О буржуйских спутниках ДЗЗ

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Landsat 5 History

March 1, 1984 – Present



http://landsat.usgs.gov/about_landsat5.php

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Longest Continuous View of Earth From Space Hits 40
Released: 7/23/2012 9:00:00 AM

The Department of the Interior and NASA today mark the fortieth anniversary of the Landsat program, the world's longest-running Earth-observing satellite program. The first Landsat satellite was launched on July 23, 1972.

The 40-year Landsat record provides global coverage at a scale that shows large-scale human activities such as building cities and farming. The program is a sustained effort by the United States to provide direct societal benefits across a wide range of human endeavors including human and environmental health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery, and agriculture.

Landsat images from space are not just pictures. They contain many layers of data collected at different points along the visible and invisible light spectrum. A single Landsat scene taken from 400 miles above the Earth can accurately detail the condition of hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland, agricultural crops, or forests.

"Over four decades, data from the Landsat series of satellites have become a vital reference worldwide for advancing our understanding of the science of the land," said Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "The 40-year Landsat archive forms an indelible and objective register of America's natural heritage and thus it has become part of this Department's legacy to the American people."

In cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a science agency of the Interior Department, NASA launched six of the seven Landsat satellites. The resulting archive of Earth observations forms a comprehensive record of human and natural land changes.

"Landsat has given us a critical perspective on our planet over the long term and will continue to help us understand the big picture of Earth and its changes from space," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "With this view we are better prepared to take action on the ground and be better stewards of our home."

Remote-sensing satellites, such as the Landsat series, help scientists to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes, and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources.

"With its entirely objective, long term records for the entire surface of the globe, the Landsat archive serves as the world's free press, allowing any person, anywhere, to access vital information without charge," said Anne Castle, Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. "Landsat has been a game changer for agricultural monitoring, climate change research, and water management."

NASA is preparing to launch the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), in February 2013 from Vandeberg. LDCM will be the most technologically advanced satellite in the Landsat series. LDCM sensors take advantage of evolutionary advances in detector and sensor technologies to improve performance and increase reliability. LDCM will join Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites in Earth orbit to continue the Landsat data record.

"The first 40 years of the Landsat program have delivered the most consistent and reliable record of Earth's changing landscape," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "We look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence with the even greater capacity and enhanced technologies of LDCM."

NASA and USGS will hold a televised news briefing today at 11 a.m. EDT to highlight the accomplishments of the Landsat program at the Newseum in Washington, DC. During the briefing, the agencies will announce the 10 most significant images from the Landsat record; the U.S. regions selected for the "My American Landscape" contest showing local environmental changes; and the top five Landsat "Earth As Art" images selected in an online poll. The public is encouraged to participate in the briefing's question-and-answer sessions by using the Twitter hashtag #asknasa.

NASA Television and the NASA website will provide live briefing coverage. Visit NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information.

For more information about "Landsat at 40" anniversary features: the 10 most significant images from the Landsat record; the U.S. regions selected for the "My American Landscape" contest; and the announcement of the top five Landsat "Earth As Art" images, visit NASA's Landsat website.

Visit the Landsat program website for further details, including situational updates.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3291

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The Longest Continuous View of Earth from Space Hits 40

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/670201main_Castle-1-Dallas.jpg

The first fully operational Landsat image taken on July 25, 1972, inaugurating a 40-year run when the first satellite was known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, or ERTS. Credit: NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA and the Interior Department Monday marked the 40th anniversary of the Landsat program, the world's longest-running Earth-observing satellite program. The first Landsat satellite was launched July 23, 1972, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The 40-year Landsat record provides global coverage that shows large-scale human activities such as building cities and farming. The program is a sustained effort by the United States to provide direct societal benefits across a wide range of human endeavors, including human and environmental health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery and agriculture.

Landsat images from space are not merely pictures. They contain many layers of data collected at different points along the visible and invisible light spectrum. A single Landsat scene taken from 400 miles above Earth can accurately detail the condition of hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland, agricultural crops or forests.

"Landsat has given us a critical perspective on our planet over the long term and will continue to help us understand the big picture of Earth and its changes from space," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "With this view we are better prepared to take action on the ground and be better stewards of our home."

In cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a science agency of the Interior Department, NASA launched six of the seven Landsat satellites. The resulting archive of Earth observations forms a comprehensive record of human and natural land changes.

"Over four decades, data from the Landsat series of satellites have become a vital reference worldwide for advancing our understanding of the science of the land," said Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar. "The 40-year Landsat archive forms an indelible and objective register of America's natural heritage and thus it has become part of this department's legacy to the American people."

Remote-sensing satellites such as the Landsat series help scientists to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources.

"With its entirely objective, long term records for the entire surface of the globe, the Landsat archive serves as the world's free press, allowing any person, anywhere, to access vital information without charge," said Interior's Anne Castle, assistant secretary for water and science. "Landsat has been a game changer for agricultural monitoring, climate change research and water management."

NASA is preparing to launch the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), in February 2013 from Vandeberg. LDCM will be the most technologically advanced satellite in the Landsat series. LDCM sensors take advantage of evolutionary advances in detector and sensor technologies to improve performance and increase reliability. LDCM will join Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites in Earth orbit to continue the Landsat data record.

"The first 40 years of the Landsat program have delivered the most consistent and reliable record of Earth's changing landscape," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "We look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence with the even greater capacity and enhanced technologies of LDCM."

NASA and USGS will highlight the accomplishments of the Landsat program in a televised news briefing 11 a.m. EDT, Monday at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, in Washington. During the briefing, the agencies will announce the 10 most significant images from the Landsat record; the U.S. regions selected for the "My American Landscape" contest showing local environmental changes; and the top five Landsat "Earth As Art" images selected in an online poll. The public is encouraged to participate in the briefing's question-and-answer sessions by using the Twitter hashtag #asknasa.

NASA Television and the NASA website will provide live briefing coverage. For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the Landsat program, visit: http://landsat.usgs.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/landsat

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/landsat-40th.html

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Top Ten Stories of Landsat's 40 Years
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/landsat-40th-top10.html

Landsat's 40 Years: American Landscapes
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/landsat-40th-landscapes.html

Top Five 'Earth as Art' Winners
07.23.12
 

During a span of 40 years, since 1972, the Landsat series of Earth observation satellites has become a vital reference worldwide for understanding scientific issues related to land use and natural resources.

Beyond the scientific information they supply, some Landsat images are simply striking to look at, presenting spectacular views of mountains, valleys, and islands as well as forests, grasslands, and agricultural patterns. By selecting certain features and coloring them from a digital palate, the U.S. Geological Survey has created a series of "Earth as Art" perspectives that demonstrate an artistic resonance in satellite land imagery and provide a special avenue of insight about the geography of each scene.

We asked the public to vote on their favorite images from the more than 120 images in the online "Earth as Art" collection. We received over 14,000 votes and are happy to announce the top five winners:











View the entire Earth as Art collection hosted by the USGS EROS Data Center. http://eros.usgs.gov/imagegallery/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/40th-earthasart.html

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Landsat 8 получил полезную нагрузку

На сайте ИТЦ «СКАНЭКС» размещена статья "Landsat 8 получил полезную нагрузку", подготовленная ИТЦ «СКАНЭКС» с использованием данных www.landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/news-archive/news_0485.html . Оригиназ статьи можно прочитать здесь; приводим текст статьи полностью.

Завершаются работы по сборке спутника Landsat 8/LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission), который должен быть запущен для замены космических аппаратов Landsat 5 и Landsat 7. На спутнике установлены обе полезные нагрузки — системы OLI (Operational Land Imager) и TIRS (Thermal Infrared Sensor), предназначенные для получения изображений земной поверхности в видимом и ИК-диапазонах длин волн.

В середине июля инженеры компании Orbital Sciences, ответственной за сборку и подготовку спутника к запуску, завершили монтажные работы по установке на Landsat 8 прибора TIRS. Прибор был доставлен в сборочный цех компании в феврале этого года, но в ходе монтажных работ была обнаружена утечка гелия из активной системы охлаждения TIRS. После устранения неполадки система охлаждения была перезаправлена, и давление гелия доведено до требуемого уровня, а прибор заново установлен на спутниковой платформе. В конце июля, после подключения TIRS к бортовым системам электропитания и передачи данных, планируется приступить к комплексным стендовым испытаниям спутника. Разработка TIRS была осуществлена Центром космических полетов имени Годдарда (Goddard Space Flight Center) в рекордно короткие сроки. На реализацию проекта и создание готовой системы потребовалось всего 43 месяца, хотя обычно на изготовление подобных приборов уходит не менее 5 лет.

