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

WorldView-1 reaches full operational capability
WorldView-1 is now fully commissed, meets all its requirements, and is delivering imagery to the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA) as part of the NextView program. DigitalGlobe will begin taking orders for WorldView-1 imagery from its global resellers, …

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.

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

ISRO to launch Israeli Satellite
ISRO is planning to launch an Israeli satellite from Sriharikota which is expected to cost approximately $15 million. Israe has opted for the Indian PSLV as it is more reliable than its own Shavit rocket and also Israel’s defence ministry has laid down new orbital requirements for TechSar which Shavit could not provide.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

US expresses concern over satellite-killing test by China
The USA, Australia and Canada have voiced concerns to China over the fi rst known satellite-killing test in space in more than 20 years. The capability demonstrated by China was no surprise to the Bush administration, which revised U.S. national space policy in October to assert a right to deny space access to anyone hostile to US Interests. The US has been researching satellitekillers of its own, experimenting with lasers on the ground that could disable, disrupt and destroy spacecraft. http://news.scotsman.com

India’s Space Commission on comprehensive legal document
With private players gaining easy accessibility to satellite data, India’s Space Commission is working on a comprehensive legal document on issues related to outer space to ensure that internal security is not endangered, informed Mr. G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation and Space Commission. “Remote sensing satellites are focusing on all important installations and a number of agencies like Google Earth are buying such data and placing it in the public domain, which can be a potential danger to internal security,” said Mr. Nair.
www.hindu.com

Arirang 2 sends first photographs
A multipurpose satellite that South Korea launched into space in July, has sent back its first photographs, proving that the images provided by Arirang 2 are vivid enough to distinguish small objects on the ground. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) unveiled the images from the high-resolution cameras of Arirang 2.
http://english.hani.co.kr

$2.4 million for satellite imaging
Mr. Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, announced a five-year, $2.4-million project to provide access to new, high-quality satellite images of Canada and also the improved and standardized satellite images will be available to all Canadians for free over the Internet.
The newer and higher-quality images will be used for mapping, monitoring Canadian wetland areas and managing natural resources, and will support government decision and policy makers in the fields of public safety, health and the environment, as well as our northern and Aboriginal communities. Natural Resources Canada will coordinate and manage the project, ensure the quality of the data and liaise with the contractors, TELUS Corporation and Iunctus Geomatics Corp., who are supplying the satellite images.
www.NRCan.gc.ca

ISRO and NASA Sign MOU on Chandrayaan-1
The Indian Space Research Organization and National Aeronautics and Space Administration of USA have signed an MOU on inclusion of two US scientifi c instruments on board India’s first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1. These instruments are – Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini SAR) developed by Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), jointly built by Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.
www.isro.gov.in

Forest cover in Philippines on the rise
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) revealed recently that satellite imagery and remote sensors indicate that the forest cover in Central Luzon has increased to 7.2 million hectares from 6.5 million hectares in 1988. www.manilastandardtoday.com