Remote Sensing

India terminates S-band contract

As allegations of wrongful allocation of S-band frequencies for radio waves to a private company is mounting pressure on the Government of India, the government decided to terminate the controversial contract with Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia. It also claimed that it had not incurred any financial losses because of the contract. But the Department of Space conceded it had not fully informed the Cabinet that G-SAT6 and G-SAT6A satellites it intended to launch were meant primarily for use by Devas Multimedia.

www.indianexpress.com

Iran sets up centre for satellite images

Iran opened its first centre to receive satellite images, a new stage in its space programme that coincides with celebrations marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. According to Defence Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, equipments used in the centre have been manufactured by Iranian engineers. Iran does not have an operational satellite of its own but announced in December, 2011, that it would launch two satellites — Fajr (Dawn) and Rasad-1 (Observation-1) by the end of the Iranian year in March 2011.

www.spacemart.com

Images to estimate crop harvest

In order to ensure a good and consistent supply of food it is very important that countries and regions know how much harvest a particular area will produce. Mobushir Riaz Khan at the University of Twente’s ITC Faculty in The Netherlands has developed a method for using satellite images to determine which crops are cultivated in which areas. From the perspective of food safety, for the allocation of agricultural subsidies and to make the best possible use of available agricultural land it is vital that policymakers can estimate which crops grow in a certain area and how much harvest they will yield. For a large area it is usually difficult, time-consuming and therefore expensive to determine such matters. With this in mind, Mobushir developed a method for using satellite images to provide accurate estimates of which crops grow where, in what quantities and how much can be harvested.

Source: ITC, The Netherlands