TIRS представляет собой сканирующий (режим pushbroom) двухканальный ИК-радиометр с расчетным сроком функционирования 3 года. С его помощью планируется продолжить сбор данных в дальнем ИК-диапазоне (10,3–11,3 и 11,5–12,5 мкм) для получения температурных характеристик поверхности, изучения процессов тепло- и влагопереноса (эвотранспирации) в интересах сельскохозяйственных применений, управления водными ресурсами и т.д. Пространственное разрешение получаемых изображений составит 100 м. Наблюдения в дальнем ИК-диапазоне на Landsat 8 будут выполняться синхронно со съемкой в видимом и ИК-диапазонах длин волн с помощью другой полезной нагрузки — многоканального сканирующего (режим pushbroom) радиометра OLI, разработанного компанией Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Устройство OLI работает в 9 участках длин волн в диапазоне 0,433–2,30 мкм и позволяет получать изображения земной поверхности с максимальным разрешением 15 м с использованием усовершенствованных технологий космической съемки. Для их отработки использовался экспериментальный спутник EO-1 (запущен в 2000 г. и оснащен радиометром Advanced Land Imager, являющимся прототипом радиометра OLI). Точность картографической привязки получаемых изображений составит 12 м и выше.

Спутник Landsat 8 планируется вывести на полярную солнечно-синхронную орбиту высотой 705 км в январе 2013 г. с помощью ракеты-носителя Atlas V. После ввода в эксплуатацию спутник обеспечит продолжение пополнение банка изображений, получаемых с помощью спутников серии Landsat на протяжении уже 40 лет и охватывающих всю поверхность Земли. В прошлом году вслед за Геологической службой США (U.S. Geological Survey), начавшей процесс снятия коммерческих ограничений на доступ к космическим снимкам еще три года назад, об открытии бесплатного доступа к архивным данным съемки с помощью спутников Landsat за предыдущие 30 лет объявило Европейское космическое агентство (ESA).

http://www.gisa.ru/88107.html

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LandsatLook Viewer

http://landsatlook.usgs.gov/

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Landsat Celebrates 40th Anniversary


01:28:03

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DigitalGlobe: Merger with GeoEye To Save $1.5 Billion

PARIS — U.S. satellite imagery products and services provider DigitalGlobe on July 31 reported double-digit increases in revenue and backlog, with both government and commercial business contributing to a record total of $101.8 million for the three months ending June 30.

Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe, which expects U.S. regulators to approve the company's proposed purchase of rival GeoEye of Dulles, Va., late this year or early in 2013, raised its forecast for 2012 revenue to $393.8 million.

That would be a 16 percent increase from 2011. The company's earlier forecast was for a 14 percent increase.

The DigitalGlobe contract backlog stood at $355 million at June 30, a 32 percent increase from where it was a year ago.

In a July 31 conference call with investors, DigitalGlobe Chief Executive Jeffrey R. Tarr reiterated the company's estimate that the combined DigitalGlobe and GeoEye would generate savings of $1.5 billion over 10 years compared to what the two rivals would spend separately.

Most of the savings would come from reducing the current two-company fleet of five Earth observation satellites to three. The two companies have high-resolution satellites under construction — GeoEye-2 for GeoEye and WorldView-3 for DigitalGlobe, and scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

One of these two satellites will be held on the ground as a spare, resulting in an immediate savings on launch costs.

DigitalGlobe Chief Financial Officer Yancey L. Spruill said the $1.5 billion in savings would include eliminating overlapping ground facilities owned and operated by the two companies.

The combined DigitalGlobe and GeoEye would have had estimated revenue of $610 million in 2012.

DigitalGlobe and GeoEye have taken a worst-case assumption as they assess the prospects of the combined company. Most importantly, they assume that GeoEye's single largest source of revenue, a Service Level Agreement with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) under the EnhancedView program, will drop to zero in 2013 and not be renewed.

