A spy satellite for the Japanese government rode an H-2A rocket into orbit replenishing a fleet of secret spacecraft designed to keep track of missile development in North Korea. The secret satellite, built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp., is circling Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of more than 300 miles. The spacecraft was a more than $500 million payload outfitted with an optical camera and telescope to supply imagery to the Japanese government for intelligence, defense and civilian remote sensing applications. The spacecraft will become an operational member of Japan’s optical spy satellite fleet.

Carlson Survey 2012: Carlson Survey 2012 gives users increased 3D visualization, extensive new 3D coding in its industry-renowned Fieldto- Finish, and the ability to produce customized, more professional reports among its many additional improvements. It provides support in its 2012 release for AutoCAD 2012 and comes with IntelliCAD 7.1 built-in.

yandex buys 10 mn sq.km of images: Yandex, a Russian search engine, purchased high resolution images of 10 million sq.km of the Earth territory from ScanEx. The resolution shall be 0.8m per pixel.

SciSys wins satellite project contract: SciSys, the specialist supplier of bespoke software systems, IT based solutions and support services, has been awarded a contract to support the Full Operational Capability (FOC) Phase of Europe’s Galileo System. This was achieved after successful completion of the European Union (EU) competitive dialogue process and final negotiations with Astrium UK as the prime contractor for the Galileo Ground Control Segment. The SciSys baseline contract is worth around €2m and will run until the end of 2013, with an optional maintenance extension into 2014.

Bulletproof vest has GPS, sends alert: The S-911 Vest from Laipac Technology is chest armor with brains. It has sprouted a GPS system. It’s designed for military, police, law enforcement agencies etc. It is the invisible eye for the Commander during tactical missions. It provides automatic GPS tracking with accurate position, time, date, speed & heading.
www.laipac.com

Indonesia develops NSDI using cloud: Indonesia’s National Coordinating Agency for Survey and Mapping, BAKOSURTANAL, is developing its National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) using cloud computing technology. This initiative aims to provide accurate and reliable geospatial information to government agencies and the general public.
www.futuregov.in

Space Wing installs large software sustainment release

The 50th Space Wing’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron installed a major software release containing 104 fixes to the GPS Ground Segment. This is the largest sustainment release to the GPS ground segment since transitioning to the Architecture Evolution Plan system in 2007. Since 2007, the GPS Directorate has been concentrating on delivering new capability software to the ground segment for the IIF satellite, increasing navigation signal strength and anti-spoof capability.

Brussels Celebratory Launch Events: The launch of the two operational Galileo IOV (In-Orbit Validation) satellites on 20 October is a first in the history of the European Union. It is a moment to celebrate this unique and ambitious European collaboration.

UniStrong holds 40 pc GIS market share in China: Beijing UniStrong Science & Technology Co. Ltd. holds approximately 40 percent GIS market share in China, according to a report by Orient Securities Company Ltd. In next five years, the company is poised to do the business of approximately 100 billion yuan (USD 15.6 billion), China Daily reported.

50th Space Wing gains control of newest GPS Satellite: The 50th Space Wing’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron accepted command and control of the second Global Positioning System Block IIF satellite. The Space and Missile Systems Center’s GPS Directorate, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, remained in control of the satellite during a 30-day on-orbit checkout period before the hand-off to 2 SOPS. The next-generation GPS IIF satellites built by Boeing will provide improved accuracy through advanced atomic clocks, a longer design life than legacy GPS satellites, and a new third civil signal, L5 that will eventually benefit commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications