Beginning in 2014, an innovative constellation of data-relay satellites will transform the way we transfer data from low Earth orbit satellites and unmanned aircraft systems. By Akos Hegyi, Martin Agnew and Judith Metschies, Astrium Services (www.astrium.eads.net),...
How can users meet the challenge of C-band SAR data continuity? By David Belton, general manager, MDA Geospatial Services Inc. (www.mdacorporation.com), Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Â The recent loss of the Envisat satellite is taking its toll on...
Landsats 5 and 7 are all but finished, pinning the program’s future squarely upon the next planned mission. By Kevin P. Corbley, principal, Corbley Communications (www.corbleycommunications.com), Castle Rock, Colo., and John Stenmark, principal, Genesee...
Unprecedented property loss from wildfires in Colorado and the western United States underscores the importance of emerging multipurpose unmanned aircraft systems for rapid disturbance mapping. By Thomas Zajkowski, a remote sensing specialist with the U.S. Forest...
By John R. Hughes, editorial director, Earth Imaging Journal (www.eijournal.com), Greeley, Colo. Within days of the launch of the first Landsat satellite 40 years ago, scientists were astounded when they were able to view a dramatic 81,000-acre fire in an...
Earth Observation Faces Dire Straits The capacity to observe and study our planet from space faces serious challenges during the coming years. A host of aging satellites, along with several mainstay platforms that recently have failed, plus insufficient funding for...
High-Resolution Satellite Imagery— Can Funding Keep Pace With Technology? By Ian Dowman, professor emeritus, University College London, and author of High-Resolution Optical Satellite Imagery, available from Whittles Publishing (www.whittlespublishing.com) and in...
By Jay D. Krasnow, Office of Integrated Analytic Services, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (www.nga.mil), Springfield, Va. From Osama bin Laden’s fortress to the damage caused by the tsunami at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, scene visualization...
CryoSat Satellite Goes to Sea The European Space Agency launched CryoSat in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but high-resolution mapping of ocean-floor topography now is being added to the ice mission’s repertoire. The topography of the ocean...
Salinity—the amount of dissolved salt in the water—is critical to many aspects of the ocean, from circulation to climate to the global water cycle. For much of the past year, NASA and Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales have been making...