DigitalGlobe, which like GeoEye counts NGA, primarily through the EnhancedView program, as its biggest customer, would continue receiving Service Level Agreement payments under its EnhancedView contract.

In the conference call, Tarr said that in the week since the proposed GeoEye acquisition was announced July 23, no regulatory obstacles have appeared that would scuttle or delay the merger's conclusion by early 2013.

Tarr declined to address whether the U.S. government budget crisis, which led to the proposed EnhancedView cuts that pushed the two companies into merger talks, would force reductions to the NGA's imagery purchasing program beyond what GeoEye was already facing.

Similarly, he did not address any possible opposition to the merger in the U.S. Congress.

Tarr did reiterate that if the two companies' assessment of GeoEye's Service Level Agreement proves correct, that will free up capacity on GeoEye satellites that could be sold to commercial customers.

Both DigitalGlobe and GeoEye have tailored their satellites and ground infrastructure to the EnhancedView contract. The merged company will be free to coordinate the orbits of the satellites to speed imagery delivery, and to widen its appeal to commercial and international customers.

For the three months ending June 30, DigitalGlobe reported commercial revenue of $20.4 million, a 10 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. About 58 percent of this came from international commercial customers, with the rest from U.S. contracts.

DigitalGlobe and GeoEye officials —both companies have approved the merger — have said the combined company would have a revenue base that is 50 percent non-U.S. government.

Defense and intelligence revenue, at $81.4 million, was up 27 percent from the same period a year ago, mainly on the strength of additional revenue from the EnhancedView contract's Service Level Agreement.

Spruill said DigitalGlobe recently completed deployment of the last of seven remote ground stations whose operation is a condition of the EnhancedView contract.

The combined DigitalGlobe/GeoEye faces a competitive landscape that is becoming more complicated. Astrium Geo-Information Services of Europe, after two decades of focusing on medium-resolution markets worldwide, is now entering the high-resolution market with the two-satellite Pleiades system. The first Pleiades satellite is in orbit; the second is scheduled for launch in 2013.

e-Geos of Italy and France is also organizing itself to stretch beyond its radar satellite heritage to include optical satellites.

Numerous nations in Asia and South America have taken advantage of the falling costs of Earth observation satellite technologies to launch their own systems, even without a clear commercial strategy.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120801-digitalglobe-merger-save.html

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Опубликована неплохая брошюра по Sentinel-1

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/publications/SP-1322_1/

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http://smsc.cnes.fr/PLEIADES/GP_actualite.htm

PLEIADES EVENTS
 
July 2012       

PLEIADES activated to help rescue teams in Russia

On Saturday 7th of July, torrential rains swept the Southern Russian Krasnodar region, killing more than 150 people. A foot of rain dropped in the Black Sea region forcing thousands of residents to scramble out of their beds seeking refuge on trees and rooftops.

The International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" was activated by USGS on behalf of ROSCOSMOS/EMERCOM of Russia to help rescue teams in their efforts with accurate geo-information from space.

Even though PLEIADES 1A, our recent Very-High-Resolution satellite is not yet in the Charter, CNES and Astrium Services jointly decided to exceptionally task the satellite to acquire images of the affected area, and effectively acquired cloud-free imagery on July 16th, which was delivered to the Charter shortly after acquisition.

Below is the photo-interpretation of the image realised by SERTIT.







June 26, 2012       End of the Image Quality in-flight commissioning

June 4, 2012       Beginning of the commercial distribution of
PLEIADES images

March 3, 2012       End of system in-flight commissioning

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UAE Air Force Expects To Award Optical-imaging Satellite Contract Soon

PARIS — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force expects to award a contract for one or more high-resolution optical Earth observation satellites as early as this year after selecting U.S. and European finalists from 11 companies vying for the work, a UAE air force official said Sept. 13.

Col. Ali Mohammed Al Shehhi, ground station manager for the air force's Space Reconnaissance Center, said the UAE satellite effort may seem slow-moving but is very much alive.

Al Shehhi declined to specify the system's architecture beyond the fact that it would feature high-resolution optical imagers.

"We are in the final stages of awarding a contract," Al Shehhi said here during World Satellite Business Week conference organized by Euroconsult. He said export restrictions that in the past have made it difficult for prospective bidders, especially from the United States, have become less restrictive.

