IMAGING

First Copernicus Accelerator Bootcamp

40 pioneering entrepreneurs, 31 mentors and representatives of the European Commission and the European Space Agency gathered in Madrid on 24 and 25 October 2016 for the initial bootcamp of the first Copernicus Accelerator. The new business coaching programme, funded by the European Commission, will accelerate the market entry of innovative space applications and products submitted to ESA’s Earth observation competition Copernicus Masters with tailored expert support.

The Accelerator Bootcamp sets forth the official start of the 8 month-long coaching programme provided to the 40 best entrants of this year’s Copernicus Masters competition. It was the first time mentees and mentors joined up in person, and had the opportunity to begin developing a coaching plan, including objectives and KPIs of their affiliation. http://ec.europa. eu/growth/about-us/index_en.htm

FARO releases the Vantage

FARO® has launched Vantage – a new addition to its Vantage Laser Tracker product line. It has well-proven features and capabilities such as high-speed dynamic measurement, and is affordably priced for customers who demand high performance while working with short-tomedium range applications. The Tracker is ideally suited for customers who do not require the extended measurement range that is provided by the premium Vantage solution but still demand the trusted and robust features the Vantage platform provides. www.faro.com/

Proteus Geo wins ESA backing to advance bathymetry data service

Proteus Geo has won the backing of the European Space Agency (ESA) to create a new bathymetry data service that leverages DigitalGlobe satellite imagery to allow everyone to explore the shallows around the world’s coastlines. Over the last four years, Proteus Geo has worked in partnership with DHI to provide a vast range of customers with bathymetry data, derived from satellites. www.proteusgeo.com

NASA’s next civilian land remote sensing satellite

Orbital ATK, Inc. has been awarded a contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to design and build Landsat 9, an advanced land surface mapping satellite to be operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The Landsat 9 satellite will extend the Landsat program’s record of global terrestrial imagery to half a century. Under the contract, Orbital ATK will design and manufacture the satellite, integrate the two government furnished instruments with the spacecraft and support launch, early orbit operations and on-orbit check-out of the observatory. Landsat 9 is scheduled for launch in December of 2020. www.orbitalatk.com

In a first, PSLV puts 8 satellites in two different orbits

In a first, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s PSLV C-35 rocket launched a total of eight satellites, into two different orbits. The 371 kg SCATSAT-1, a satellite for weather-related studies, was placed in the polar sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 730 km some 17 minutes after the rocket took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

About two hours later, the rocket placed two satellites from two educational institutions (PISAT and PRATHAM), three commercial payloads from Algeria (ALSAT-1B, 2B and 1N) and one each for Canada (NLS-19) and the United States (Pathfinder-1). Announcing the successful launch of all the satellites from the Mission Control Centre, ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said the Monday launch marked a “landmark day” in the history of ISRO.

The 10 kg PRATHAM by IIT Bombay intends to estimate the total electron count with a resolution of 1km x 1km location grid and PISAT (5.25 kg) from PES University in Bengaluru intends to explore remote sensing applications. Algeria’s ALSAT-1B is an earth observation satellite (103 kg), ALSAT-2B a remote sensing satellite (117 kg) and ALSAT-1N (7 kg) a technology demonstrator. Canada’s NLS-19 is a technology demonstration micro satellite (8 kg) and Pathfinder-1 is a commercial high resolution imaging micro satellite (44 kg). www.thehindu.com

Russia, India agree on mutual placement of satellite stations

Russia and India agreed on mutual placement of Russia’s Glonass satellite navigation system and Indian NavIC navigation system on the sidelines of the BRICS Goa summit, Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation said in a statement. “Today, October 15, 2016, in Goa (India) a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the state corporation Roscosmos and the Indian Space Research Organisation. Russia and India are planning a mutual placement of ground stations for gathering data GLONASS global navigation system and Indian satellite system NavIC,” the company specified in a statement. Roscosmos stressed that the document had a strategic importance for the development of Russian-Indian cooperation and its implementation would increase accuracy in reporting data of Russian and Indian navigation systems. https://sputniknews.com

Satellite-based surveillance system to monitor illegal mining

In a path-breaking move, the mines ministry, India came out with mining surveillance system (MSS), a pan-India surveillance network using latest satellite technology, to check illegal mining. Launching the system, Mines Minister Piyush Goyal hoped the technology will ensure sustainable utilisation of the country’s mineral resources. “MSS will trigger an alarm whenever there is an instance of illegal mining outside permitted areas. Karnataka, which saw large instances of illegal mining in the past, stands to gain tremendously from this technology,” he added.

This technology will help design planned development of mining as also provide complete data of labourers working in the sector online, which will lead to better safety standards, the minister noted. MSS is a satellite-based monitoring system, which aims to check illegal mining activity through automatic remote-sensing detection technology. http://indianexpress.com/