As seen in the accompanying feature, Earth Observation Embracing the New Space Environment: The Significance of EO Smallsat Constellations, the small satellite (smallsat) industry has become an important and market-disrupting force in Earth observation. The following...
July – August 2015 Contents
Remote sensing and associated technologies for oil and gas (O&G) applications aren't new”they've been around for several decades. However, above surface information hasn't been widely used in the last 30-40 years of O&G exploration and operations; sub-surface analyses have been more pervasive for several reasons.
Defense Watch: Assessing the Role of Geospatial Intelligence in a Period of Rapid Climate Change
By Chris Crosiar, Office of Basic and Applied Research, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (www.nga.mil), Springfield, Va. In my experience as a research and development scientist at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, I recall a time when the mention of...
Industry Insights: New NASA Earth Science Missions Expand View of Our Home Planet
By Steve Cole, public affairs officer, Earth Science Division, NASA (www.nasa.gov), Washington, D.C. Four new NASA Earth-observing missions are collecting data from space—with a fifth newly in orbit—after the busiest year of NASA Earth science launches in more...
Industry Overview: Are You Poised for Opportunity?
When looking at all the coming changes to the geospatial technology tools and inputs that are emerging and immediately over the horizon, there's a mixed feeling of excitement and trepidation. How will all of these new data-collection platforms, workflows and analytics impact the world of today's practitioners as well as the vendor community?
Earth Observation Embracing the New Space Environment: The Significance of EO Smallsat Constellations
During the last several years, numerous companies announced their intention to launch low-cost Earth-observation satellite systems, most of which will be constellations of satellites. This implies a significant increase in the amount of Earth-observation data being collected and a growing number of supply choices, but what are the industry implications?
Mapping Forest Loss with Landsat
With at least one image of every location on Earth per season for 43 years, the Landsat data archive contains more than 50 trillion pixels. So how could you put all of that imagery to use in discovering and monitoring subtle changes on Earth? One answer lies in the...
Japan's New Weather Satellite Provides Whole-Planet View
Japan’s Himawari-8 weather satellite was launched on Oct. 7, 2014, and began operation on July 7, 2015. The satellite is in a geostationary orbit  22,000 miles from Earth, allowing for a full global view at twice the resolution of similar weather satellites. The...
Research Institute Spins Off New Surveillance Sensor Office
The Sensor Systems research effort at the University of Dayton Research Institute has grown significantly since its inception in 2007. A group of 32 full-time researchers focused on research and development for sensors for surveillance applications have been spun off as the Sensor Accelerated Processing and Exploitation (Sensor APEX) office.
Finding Stable Sites to Calibrate Orbiting Satellites
South Dakota State University (SDSU) imaging engineer Larry Leigh will use Google Earth images to find sites to calibrate Earth-imaging satellites, thanks to a one-year, $46,000 Google Earth Engine Research award. He's the first SDSU researcher to receive the award.