The satellite ground station in the UAE currently receives images from several optical Earth observation satellites, including Ikonos from U.S.-based GeoEye, India's IRS spacecraft and South Korea's Kompsat.

http://www.spacenews.com/military/120913-uae-expects-award-optical-imaging-satellite-contract-soon.html

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Canada Poised To Award Radarsat Constellation Contract

NAPLES, Italy — Canadian Space Agency President Steve MacLean on Oct. 1 said the Canadian government is on the verge of contracting with industry for the full-scale development of the three-satellite successor mission to Canada's Radarsat-1 and Radarsat-2 Earth observation spacecraft.

At a press briefing here during the 63rd International Astronautical Congress, MacLean said the Canadian government has never wavered from its commitment to the Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM), which was first made in 2005.

But given the requirements of Canada's budgeting process, he said, funding for the satellite-construction phase has not come as quickly as the principal industrial contractors — MDA Corp. of Richmond, British Columbia, and Cambridge, Ontario-based Com Dev — would have liked.

Both companies' stock is publicly traded, and both have been obliged to tell shareholders that if Canadian Space Agency funding for RCM is delayed beyond this fall, they will have to begin transferring staff to other projects, and perhaps to dismiss employees.

MacLean said he understood the companies' predicament, but that from his point of view the government's determination to build RCM has never been in question.

"There has always been a plan to build [RCM], it just hasn't been officially announced," MacLean said. "I think you will see an announcement soon. We have a commitment from the ministry, and a plan to proceed."

MacLean said the launch of the first of the three satellites is still planned for 2017, a date he said remains credible even if the construction contract is not signed until late 2012.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/121001-canada-radarsat-contract.html

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Astrium Satellite Would Take 3-Meter Video from Geo Orbit

NAPLES, Italy — Astrium Satellites on Oct. 5 said that after five years' work, it is within reach of being able to manufacture a geostationary-orbiting Earth observation satellite offering persistent 3-meter resolution video for military and civil-security customers.

The company said technology development work remains before such a satellite is built, especially since the design effort up to now has been self-funded. Astrium has been shopping the idea to European governments for several years, with no luck so far.

In outlining the state of work on the company's HRGeo project, Gil Denis, who works on advanced concepts at Astrium Satellites, said video of a given area at 3-meter resolution — this would be the satellite camera's best resolution, at nadir — is still shy of what military customers want.

But two years ago, Astrium said it could do 10-meters at nadir, or when the camera is pointing straight down, and now it is at 3 meters.

Military officials have said they are willing to sacrifice some image quality in exchange for persistent video coverage of a given target area. Today's Earth observation satellites, with the exception of wide-area meteorological spacecraft, typically operate in polar low Earth orbit.

These low Earth orbiting craft provide images with a resolution, or ground-sampling distance, of well under 1 meter, with image swath widths of between 10 and 30 kilometers as they pass over areas of interest. Objects as small as 1 meter across can be discerned in 1-meter-resolution imagery.

The HRGeo satellite would operate at 36,000 kilometers in altitude over the equator, maintaining a fixed position over a given point on Earth.

Presenting the project here Oct. 5 at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress, Denis said an early application could be maritime surveillance on behalf of a group of governments.

Denis did not provide cost figures, but said the current iteration of the HRGeo design uses heritage from the 3.5-meter-diameter mirror on the European Space Agency's Herschel infrared astronomy satellite. Herschel was launched in 2009.

For the HRGeo mission, Denis said the mirror would measure 4.1 meters by 5.1 meters and would weigh 1,200 kilograms. The satellite would carry a 350-kilogram sun shield and would provide 3.5 kilowatts of power using 18.3 square meters of solar arrays tilted at a 45-degree angle from the satellite's body.

Built for a 10-year service life, HRGeo at launch would be 10.3 meters high and weigh 8,840 kilograms, providing a 100-kilometer-wide image swath.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/121005-astrium-sat-3mr-video.html

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Envisat Puts ESA in Unenviable Position

NAPLES, Italy — The European Space Agency (ESA) faces the uncomfortable choice of either actively removing its dead Envisat satellite from low Earth orbit or risk being held liable if Envisat damages another satellite, a member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) said.

