Royal Wedding Crowd Captured by Satellite

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Marry to Massive Crowd

On Saturday 19 May, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married at St George's Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The event was captured from above by the WorldView-2 mission satellite from the European Space Imaging. An estimated 150,000 people turned up to line the streets of Windsor, and were captured with very high resolution imagery as they waited to witness the royal newlyweds. They can be seen neatly packed into the courtyard of the chapel, and along the roads the couple drove down after the ceremony: the B3022, Park St, and The Long Walk. "The very high resolution imagery... (read more)

2018-05-23 10:54:49

Satellite Altimeters Help Reveal Sub-Ocean Topography

It has been said that we have more complete maps of the surface of Mars or the Moon than we do of Earth. Close to 70% of our planet is covered by water, and that water refracts, absorbs, and reflects light so well that it can only penetrate a few tens to hundreds of metres. To humans and most satellite eyes, the deep ocean is opaque. But David Sandwell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Walter Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have produced a global dataset revealing the topography of the ocean bed. Their methodology used... (read more)

2017-04-28 12:59:19

UK Satellite to Make Movies from Space

A British satellite has gone into orbit on an Indian rocket to acquire full-colour, high-definition video of the surface of the Earth. The mission is expected to pave the way for a series of at least 15 such spacecraft, which will be operated by Earth-i. The forthcoming constellation - which will be known as Vivid-i - will be the first of its kind to provide hi-def, full-colour video. The satellite will circle the globe at an altitude of 505km. It has the ability to point and stare at a particular location. It can take a still picture or gather two-minute... (read more)

2018-01-18 11:51:54

Supporting Earthquake Emergency Operations with Satellite Images

Just hours after the recent earthquake struck in Italy, European Space Imaging and its long-term partner Planetek Italia sprang into action to support disaster relief efforts, being the first to supply very-high-resolution satellite imagery to emergency services and the media. The imagery was captured by the WorldView-2 satellite over the affected region, showing the extent of the damage caused. The high-resolution imagery was immediately made available to the Italian emergency services. The earthquake hit at around 3:30 a.m. on 24 August 2016, some 100km northeast of Rome. The earthquake of magnitude 6.2 severely damaged several towns and killed hundreds of people in... (read more)

2016-08-29 02:10:08

Orbica Tests Ground-breaking Satellite Technology

Satellites orbiting more than 20,000km above the earth’s surface are now trying to locate and record what lies beneath in a new trans-Tasman initiative spearheaded by Christchurch geospatial technology company Orbica. Orbica and partner Reveal Infrastructure are trialling a ground-breaking satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), funded by the Australian and New Zealand governments, to see if it can pinpoint underground assets that have been dug up in urban environments, such as waterpipes, with a margin of error less than 0.5m, and down to 0.1m or better. If successful, traditional surveying of those assets could potentially be supplemented with mobile devices. “Often... (read more)

2018-02-12 01:20:29

Satellite Launched into Space on RAF Mission

The Chief of the Air Staff has announced the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) role in the launch and operation of a demonstrator satellite. Now in orbit, the Carbonite-2 offers sovereign, full-motion colour video from space for the RAF for the first time. The RAF has been working with the MOD’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and UK industry on the programme to deliver high-quality imagery and 3D video footage from space. Carbonite-2 has completed its initial checks and is now supplying detailed imagery and footage. The ambitious programme could eventually see high-tech satellites beaming video directly into the... (read more)

2018-03-14 11:49:59

Airbus Partners with Planet for Satellite Imagery

Airbus has announced a data-sharing agreement with satellite imagery purveyors Planet, along with a project to deliver a geoinformation platform and pipeline for the Thai government. The depth and breadth of satellite data products in the marketplace may soon expand following the announcement by Airbus and Planet of a new partnership that provides access to each other’s data, and an agreement to co-develop new products. Airbus says the partnership aims to address the growing demand for continuous monitoring and accurate information, and the relative strengths of both companies’ infrastructure and data assets should result in some unique and powerful offerings. Combining satellite... (read more)

2018-06-28 10:21:05

UK Radar Satellite NovaSAR-1 Launched Successfully

The radar imaging satellite NovaSAR-1, carrying an Airbus S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), has been successfully launched on a PSLV launcher from India. The spacecraft was built under the leadership of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, an Airbus subsidiary. The innovative small satellite will be used to monitor the Earth day and night. SAR instruments can see through clouds to enable uninterrupted imaging of the Earth below, which is key when monitoring changes of features on the ground. NovaSAR-1 is the first SAR spacecraft to be manufactured entirely in the UK and is a technology demonstration mission designed to test the capabilities... (read more)

2018-09-21 10:11:46

UK Radar Satellite NovaSAR Returns First Images

The first all-UK NovaSAR radar satellite, developed jointly by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and Airbus, has sent back its debut images which feature Sydney Harbour and the Egyptian pyramids. The images are being assessed for use in diverse applications, including crop analysis, flood and forestry mapping, and maritime surveillance. The satellite was launched in September 2018, with the intention of having a constellation of NovaSAR satellites. Such a network would enable repeat images of locations to be acquired more quickly - something that is important if changes detected in a scene require a rapid response. (e.g. reacting to an oil spill).... (read more)

2018-11-28 10:38:50

First GPS III Satellite Reaches Orbit

After extensive delays, the first next-generation GPS III Space Vehicle 01 (GPS III SV01) has been successfully launched and reached medium Earth orbit. GPS III SV01 was lofted aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in the last days of 2018. Initially slated for a 2014 launch, GPS III SV01 is the first of ten GPS Block IIIA satellites, the latest generation of the US Air Force’s Global Positioning System. The vehicle’s completion and launch were successively pushed back by delays related to an untested capacitor used in the spacecraft’s construction, and GPS ground system known as the Operational Control Segment. The new... (read more)

2019-01-15 10:17:31