IMAGING

RADARSAT-2 info for the Malaysia Remote Sensing Agency

MDA’s Information Systems group (MDA) has signed a contract with the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (MRSA) to provide RADARSAT-2 information that will be used to support a number of applications, such as agriculture monitoring, and natural disaster response. MRSA has been utilizing the recent access to RADARSAT-2 information to aid in the search of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. www.mdacorporation.com

European Parliament adopts Copernicus

Copernicus, the EU’s Earth Observation Programme, will ensure the regular observation and monitoring of Earth subsystems, the atmosphere, oceans, and continental surfaces, and will provide reliable, validated and guaranteed information in support of a broad range of environmental and security applications and decisions. The vote marks a major milestone for Copernicus. Indeed, the adoption of the Regulation paves the way for the continuous development of the programme. This text, which still needs to be adopted by the Council, defines Copernicus objectives, governance and funding (some € 4.3 billion euros) for the period 2014-2020. The Copernicus programme is entering the operational phase after years of preparation. The next step is the launch of the first Copernicus satellite, Sentinel-1, very soon. http://copernicus.eu

Integrated Digital Medium Format Aerial Camera

Phase One Industrial has announced the Phase One iXU 150 — the first CMOSbased medium format aerial camera. Its 50 MP CMOS sensor offers 8280 pixels crosstrack coverage, which is 68 percent more capture area than the sensor in any full- frame 35mm DSLR. Quality captures are now possible across its full range from ISO 100 to 6400, at a capture rate of 0.8 second per frame. Its magnesium chassis is 30 percent lighter than an aluminum design, but built to be a tough workhorse, able to withstand the challenging physical conditions of aerial photography. industrial.phaseone.com

China mulls global satellite surveillance

China is considering massively increasing its network of surveillance and observation satellites so it can monitor the entire planet. The government is mulling building more than 50 orbiting probes, which Chinese researchers said would make the nation’s satellite surveillance network on par with, or even larger than, that of the US. Frustration with the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft over the past three weeks had led the project to win strong backing from decision makers in Beijing, the researchers said. www.scmp.com

First Images Available from NASA-JAXA Global Rain and Snowfall Satellite

NASA and the Japan AerospaceExploration Agency (JAXA) have releasedthe fi rst images captured by their newestEarth-observing satellite, the GlobalPrecipitation Measurement (GPM) CoreObservatory, which launched into spaceFeb. 27. The images show precipitationfalling inside a March 10 cyclone over thenorthwest Pacifi c Ocean, approximately 1,000 miles east of Japan. The datawere collected by the GPM CoreObservatory’s two instruments:JAXA’s Dual-frequency PrecipitationRadar (DPR), which imaged a threedimensionalcross-section of the storm;and, NASA’s GPM Microwave Imager(GMI), which observed precipitationacross a broad swath. www.nasa.gov