Because it elected to continue operating Envisat until it had too little fuel to be powered to a lower orbit, as international guidelines prescribe, ESA could be held liable for negligence, or even gross negligence, if Envisat or pieces of it damage an active satellite in the 100-plus years Envisat will remain in orbit, according to the IISL analysis.

In a presentation in Naples, Italy, to the 63rd International Astronautical Congress, Martha Mejia-Kaiser, an IISL member from the Autonomous National University of Mexico, said Envisat is a "ticking bomb" that poses an unusually large danger to a heavily populated corridor in polar orbit at 780 kilometers in altitude.

Launched in 2002, Envisat has a 26-meter cross section, weighs some 8,000 kilograms and, importantly, was not passivated before it suddenly went silent in April.

Propellant remnants, still-charged batteries, residual gases and other stored energy only add to the danger posed by the satellite.

Mejia-Kaiser said it would have taken just 60 kilograms of fuel to lower Envisat's orbit by 30 kilometers, to 750 kilometers. From this orbit, natural forces likely would have forced the satellite into the atmosphere within 25 years — as international guidelines urge operators of low-orbiting satellites to do.

Instead, ESA continued operating Envisat as an active and highly valued environmental-monitoring satellite until its unexpected shutdown.

"Why did ESA prioritize the operating of Envisat until the last drop of fuel rather than the stability of this precious area in outer space, and the welfare of this valuable orbit?" Mejia-Kaiser said in her presentation. She added that while Envisat was launched before orbital-disposal guidelines were published, the decision to continue operating it was made well after ESA signed a code of conduct that adopts these guidelines.

"ESA's choice of futures is reduced to the expensive options: to actively remove Envisat or to become liable and pay compensation in case of future collisions," she said.

ESA and other space agencies are studying future debris-removal technologies that today are viewed as overly risky and expensive. Space law experts disagree over whether the agency could be sued for negligence, an action that would be without precedent.

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/121005-envisat-esa-unenviable-position.html

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Because it elected to continue operating Envisat until it had too little fuel to be powered to a lower orbit

Ну-ну, "експерт".

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October 17, 2012 Updated
 
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2: System thermal vacuum test

The thermal vacuum test for the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 "ALOS-2" started on Oct. 16th at the Tsukuba Space Center. It is scheduled to be completed in late November.
 The thermal vacuum test is to verify if electric functions and thermal controls of the satellite properly work in the 13mφ space chamber that simulates the space environment.
 The photo here was taken on Oct. 3rd. It shows the satellite's main body preparing for the test.



http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/alos2/index_e.html

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DigitalGlobe, GeoEye plan smaller satellite fleet

The merger of DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, the two leading commercial imagery suppliers to the U.S. intelligence community, will save the companies up to $1.5 billion by streamlining operations, shrinking their satellite constellations, and deferring the launch of a new spacecraft, officials said.
 
 Managers expect the deal to close late this year or in early 2013, and one of the first actions of the combined company - which will retain the name DigitalGlobe - will likely be delaying the launch the GeoEye 2 high-resolution imaging satellite, which is due for liftoff on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in 2013.
The merger, which was announced in July, still requires the approvals of the U.S. Justice Department and the shareholders of both companies. NOAA and the Federal Communications Commission are also overseeing the transfer of operating licenses from the companies to the new combined firm.
"In anticipation of closing at the end of this year or early next year, we've been hard at work creating a detailed integration plan," said Jeffrey Tarr, DigitalGlobe's president and CEO, in a quarterly earnings call on Oct. 30. "Teams at both companies have validated synergies in excess of $1.5 billion and have mapped out detailed plans to capture them."
Two-thirds of the savings will come from unifying the GeoEye and DigitalGlobe satellite fleets, according to Yancey Spruill, DigitalGlobe's chief financial officer.
Instead of developing and launching up to five new satellites before 2020, the new company will budget for three spacecraft, Spruill said. Two of those satellites are already being built and will wrap up construction within the next 18 months.
 
