Ecuador volcano eruption caught by DMC satellite NigeriaSat-1

Thursday, January 31. 2008

DMC International Imaging was on regular 24/7 duty as the Emergency On-Call Officer (ECO) for the International Charter; Space & Major Disasters from 21st to 28th January 2008. Gary Crowley, DMCii Operations Manager, coordinated the scheduling of images from DMC satellites as well as Envisat, Radarsat, ALOS, SPOT-5, IRS (Pan & LISS-3), Ikonos and QuickBird, for the Charter response to two disaster activation calls.

DMC image of the erupting Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador, showing the long plume of ash blackening the area (vegetation is false red) Image; NigeriaSat-1 25th Jan 2008 © NASRDA


Last Tuesday (22nd January) DMCii monitored a volcanic eruption in Ecuador. The images below are by kind permission of NASRDA.

Zoom of the volcano crater belching ash. Image; Nigeriasat-1 © NASRDA 2008


Just last Friday (25th January) the International Charter was activated to image flooding in Bolivia.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in Cooperation, Space at 12:31 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
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Next generation DMC satellites for 2008 launch

Tuesday, October 9. 2007
Launch updates

SSTL is to launch two new enhanced Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) satellites in the fourth quarter of 2008. Deimos-1, which was built for Deimos SL (Spain) and SSTL’s UK-DMC2 will be launched onboard a Dnepr rocket from the new Kosmotras launch site in southern Ural.

DEIMOS-1 will provide higher resolution imagery
Both Demios-1 and UK-DMC2 will carry an enhanced version of the DMC wide area imaging system, providing 600km wide swaths of the Earth in three spectral bands at a ground resolution of 22-metres. This is an advance on the current 32-metre DMC imager, which has been successfully providing imagery for over five years in the current constellation of five spacecraft. Additionally, the new spacecraft have over ten times the capacity for information provision. These significant enhancements reflect SSTL’s evolutionary approach to development that provides state of the art performance with minimal risk. The improved resolution and capacity enable the system to better meet European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program needs, particularly in the areas of forestry and fire.

UK-DMC2 has been funded and developed by SSTL to continue the success of DMC International Imaging (DMCii), which commercially exploits the data and help ensure continuity of the unique service provided by the constellation of DMC satellites for disaster relief and humanitarian aid.

The launch contract has been signed with ISC Kosmotras, with Commercial Space Technologies (CST) acting as the interface between SSTL and the launch agency.

Deimos Imaging (DMI) is part of the Deimos Space Group, and is based in the Boecillo Technology Park, Madrid. DMI is led by the Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque and aims at offering products based on satellite-captured information for use in Earth observation applications. One of the most notable aspects of DMI is the vertical integration of the production chain, which includes its own capture capability through the Deimos-1 satellite, as well as a remote sensing laboratory boasting a high R&D&I capacity.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in DEIMOS, Launch updates at 14:39 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
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New LEO satellite cooperation with Russia

Tuesday, April 10. 2007
Business

SSTL has signed an order with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise - The Russian Research and Production Enterprise Pan-Russian Research Institute for Electromechanics (FSUE NPP VNIIEM) and Radioexport of Russia for the supply of satellite platform equipment and services for the KANOPUS Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Earth observation spacecraft.

The first satellite, KANOPUS-B, will be ready for launch in 2008. It will monitor the Earth's surface and will support the monitoring of disasters, agricultural planning and the management of water and coastal resources. Under the contract SSTL will supply FSUE NPP VNIIEM with the platform avionics equipment and software, and support their spacecraft assembly and integration activities in Russia.

SSTL's executive chairman Sir Martin Sweeting commented, "This contract is a unique opportunity for FSUE NPP VNIIEM and SSTL to further develop its co-operation on future Russian small satellite projects."

Last month ESA awarded SSTL a follow-on contract for the supply of a second navigation satellite, GIOVE-A2. 12 satellites are currently under construction and test at SSTL's facilities in Guildford for customers in Europe, North America and Africa.

Press Release: Russia places order with SSTL for satellite platform equipment

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in Business at 09:34 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
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DMCii aid Philippines oil disaster response

Tuesday, August 29. 2006

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) was on duty last week as the Emergency On-Call Officer (ECO) for the International Charter; Space & Major Disasters.

DMCii Operations Manager, Gary Crowley was alerted late last night by an official activation of the Charter (Call no. 129) in response to serious oil leakage from a tanker that has sunk in the Panay Gulf, Philippines. He tasked Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors on two satellites, ENVISAT (European Space Agency) and Radarsat (Canadian Space Agency) to acquire images of the area.




Map showing the location of the sunken ship







SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) is particularly useful for imaging at night or through cloud, and can detect changes in the surface roughness of the ocean, which can help to identify areas of oil slick. Analysis of SAR images is complex, because wind shadows also create smooth areas, which can be mistaken for oil.
The SAR images will be delivered to a designated Project Manager who will analyse the data, and prepare maps of the affected zone to give to disaster response teams on site.

The Guardian reported ?The oil tanker sank last Friday, with some 2m litres of thick bunker fuel on board. Two of the 20 crew are still missing. Only one of the 10 fuel containers is thought to have ruptured but officials fear the stresses of lying on the seabed 900m (3,000ft) below the surface could causes the other containers to leak.?


A beach on Guimaras island in the Philippines is covered with bunker oil from the Sunrise 1 oil tanker spill.
Photograph: Ariel Catubig/AP







The SAR image acquired by the European Space Agency with ENVISAT clearly shows the black areas of smooth water surface created by the oil spill.











The SAR image to the left was delivered to the Project Manager, UNOSAT, which then created a map of the area. More information is available on the Charter Website for Call 129.






Photos of the Philippines clean up can be found at the BBC and the breaking news from Reuters. Some intereresting blogs are found at Greenpeace

Find out more about DMC activities at www.dmcii.com

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in Space at 10:30 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
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