Help From The Sky
The International Fund for Agricultural Development has been funding projects in Madagascar for over 30 years to eradicate rural poverty. With the country facing an exploding population and food crisis, the agency is looking skyward for support.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is not only working in Madagascar but also supporting poor rural people around the world to help them grow more food and achieve better livelihoods.
Earth observation satellites allow objective assessments of remote rural areas to help design, plan and monitor the impact of IFADs development projects. ESA and IFAD have been working together to identify the detailed information needed to support selected projects in Madagascar. ESA has carried out three trials to demonstrate how state-of-the-art Earth observation services can provide this information and improve the impact of IFADs project.
One of IFADs projects is to strengthen the food security of the rural population in the dry, famine-prone region of the Mandraré Basin by increasing productivity of the irrigated and rain-fed crops.
Since remote sensing has become a popular area of study and experts can be found all around the world, incorporating these data into our projects helps us to strengthen local capacity and transfer knowledge to local stakeholders to improve national capacities, said Benoit Thierry, IFADs Madagascar Country Programme Manager.
Improving Development Planning
IFADs project to support development in the Menabe region focuses on the sustainable expansion of arable land, mainly through irrigation schemes and securing agricultural land.
In order to allow IFAD to single out areas for further agricultural activities, the trial produced land-cover maps and digital models of the areas slope and drainage system to pinpoint areas prone to flooding.
With these products, we can get details about the land and develop action plans much quicker by sending teams only to select areas, Thierry said.
In order to simplify the exchange of land titles, a mosaic based on new very high resolution satellite images was produced of three districts in Haute Matsiatra. The mosaic allows IFAD to estimate the location and size of specific fields.
Following these initial trials, IFAD and ESA are discussing how satellite data can support other development activities, including assessing food security, managing water and adapting to climate change.
If we dont incorporate this technology into our work now, Im afraid we will miss the train, Thierry said.
The preceding article is courtesy of the European Space Agency.
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Double Departures
A heavy-lift Ariane 5 successfully orbited two satellite payloads on Friday, April 22nd...
Lifting off on time at 6:37 p.m on the 22nd. in French Guiana, the Ariane 5 climbed through a partial cloud cover at sunset, and continued its downrange flight in clear skies. This allowed a direct view of the separation for Ariane 5s two solid propellant boosters at an altitude of 66.5 kilometers, followed by the payload fairings jettison at a 105-kilometer altitude. It marked another of Ariane 5s highly accurate flights, with the following estimated orbital parameters at the injection of its cryogenic upper stage:
– Perigee: 249.8 km. for a target of 249.7 km
– Apogee: 35,975 km. for a target of 35,956 km
– Inclination: 5.98 deg. for a target of 6.00 degrees
Intelsat New Dawn, which was deployed from Ariane 5s lower payload position at 35 minutes into thes flight, is owned by a joint venture of Intelsat and a consortium led by Convergence Partners. This satellites C- and Ku-band transponders are to support the communications infrastructure for African customers who have experienced exceptional growth, and contribute to the regions development. It is tailored for voice, wireless backhaul, Internet and media applications services. Built by Orbital Sciences Corporation using its STAR-2 platform, Intelsat New Dawn will be integrated with Intelsats global satellite fleet and stationed at the 32.8 degrees East orbital location. It was the 52nd satellite launched by Arianespace for Intelsat, the worlds leading satellite operator.
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Getting Set
The Indian GSAT-8 multi-role spacecraft for Arianespaces next Ariane 5 mission is undergoing an in-depth checkout at the Spaceport in French Guiana in preparation for its liftoff on May 19.
GSAT-8 was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) using its I-3K satellite bus, and validations being performed in the Spaceports S5 payload preparation facility include antenna and solar panel deployments. With a liftoff mass of 3,100 kg., GSAT-8 carries 24 transponders to augment Indias Ku-band relay capabilities, and also is equipped with the two-channel GAGAN (GPS and GEO augmented navigation) system. GAGAN will support the Indian governments implementation of a regional satellite-based augmentation system to assist in the navigation of aircraft over Indian airspace and in adjoining areas.
The upcoming GSAT-8 launch will continue Indias long-term relationship with launch services provided by Ariane, which dates back 30 years to the orbiting of the countrys APPLE experimental payload. In total, 13 Indian satellites have been lofted by Ariane launchers.
For the upcoming launch, GSAT-8 will be joined by a co-passenger ST-2 for the ST-2 Satellite Ventures joint company on Arianespaces third Ariane 5 mission of the year at French Guiana. Arianespace is targeting a total of six heavy-lift Ariane 5 flights from the Spaceport during 2011, along with two initial launches of the medium-lift Soyuz, and the maiden flight of its lightweight Vega. Additionally, three Soyuz flights from Baikonur Cosmodrome are slated for this year, to be performed on behalf of Arianespace by its Starsem affiliate.
A Swift Schedule Send Off
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced that Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 was delivered ahead of schedule for the start of its launch campaign. The satellite, designed and built for Telesat, arrived early at the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, where it will be launched in late May aboard an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle provided by International Launch Services (ILS).
Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 is a Ku-band satellite that will deliver services to growing markets that include Brazil, the Continental United States, the North Atlantic Ocean Region, as well as the Andean and Southern Cone region of South America. The satellite has 46 Ku-band transponders and five antenna beams with on-orbit switching capability that will allow its capacity to be reconfigured depending on market demand.
Added John Celli, president of SS/L, Great teamwork, dedication and focus enabled us to deliver Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 well ahead of schedule. For Telesats customers, the satellite will bring valuable communications capability to some relatively remote parts of the world. It is heartening to know that the satellites that we design and build at SS/L can improve peoples lives by contributing to better healthcare delivery and education, and much needed infrastructure when emergency services are required.
But wait... theres more...
Fleet Furtherance
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has been awarded a contract to manufacture a spacecraft for Australian telecommunications service provider, SingTel Optus.
The satellite, Optus 10, will be used to augment the existing fleet of SingTel Optus satellites and to assure the highest level of ongoing service into the future. Optus 10 is planned to be launched in 2013. With 24 Ku-band transponders, the satellite demonstrates the flexibility of the 1300 satellite platform to accommodate missions requiring smaller satellite payloads. This highly reliable and proven platform is designed to provide service for 15 years or longer. Optus 10 will be the tenth satellite in the SingTel Optus fleet to be launched for Australia and the second built by SS/L. In 2003, SS/L provided the bus for Optus C1 satellite, which also carries a hosted payload for the Australian Defence Forces.
As leaders in our industries, both SingTel Optus and Space Systems/Loral share a commitment to quality and innovation, said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. We look forward to providing a spacecraft that will augment the SingTel Optus fleet for many years to come.
Integration Impetus
EMC Satcom Technologies GmbH has established a new benchmark in satellite networks optimization by achieving operational integration with all six of the worlds major TDMA hub systems that cover 90 percent of the market. With satellite capacity across the globe continuing to be in short supply satellite TDMA hub operators are finding that savings and network growth can be achieved by the straightforward addition of the EMC Satcom Technologies NRS RAY at the hub side only.
EMS SATCOM has now merged with their sister divisions EMS Sky Connect and EMS Formation to form EMS Aviation. EMS Aviation will include the Companys EMS SATCOM division, a leader in Inmarsat SwiftBroadband systems, and the recently-acquired EMS Formation, and EMS Sky Connect, providers of air-to-ground connectivity and Iridium-based tracking and messaging.
A Controlling Presence
Integral Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq:ISYS) has received an Authorization to Proceed from Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE:ORB) to provide the major ground segment elements for the MEXSAT-3 satellite program.
MEXSAT-3 is being built by Orbital for Boeing Space &Intelligence Systems as a part of a three-satellite, turnkey geomobile satellite system awarded to Boeing in December. An Orbital STAR2 satellite will provide the complete Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) of the MEXSAT satellite system for the Federal Government of Mexico.
