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Tag: imagery

  • Open Earth observation data now more accessible

    At the 13th Group on Earth Observation (GEO) Plenary Meeting, representatives from GEO’s 103 member governments and 106 participating organizations convened to launch a new look for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Portal. The meeting was held Nov. 9-10 in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.

    Participants also addressed how best to advance GEO initiatives linked to its sustainable development goals and, for the first time, to engage with the commercial sector through a plenary panel session.

    “Open data not only maximizes tax payers’ money in government infrastructure, it promotes economic growth, education and capacity building.” said GEO Secretariat Director Barbara Ryan. “GEO brings all sides of the conversation together so that data is broadly and openly available, free to the user and can be used to create value-added products and services to benefit society.”

    The plenary meeting was held for the first time in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. New member governments announced at the plenary were Uruguay, United Arab Emirates and Mongolia. Among the new participating organizations approved in 2016 are the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC); the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT); the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS); the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS); and the World Health Organization (WHO).

    The plenary opened with a message from the International Space Station. In the recorded video message, the cosmonauts observed it is easy to understand the interconnected nature of the planet. Space technologies help to understand Earth’s complicated processes and problems. Humankind is facing global challenges today, and international cooperation plays a crucial role in tackling these issues. The work of GEO makes Earth observations more widely available and meaningful, for the benefit of humanity.

    https://youtu.be/C7nmvNb1z14

    “We express our pleasure at the success of the GEO-XIII Plenary due to strong cooperation between the GEO community, Roshydromet and Roscosmos,” said co-host Alexander Frolov, head of Roshydromet. “Numerous side events organized by members and participating organizations clearly demonstrate the constantly evolving influence of GEO as an intergovernmental body.”

    “Coordination of activities, and the joint harvesting and usage the data of Earth Remote Sensing (ERS) that was organized at the GEO-XIII Plenary is very relevant for all of the GEO community,” said Mikhail Khailov, deputy director general for Automatic Space Complexes of the State Corporation Roscosmos. “We are developing the technologies of ERS data processing and thematic services to benefit the people of the Earth through improved coverage, increased volume, quality and promptness of acquired ERS data.”

    Philemon Mjwara, director-general, Department of Science and Technology, Republic of South Africa, reiterated the benefits of having access to EO data as an “enabling resource that allows us to begin addressing the Water-Food-Energy nexus, and other nexus, as a stepping stone to clearly understanding how the Earth’s systems work, and ultimately realizing GEOSS.”

    “Downscaling implementation of GEOSS at national and regional levels has become extremely important to ensure broad engagement and sufficient resources to realize our ambitious vision,” said Pengde Li, deputy director general, National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation of China. “Fortunately, we see more and more members start establishing national inter-ministerial coordination and using regional initiatives as a vehicle for broad engagement.”

    The Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is comprised of 103 Member governments, and 106 Participating Organizations. Established in 2005, GEO strives to improve the world’s observation systems and provide policy makers and scientists with accurate and useful data that can be used to make informed decisions on issues affecting the planet. GEO’s primary focus is to develop a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to enhance the ability of end-users to discover and access Earth observation data and convert it to useable and useful information. GEO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

  • NGA contracts with Planet for small satellite imagery

    The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has signed a $20 million introductory contract with Planet that will provide small satellite collection and coverage of most of the Earth’s landmass.

    The agreement is a step toward harnessing the potential, capabilities and services of the small sat and commercial imagery environment.

    The NGA will have access to a global imagery refresh every 15 days of most of Earth’s landmass through the new contract. Planet is a commercial imagery provider operating the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites.Its feed, known as the Planet Feed, will be used across the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) and select members of the civil federal community. The NSG is the operating framework supported by producers, consumers or influencers of geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT.

    “Improving our profession means further committing to the use of innovative capabilities being developed and deployed by commercial data providers and analytic companies for mission accomplishment,” said NGA Director Robert Cardillo at the May 2016 GEOINT Symposium in Washington, D.C. “Our commercial space partners will provide meaningful, higher revisit capabilities this year and we look forward to turning their exciting potential into our mission reality.”

    The introductory contract includes a seven-month period of performance, beginning Sept. 15 and valued at $20 million.

    The Planet Feed includes multispectral imagery from constellations at 3-5 meter and 6.7 meter resolutions. The imagery products will include unrectified and orthorectified images and orthomosaic single-pass tiles. The global scope of coverage and high temporal frequency of collection from Planet provides NGA with new data sources to support the agency’s many missions including foundation GEOINT, humanitarian assistance, disaster response and intelligence.

    “Planet’s mission to provide timely, global imagery to empower informed, deliberate and meaningful stewardship of the planet is directly in line with our mission,” said John Charles, NGA commercial imagery lead. “We’re no longer simply admiring the potential of small satellites and their persistent capabilities, we’re harnessing that potential.”

    Autumn in New Hampshire on Oct. 17. (Photo: Planet)
    Autumn in New Hampshire on Oct. 17. (Photo: Planet)

    Planet designs, builds, and operates a constellation of Earth imaging nano-satellites. The global scope of coverage and high temporal frequency of collection from Planet will provide NGA with new data sources to use for geospatial intelligence analysis.

    Commercial GEOINT Activity. Earlier this year, NGA, together with the National Reconnaissance Office, also launched a new office to synchronize activities for collection and analytic capabilities that can benefit both agencies.

    Commercial GEOINT Activity (CGA) allows both agencies to assess current capabilities and develop strategies to ensure the timely and successful integration of commercial innovations that will benefit NGA and NRO.

    This activity serves as a voice for NGA and NRO to the commercial GEOINT enterprise. The CGA conducts joint assessments, recommends investment decisions, and engages user communities. It advises NGA and NRO on synchronizing joint acquisition activities for vendors who can provide both collection and analytic capabilities to benefit the agencies. The CGA also develops strategies to access, acquire and integrate commercial GEOINT capabilities.

    The CGA began operations on Sept. 30.

  • Near-infrared insights: Phase One Industrial

    CIR imagery can determine the health of vegetation — useful for identifying plant species, estimating biomass and assessing soil moisture and water clarity. This image near Frankfurt, Germany, shows both agricultural and urban areas.(Image: GGS and Phase One)
    CIR imagery can determine the health of vegetation — useful for identifying plant species, estimating biomass and assessing soil moisture and water clarity. This image near Frankfurt, Germany, shows both agricultural and urban areas.(Image: GGS and Phase One)

    Adding a fourth band of near infrared (NIR) image data to three-band color (RGB) image data yields multispectral information useful in vegetation studies, such as crop metrics for agriculture, vegetation health and environmental contamination, and  even city observations for monitoring green space.

    A camera unit by Phase One Industrial, dubbed the 4-Band Solution, incorporates a batch-processing tool designed to automate and simplify the four-band aerial-image generation process. It is composed of two synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras mounted side by side.

    Images are captured in NIR and RGB bands simultaneously, and processed automatically to generate distortion-free images and perform fine co-registration of the pixels from NIR to the RGB images — including processing different image sizes — with seven different output options, including multispectral color-infrared (CIR) images.

    Synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras.
    Synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras.

    Moving up into space, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) onboard NASA’s Terra satellite also captures infrared images.

    In the false-color image below, vegetation appears red, snow and dry salt lakes are white, and exposed rocks are brown, gray, yellow and blue. Rock colors mainly reflect the presence of iron minerals and variations in albedo (solar energy reflected off the surface).

    Soil Composition: Near-infrared data can help identify types of rock and soil. This image of the Saline Valley area in California was acquired by the ASTER. (Image: NASA, GSFC, MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.)
    Soil Composition: Near-infrared data can help identify types of rock and soil. This image of the Saline Valley area in California was acquired by the ASTER. (Image: NASA, GSFC, MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.)

  • Airbus selects Google Cloud for One Atlas basemap

    Airbus Defence and Space has launched One Atlas, a new basemap streaming service delivering access to its satellite imagery over the world, fully refreshed within a 12-month period. It is powered by Google Cloud Platform.

    This service is a major leap forward for enabling access to satellite imagery for customers by leveraging the power of Google Cloud Platform and Airbus Defence and Space technologies, Airbus Defence said.

    A new approach in data storage, hosting and dissemination has been implemented using Google Cloud Platform to ingest the several hundred Terabytes of data annually required by One Atlas. This will bring value to clients for a wide range of applications such as infrastructure preparatory studies, land management, agricultural lands and crop-species mapping or even tree cover change detection in regions prone to deforestation.

    “Our team at Google Cloud is dedicated to helping businesses find success with public cloud and innovative technologies, such as cloud machine learning. We’re excited to collaborate with Airbus Defence and Space to create new products and transform existing business models through the power of Google Cloud Platform,” said Carl Schachter, vice president of Google Cloud Platform.

    Image from TerraSAR-X, a radar Earth observation satellite. (IMAGE: Airbus Defense and Space)
    Image from TerraSAR-X, a radar Earth observation satellite, of Barra da Tujica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (IMAGE: Airbus Defense and Space)

    Google Cloud Platform was selected from seven public cloud providers because of its high-end technology, security resilience and strategic fit with Airbus Defence and Space’s business and development roadmap.

    “All satellite data collected each day are automatically processed and made readily-accessible in a global imagery library that is stored in Google Cloud Platform,” said Bernhard Brenner, head of the Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defense and Space. “Google Cloud Platform’s global scale, low latency and infrastructure capacities in Europe give us the required performance, flexibility and scalability for current and future data volumes, ensuring a high level of service for our customers.”

    Additional investigations into the use of Google Cloud Platform and other Google tools are ongoing at Airbus Defence and Space, such as the integration of other datasets like TerraSAR-X radar data and WorldDEM into One Atlas, or the development of analytics services such as change detection and automatic object extraction. Very promising results have already been obtained from using Tensor Flow, an open source library for machine learning, and Cloud Machine Learning for automatic cloud detection.

  • Proteus Geo wins ESA backing to advance bathymetry data service

    Proteus Geo, a leading provider of satellite-based mapping services and data, together with DHI, the world renowned consultant group within water environments, has won the backing of the European Space Agency (ESA) to create a new bathymetry data service that leverages DigitalGlobe satellite imagery to allow everyone to explore the shallows around the world’s coastlines.

    Over the last four years, Proteus Geo has worked in partnership with DHI to provide a vast range of customers with bathymetry data, derived from satellites.

    This new and affordable service has allowed engineers, defense forces and environmentalists (among other users) to remotely learn about the sea and lake beds under shallow water, where access has previously been difficult and expensive.

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    ESA has now awarded Proteus Geo and DHI with substantial financial backing to improve the efficiency of the data processing chain and encourage the wider use of this source of vital information.

    Starting now, the companies will use high-accuracy, high-resolution satellite imagery captured by DigitalGlobe’s satellite constellation to create a dataset that will show the depth of water in over 100,000 km2 of both salt and fresh water coastlines.

    Alongside the creation of the data, Proteus Geo will also develop an online portal that will allow simple and fast access for customers from all over the world.

    Richard Flemmings, director of Proteus Geo, explained the advantages of providing affordable, off-the-shelf bathymetry data to anyone who needs it. “There is currently a lack of bathymetry data around the world due to the high costs, lead-time, and health and safety issues involved in collecting this data using boats and aircraft.This project and service will be a practical step to break down the barriers to easily accessing the data in a standardized format.

    “High-resolution imaging satellites are ideal for this purpose, as the data can be created quickly and consistently over large areas and leveraged for many applications. This exciting project presents a paradigm shift away from bathymetry data being delivered on a project-by-project basis, to data being available off-the-shelf through an instant online portal.”

    The project is being supported by ESA’s ARTES 20 programme (Advances Research in Telecommunications Systems), which responds to users’ needs using a combination of different space assets such as Earth Observation, navigation and telecommunications.

  • SimActive offers subscription UAV software

    SimActive Inc., a developer of photogrammetry software, has announced a new subscription-based offering for Correlator3D UAV. The rental option allows users with a dynamic workload to access a high-end product at minimal cost.

    “Correlator3D UAV was developed for leading mapping firms, military and government organizations, with a constant emphasis on ease of use,” said Philippe Simard, president of SimActive. “The subscription model now makes the only professional UAV processing tool available for all.”

    To download a free trial and view different pricing options, visit www.simactive.com.

    To see the latest version of Correlator3D, sign up for SimActive’s next webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

  • Phase One’s new aerial camera features innovative shutter design

    phaseone-ixu-rs1000-cameraphaseone-ixu-rs1000-camera-2Phase One Industrial has introduced the iXU-RS aerial camera series, featuring a breakthrough central lens shutter design, according to the company. The new shutter technology is based on an innovative direct-drive concept with electronic charging that enhances exposure speed to as fast as 1/2500s, while guaranteeing half a million exposures, an unprecedented shutter life span.

    The series’ flagship 100MP iXU-RS1000 camera system, with the advanced lens shutter, an exceptional capture rate of 0.6 seconds per frame and its CMOS sensor with superior light sensitivity of 50-6400 ISO, is uniquely designed to expand the efficiency of aerial imaging operations, including under deteriorating weather conditions or on days that were previously not conducive to image capture. This allows for faster flights and larger surface coverage.

    For a small-bodied medium format camera, the iXU-RS1000 offers a large-format-quality experience thanks to its sensor technology and high-performance optics, which can deliver 11,608 pixels cross-track coverage. Users can gain more image coverage during a flight, while maintaining the same ground sample distance (GSD), or a lower GSD, while flying at the same height. Its small form factor supports multiple uses — as a standalone camera for photogrammetric work or as part of an array (to cover a larger swath) or as part of an oblique camera system.

    Other iXU-RS series cameras include the 80MP iXU-RS180, and 60MP iXU-RS160 and 160 Achromatic systems. All iXU-RS series cameras feature accurate metric calibration, scalability to form multi-camera arrays, and easy integration with popular flight management systems and GPS/IMU receivers. There are seven available lens options, including: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 70mm, 90mm, 110mm and 150mm. Lenses have been designed and built for aerial photography by Rodenstock and Schneider Kreuznach, and factory calibrated for infinity focus.

    Easily integrated into existing or new set-ups, the cameras offer maximum connectivity with diverse systems and help operators execute and manage missions, such as: surveying, mapping, critical infrastructure inspection and many other applications with greater reliability, cost effectiveness and operational efficiency. The iXU-RS1000 is also suited to four band-imaging applications.

  • Lockheed Martin to launch DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-4 satellite on Friday

    Lockheed Martin is set to launch the WorldView-4 high-resolution imaging satellite for DigitalGlobe aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Sept. 16. WorldView-4, also built by Lockheed Martin, will capture photos and data about Earth.

    With the WorldView-4 satellite, DigitalGlobe more than doubles its ability to deliver images of Earth at 30-centimeter resolution — sharp enough to identify the make of an automobile. WorldView-4 will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes, capturing 600,000 square miles of imagery everyday.

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    Artist’s rendering of the DigitalGlobe WorldView-4 satellite in orbit. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

    Rocket/Payload: Atlas V 401 flying the WorldView-4 mission for customer DigitalGlobe.

    Location: Space Launch Complex 3 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

    Date/Time: Friday, Sept. 16, 2016

    Launch Time: The launch window opens at 11:30 a.m. PDT and closes at 11:44 a.m. PDT. Separation occurs approximately 20 minutes after liftoff.

    Mission Description: This mission will deliver the WorldView-4 satellite into a 617 km, sun-synchronous orbit for DigitalGlobe, the global leader in earth imagery and information about our changing planet.

    By leveraging DigitalGlobe’s advanced constellation scheduling system to operate in concert with WorldView-3, WorldView-4 will more than double DigitalGlobe’s coverage of the world’s highest-resolution 30 cm commercial satellite imagery.

    Once launched, the satellite will orbit earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capturing as much as 680,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface daily (18 terabytes) – the equivalent of the land area of Texas.

    Also aboard the launch will be seven U.S. Government-owned CubeSats that will be deployed after separation of the WorldView-4 satellite.

    Launch Provider: Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services is the exclusive provider of Atlas V rockets to all non-U.S. government customers. With dedicated launch sites and unparalleled orbital insertion accuracy, Atlas V is unmatched for performance, reliability and schedule assurance.

    Updates: To keep up-to-speed with updates to the launch and learn more about the WorldView-4 mission visit www.lockheedmartin.com/worldview4.

  • Phase One innovates four-band aerial imaging

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    Phase One Industrial has introduced its Phase One 4-Band Solution, which incorporates an innovative batch-processing tool that automates and simplifies the four-band aerial image generation process.

    Adding a fourth band of near infrared (NIR) image data to three-band color (RGB) image data yields multispectral information useful in vegetation studies — in applications ranging from crop metrics for optimization, to vegetation health, environmental contamination and city observations for green site monitoring.

    Synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras.
    Synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras.

    The solution is composed of two synchronized Phase One metric aerial cameras mounted side by side on a specially designed base plate, a Phase One iX Controller and Phase One iX Capture software.