 Before the merger, GeoEye and DigitalGlobe separately initiated development of the GeoEye 2 and WorldView 3 satellites, which are due for liftoff in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
"Both GeoEye and DigitalGlobe have a satellite under construction," Spruill said. "We will launch one of those satellites either in 2013 or in 2014."
The other spacecraft will stay on the ground as a ready spare until it is needed to replace WorldView 1, one of DigitalGlobe's current satellites, around 2018, according to Spruill.
GeoEye 2 is under construction at Lockheed Martin Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif., and WorldView 3 is being built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo.
Officials have not made a final decision whether to delay GeoEye 2 or WorldView 3, but WorldView 3 is designed to gather higher-resolution imagery and features a shortwave infrared imaging capability, which GeoEye 2 will not provide.
Spruill said the combined company's capital expenditures will drop from nearly $500 million to about $40 million after 2014 until development of a new satellite begins late this decade for launch around 2021.
 
 Current DigitalGlobe shareholders will own 64 percent of the new combined company, while GeoEye shareholders will control 36 percent. The firm will be based at DigitalGlobe's current headquarters in Longmont, Colo.
DigitalGlobe and GeoEye decided to merge after budget cuts forced the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to scale back a planned 10-year contract with the companies.
The EnhancedView contract provides funding for imagery purchases, plus investments for new satellite construction. Faced with budget cutbacks, NGA informed GeoEye in June its contract would not be renewed in full in the second year of EnhancedView, hastening the merger agreement. DigitalGlobe expects to continue to receive full EnhancedView funding.
NGA provides satellite and airborne imagery from private and government-owned platforms to military users. GeoEye and DigitalGlobe satellites supplement the government's secretive constellation of even more powerful imaging spacecraft.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1211/10dggeoeye/

[ZOOR]

http://www.gazeta.ru/science/news/2012/11/12/n_2613053.shtml

— 12.11.2012 15:09 —
Саудовская Аравия выведет на орбиту два спутника

Два искусственных спутника с высокоточной системой навигации, произведенных в Саудовской Аравии, будут выведены на орбиту в ближайшие несколько лет.

''Цель запусков – сделать Саудовскую Аравию ведущим поставщиком продуктов в области мониторинга Земли из космоса и создания интерактивных карт'', – сообщил саудовский принц Турки бен Сауд аль-Сауд на прошедшей в Эр-Рияде 25-й Международной ассоциации исследователей космоса.
Принц Турки, являющийся вице-президентом Национального центра науки и технологий, отметил, что задачей спутников SAUDISAT4 и GEO1 станут научные эксперименты. Ожидается, что запуски будут произведены с американского космодрома на мысе Канаверал в 2013 и 2015 году.

Ранее 12 спутников связи из Саудовской Аравии были выведены на орбиту российскими ракетами-носителями с космодрома Байконур в Казахстане.
По словам Турки аль-Сауда, согласно принятой стратегии развития научной отрасли, (включающей и запуски спутников) к концу 2020 года Саудовская Аравия ''должна стать лидером в науке, технологиях и инновациях в Азии''. На эти планы, как отметил принц, из бюджета королевства будет выделено свыше 2 миллиардов долларов.

В работе ассоциации, официально именуемой Планетарным Конгрессом Ассоциации участников космических полетов (АУКП) приняли участие 95 космонавтов и исследователей внеземного пространства из 19 стран мира. Российская делегация стала первой по числу участников – 35 человек, в том числе и легенды мировой космонавтики: Алексей Леонов и Валентина Терешкова. По окончании Конгресса в посольстве РФ в Саудовской Аравии в честь российских космонавтов был проведен торжественный прием.

Одним из важных решений, принятых на Конгрессе, стало решение о создании Азиатской ассоциации исследователей космоса, которая будет объединять космонавтов из азиатских стран.

[Сергио]

а кто нибудь наблюдал ноаа? из города получится или в "межгородье" дуть?
будет ноаа6 сегодня вот так по небу лететь
http://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=59.43389&lng=24.72806&loc=Tallinn&alt=40&tz=EET&satid=11416&mjd=56250.6063228357
и видел ли кто сий объект? я по расчётам смотрел, но не увидел
http://www.heavens-above.com/satinfo.aspx?lat=59.43389&lng=24.72806&loc=Tallinn&alt=40&tz=EET&satid=25861
Okean O Rocket- Information
 DescriptionFlashing rapidly (2-3 times per second) - a very interesting object to observe!

DescriptionFlashing rapidly (2-3 times per second) - a very interesting object to observe!

[instml]

Сплошная облачность, как наблюдать?