On December 16, 2011, Soyuz launched the Pléiades 1a satellite from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), a new version of the satellite that flew in October. The Pléiades 1a was built by Astrium for the French space agency CNES.
GISCafe Voice
Posts Tagged ‘satellite imagery’
Pléiades 1a in orbit
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Landsat 5 satellite on the blink, paves way for Landsat 8 scheduled launch 2013
Sunday, November 27th, 2011According to a press release issued by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) November 18, the Landsat 5 Mission may no longer remain in operation. The reason for this is the USGS has stopped acquiring images from the 27-year-old Landsat 5 Earth observation satellite due to a rapidly degrading electronic component.
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A Landsat 5 image of the Wallow Fire acquired on June 15, 2011. Landsat imagery courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and U.S. Geological Survey
A Landsat 5 image of the Wallow Fire acquired on June 15, 2011. Landsat imagery courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and U.S. Geological Survey
When Landsat 5 was launched in 1984 it was designed to last 3 years. The USGS assumed operation of Landsat 5 in 2001 and managed to rescue the aging satellite back from the brink of total failure on several occasions following the malfunction of key subsystems.
“This anticipated decline of Landsat 5 provides confirmation of the importance of the timely launch of the next Landsat mission and the need for an operational and reliable National Land Imaging System,” stated Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the U.S. Department of the Interior. “The USGS is committed to maintaining the unique long term imaging database that the Landsat program provides.”
The amplifier that is in jeopardy is essential for transmitting land-surface images from the Landsat 5 satellite to ground receiving stations in the U.S. and around the world. In the past 10 days, amplifier problems have significantly diminished the satellite’s ability to down load images.
Now USGS engineers have suspended imaging activities for 90 days so that they can explore possible options for restoring satellite-to-ground image transmissions.
The USGS-operated Landsat 7 is actively in orbit collecting global imagery. Launched in 1999 with a 5-year design life, Landsat 7 has experienced an instrument anomaly which reduces the amount of data collected per image. A new satellite, Landsat 8, currently named the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, is now scheduled to be launched in January 2013.
Creation of new iceberg captured by aerial imagery
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011On October 14, 2011, scientists participating in NASA’s IceBridge mission, saw a huge crack in the ice running about 29 kilometers (18 miles) as they flew across Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier in a DC-8 research plane.
“The rift was 80 meters (260 feet) wide on average, and 50 to 60 meters (165 to 195 feet) deep. It marks the moment of creation for a new iceberg that should eventually span about 880 square kilometers (340 square miles) once it breaks loose from the glacier.”
Witness the Birth of an Iceberg Earth Imaging Journal
Eye on Somalia: crisis mapping and vector data formats available
Sunday, November 6th, 2011Patrick Meier, PhD, director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi and previously co-directed Harvard’s Program on Crisis Mapping and Early Warning, has a blog, where he outlines a project of the “Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF)” new team recently launched called the Satellite Imagery Team. This team is in Somalia due to a partnership with UNHCR, DigitalGlobe, Tomnod, SBTF and Ushahidi.
Images of El Hierro Spanish Submarine Volcano Eruption from RapidEye
Monday, October 31st, 2011From October 13 and October 23 RapidEye took true color, high-resolution RapidEye satellite images featuring a gigantic stain visible on the surface of Las Calmas Sea resulting from a submarine eruption out of the coast of El Hierro, Spain. The eruption occurred at 1200 meter below sea level at 10.43 local time (09:43 UTC) on October 10, 2011.
Image Taken on October 13th
Welcome to the GISCafe Voice
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011Welcome to our new offering, the GISCafe Voice. This is a new editorial blog-type content that will provide more timely coverage of breaking news to be posted two-three times per week. The articles will provide rich editorial content on topics important to GIS and geospatial professionals, including conference coverage, coverage of geospatial being used in emergency response and disaster recovery, and new products and trends that shape the industry.
Why the GISCafe Voice at this time?
We’re noticing that as geospatial information and geographic information systems become more pervasive, they are becoming critical in more industries than ever before. They are a part of the defense military and homeland security departments, tracking and identification of weather systems such as hurricanes , tsunamis, floods and earthquakes. Organizations without large GIS departments still need access to GIS information which is possible now with technologies that allow individuals to view, markup and access GIS information on the internet or in the cloud. Crowdsourcing has added another dimension to GIS and geospatial, opening up the technology to anyone who wants to contribute current information about an event, community or disaster.
Near real-time GIS data gets to firefighters
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009During the recent summer forest fire season, San Diego State University’s Homeland Security program developed a geographic information system that makes GIS data available to firefighters in the field in near real-time – even when they do not have wireless or landline networks available. These datasets, designed for firefighters specifically, are formatted for satellite delivery and include satellite and aerial imagery, weather radar and topographical data in a format optimized for delivery over the Inmarsat Plc. Broadband Global Area Network.
http://gcn.com/articles/2009/09/08/gis-wildfire.aspx
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