In early December 2016, the European Space Agency (ESA) held a two-day council meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, where ministers from ESA's 22 member states plus Slovenia and Canada allocated €10.3 billion for space activities and programs based on the vision of a United Space in Europe in the era of Space 4.0.
Satellites Confirm: San Francisco's Millennium Tower Sinking
European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 satellites have shown that San Francisco's 58-storey Millennium Tower is sinking by a few centimeters a year.
WorldView-4 Successfully Launched
On Nov. 11, 2016, DigitalGlobe's WorldView-4 commercial imaging satellite was launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. About 45 minutes after launch, satellite signals indicated it was in proper position and working order.
Aerial Imaging Market Forecast to Reach $2.64 Billion by 2022
According to a new research report by Global Market Insights, the aerial imaging market is estimated to grow to $2.64 billion by 2022.
Sentinel Hub Web Service Wins 2016 Copernicus Masters Competition
On Oct. 25, 2016, winners in the Copernicus Masters Earth-observation competition were recognized before an international audience in Madrid, Spain. The grand prize went to the team from Slovenia's Sinergise Ltd., whose Sentinel Hub cloud-based web service for satellite data won the T-Systems Open Telekom Cloud Challenge before edging out winners of the other six categories.
NASA Establishes Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute
NASA introduced the Small Spacecraft Systems Virtual Institute (S3VI), hosted at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., to leverage the growing small spacecraft (i.e., SmallSat) community, promote innovation, identify emerging technology opportunities, and provide an efficient channel for communication about small spacecraft systems with industry, academia and other government agencies.
Satellite Imagery Helps Verify ˜Zero Deforestation' Commitments
Airbus Defence and Space, The Forest Trust (TFT) and SarVision developed the Starling service, which enables companies to provide evidence of how they're implementing their No Deforestation commitments. Starling uses a combination of high-resolution optical satellite and radar imagery to provide unbiased monitoring of forest-cover change.
Trimble Sells UAS Business to Delair-Tech
Trimble announced that Delair-Tech acquired its Belgium-based Gatewing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) engineering and manufacturing business. Delair-Tech intends to grow the acquired business as part of its portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed. “This...
Swarm Satellites Measure Earth's Magnetism and Electricity
In 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a trio of Swarm satellites to monitor Earth's magnetic field. According to a research paper published in Science Advances on Sept. 30, 2016, the satellites were able to measure a faint magnetic field created by oceans that led to discoveries about Earth's electrical nature.
Scientific Ballooners Wrap Up Fourth and Final Campaign
Scientists of the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) team sent their last balloon into the stratosphere over Sweden on Aug. 30, 2016, capping off four years of launches to study how electrons precipitate into Earth's atmosphere.