    Images are captured in NIR and RGB bands simultaneously, and processed automatically to generate distortion-free images and perform fine co-registration of the pixels from NIR to the RGB images — including processing different image sizes — with seven different output options, including multispectral CIR images.

    Complementing the solution’s software functionality, the use of two separate cameras to support higher system sensitivity permits operators to separately control capture settings so that they can operate under a wider range of lighting conditions.

    “We very easily installed the cameras into the gyro mount, and all power and communications were automatically configured with the iX-Controller,” said Peter Bochmann, operator of Aerial SurveyS GmbH. “The output four-band images were incredible, showing an area of forest vegetation straight-away that needed attention; we would not have seen this detail with RGB images alone. The flexibility of the solution is also great, since you can combine any two Phase One metric medium-format cameras and accomplish multiple jobs without changing the setup.”

    The Phase One 4-Band Solution offers a variety of benefits:

    • 100MP sensors for RGB and NIR images, no NIR up scaling is needed;
    • CMOS sensors for maximum sensitivity;
    • Post processing is automatic, using the solutions’ iX Controller along with iX Capture;
    • Automatic individual aperture control and auto exposure mode is available for both cameras;
    • Direct connection to GNSS/IMU systems; coordinates are stored inside the EXIF data of each image to speed later post-processing;
    • Also available with 80MP RGB and 60MP Achromatic Sensors.

  • DigitalGlobe backs up Rio Olympics security

    Rio-DigitalGlobe-MaracanaStadium-O

    DigitalGlobe is supporting security at the Summer Olympics with its Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Security Package. The package provides international governments and security agencies with professional-grade imagery and information to enhance the safety of athletes, dignitaries and spectators.

    The package includes cloud-based access to historical and near-real time high resolution satellite imagery, a robust data set describing the local environment, and a highly detailed Digital Surface Model (DSM) of Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic venues.

    The imagery and imagery-derived products are information-rich and analyst-ready, allowing security teams to quickly unlock critical information and spend the bulk of their time analyzing the data, rather than searching for information, the company said.

    “Global event security requires rapid access to current, accurate, and complete geospatial information for enhanced contingency planning, risk management, and emergency response,” said Daniel L. Jablonsky, DigitalGlobe General Counsel and General Manager for International Defense & Intelligence. “As a trusted partner, DigitalGlobe will help governments and security agencies be confident in their ability to keep their athletes and spectators safe during the Summer Olympic Games.”

    Included in the Summer Olympic Security Package are:

    Basemap +Daily

    DigitalGlobe Basemap +Daily is a premier subscription service that provides historical and the most current imagery of Rio de Janeiro leading up to and during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

    The Basemap +Daily service includes an online, historical foundation layer and the latest imagery collections from DigitalGlobe’s full constellation of imaging satellites, with resolution as sharp as 30 cm and terrain and perspective distortions removed to make for a suitable map base layer.

    Users can view and download imagery within hours of acquisition to support a broad range of event security applications and ensure the protection of athletes, spectators and supporting resources.

    Human Landscape

    Rio-DigitalGlobe-human

    DigitalGlobe’s Human Landscape product delivers an intimate understanding of the local environment, including everything from details on transportation infrastructure, to population characteristics, to crime rates.

    The Rio de Janeiro Olympic Security Package consists of more than 100 geospatial layers containing more than 80,000 features and 1.25 million building footprints extracted and compiled from DigitalGlobe imagery and publicly available data. The dataset provides a baseline of understanding that allows geospatial analysts to get a head start on pre-event planning, threat and risk assessment, and emergency response modeling.

    The highly detailed database contains 600 percent more location-based content than public datasets, enabling analysts to quickly answer meaningful questions related to location, time, and context.

    Vricon DSM

    Vricon, a joint venture between DigitalGlobe and Saab, produces Vricon DSM from commercial satellite imagery with an automated 3D modeling technology.

    Vricon DSM is delivered rapidly and with high precision over both urban and rural areas. It features 0.5 m post-spacing and 3 m absolute accuracy in all dimensions, enabling analysts to determine, for example, where helicopters can land, where radio communications are possible, and where lines of sight are clear or obstructed.

