. Biologists equipped two of the goats with GPS, collars programmed to pinpoint the goats’ position every 30 minutes for the next couple of months, then every three hours. They can adjust that interval to as often as every 10 minutes by remote control. The collars will also record temperatures. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com