    The package is designed for

    • Mission rehearsal and contingency (evacuation) planning
    • Situational awareness
    • Logisitics
    • Force protection
    • Personnel and civilian security
    • Cross-service collaboration
    • View-shed analysis and radio frequency (RF) propagation planning
    • Threat assessment and monitoring
    • Tipping and cueing
    • Anticipatory mapping
    By André Motta/brasil2016.gov.br - http://www.brasil2016.gov.br/pt-br/galeria-de-fotos/parque-olimpico-da-barra-aereas-junho-de-2016, CC BY 3.0 br, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50342378
    Velodrome, Carioca Arena 3, 2 and 1 and Future Arena (in the background), and the Olympic Tennis Center (on the right) at Barra Olympic Park. By André Motta/brasil2016.gov.br

  • Helping the blind see: UAV mapping turns UNESCO site into 3D model

    amphitheatre-rayCloud-pix4dmapper-pix4d-cyprus-O

    The ancient city-kingdom of Kourion on the southwestern coast of Cyprus can now be “seen” by those with impaired vision.

    Kourion, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Paphos, was once an important urban center. While most of the archaeological remains — including several buildings with well conserved floor mosaics — date to the Roman and Early Byzantine periods, the most ancient finds connect to settlements and tombs of the Ceramic Neolithic period (circa 5500-4000 BCE).

    A tactile map: In summer 2015, sections of the virtual 3D model, including the amphitheater, were printed in 3D and displayed in the visitor center with Braille explanations, providing an interactive history to those with visual impairments.
    A tactile map: In summer 2015, sections of the virtual 3D model, including the amphitheater, were printed in 3D and displayed in the visitor center with Braille explanations, providing an interactive history to those with visual impairments.

    British drone manufacturer QuestUAV, in cooperation with the Cyprus University of Technology, acquired high-resolution aerial images of Kourion Archaeological Park with a surveying drone, and then created a virtual 3D model from the images with Pix4Dmapper Pro.

    The QuestUAV team (a pilot and laptop commander) flew over 100 hectare of the archaeological park at 400 feet with a Q-200 Surveyor drone equipped with a Sony A6000 camera and a 16mm wide-angle lens, taking 330 aerial photographs during a 20-minute, fully autonomous flight.

    The automatic camera trigger and the gimbaled camera system enabled acquisition of pin-sharp pictures, even at wind speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour.

    The images have a ground sampling distance of 2.5 centimeters with an overlap of 80 percent in flight direction and 65 percent sidelap. During the flight, the Q-200 Surveyor recorded the GPS coordinates of each camera position in a log file, allowing for image geo-location.

    The entire survey took no longer than an afternoon.

    Aerial view of the ampitheatre.
    Aerial view of the ampitheatre.

     

  • WorldView-4 satellite heads to Vandenberg for September launch

    Built by Lockheed Martin, the WorldView-4 satellite will expand DigitalGlobe’s constellation of high-accuracy, high-resolution satellites, and double the availability of 30-cm resolution imagery for commercial and government customers.
    Built by Lockheed Martin, the WorldView-4 satellite will expand DigitalGlobe’s constellation of high-accuracy, high-resolution satellites, and double the availability of 30-centimeter resolution imagery for commercial and government customers.

    Final preparations are underway at Lockheed Martin to ship DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-4 Earth imaging satellite to Vandenberg Air Force Base for a Sept. 15 launch.

    The Lockheed Martin team is completing final satellite testing and checkout before shipment. Testing includes calculating the weight and center of gravity of WorldView-4, completing a health check of major systems, and testing out image collection and downlinking capability.

    “The high-resolution and high-accuracy images taken by WorldView-4 will support DigitalGlobe’s worldwide customer base,” said Carl Marchetto, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space. “DigitalGlobe’s smart imagery serves hundreds of thousands of end-users charged with the safety and security of nations, and enables the maps and geospatial applications relied on by billions of consumers.”

    “Only the DigitalGlobe constellation, with the addition of WorldView-4, offers the highest quality, and most comprehensive global coverage of our changing planet through 2030, so our customers can be confident they will have the information to make critical decisions,” said Walter Scott, founder and chief technology officer, DigitalGlobe. “WorldView-4 will help us continue to transform the way we see the world, and advance our mission of keeping our planet and its people safe and secure.”

    Once launched, WorldView-4 will double DigitalGlobe’s coverage of the world’s highest resolution imagery and increase the rate at which it grows its 15-year library of time-lapse high-resolution imagery. WorldView-4 will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, traveling 17,000 miles per hour and capturing more 680,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface daily (19.5 terabytes) the equivalent of the land area of Texas.

    With an orbit approximately 400 miles from Earth, the satellite will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket provided by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services.