Additional information regarding the EPOCH System is available at:
http://www.integ.com/EPOCHTC.html
Connectivity Connections
SES WORLD SKIES has three new capacity deals with Global Crossing to meet growing connectivity demand across Latin America. The agreements represent the latest expansion in a longstanding alliance between SES WORLD SKIES and Global Crossings Latin America unit, which now uses about 290 MHz of capacity aboard SES satellites to serve markets across the region.
Under the third deal, the telecom innovator is increasing its corporate network capacity with an additional 10 MHz of Ku-band on NSS-7 to meet the communications needs of mining and manufacturing companies, multinationals and other firms across Argentina and Chile.
Consummate Connector
TE Connectivity (TE) has introduced the Quadrax D-Sub style connector for military and commercial aerospace environments. The new connector was designed to provide a gigabit Ethernet solution in an industry standard D-Sub platform, while offering superior shielding performance.
The Quadrax D-Sub style connector was created to meet the high-speed data rate needs in commercial avionics, aircraft data networks, in-flight entertainment systems and military communications applications. The rugged metal shell construction provides four Quadrax connections in a size 3 shell with a 0.5 x 2.0 window, and supports both cable-to-cable and cable-to-board configurations. It serves as a low-profile alternative to the Circular 38999 Style Connectors, providing the perfect solution for cable-to-PWB high-speed interconnect.
The easy-to-assemble connector features cable applied plug and receptacle, along with Right Angle PCB Mount receptacle. It also meets the requirements of TIA/EIA-568-B.2 for insertion loss, return lost, as well as near end crosstalk (NEXT) and far end crosstalk (FEXT).
The Race Is On...
This 3,000 km race starts in Darwin and ends in Adelaide, and this university team is going to be highly reliant upon this Companys SATCOM products...
There are 11 countries participating in this car race which takes place on a bi-annual basis. Thuraya provides ubiquitous coverage over Australia and Tasmania, even in remote areas through its satellite network, all within the Thuraya-3 satellite coverage area that spans the Asia Pacific region. Thuraya is coordinating with Turkish communications specialists TEKNOMOBIL for the provision of equipment to the Istanbul University Team. TEKNOMOBIL are also a long-standing Thuraya service partner. Thuraya XT IP54/IK03 certified making it dust, splash water and shock proof. It has the fastest data service on a satellite handheld and supports GPS waypoint navigation. Thuraya IP is A5 sized and is the worlds smallest satellite broadband solution that supports 384 Kbps data streaming based on a plug and play system facilitating use without additional software. The terminal provides asymmetric streaming allowing users to freely select upload and download speeds for cost-effective service.
Hosted Payload Alliance Hosts First Meeting
Due to challenging budgets, in both industry and government enterprise, creative solutions were shared at the first meeting of the Hosted Payload Alliance...
More than 120 representatives from industry and government recently attended the first meeting of the Hosted Payload Alliance (HPA), an organization formed earlier this year to advance the use of hosted payloads on commercial satellites. The meeting took place April 11, 2011, immediately prior to the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
A major goal of the Hosted Payload Alliance is to serve as a bridge between government and private industry to foster an open dialogue between potential users and providers of hosted payload capabilities, said Don Thoma, chairman of the HPA Steering Committee. The fact that we brought together such a large and diverse group of attendees for the first general meeting of the Alliance is a clear validation of the need for this sort of forum.
Lord commented, Federal budgets for many space programs are being reduced. Hosted payloads present an opportunity for the government to leverage commercial investments to provide access to space. But there is a lot of work to be done to align the governments operational requirements and timetables with the commercial constraints of the private sector when it comes to the details of acquiring, designing, manufacturing and deploying payloads into space.
The panel of experts discussed ways that the U.S. government would benefit from using commercial spacecraft to host certain missions. The benefits include significantly lower cost, shorter development cycle times, the opportunity to share orbital slot locations, and the ability to disaggregate assets for a more resilient space architecture.
Thoma noted that the HPA is not a lobbying organization, but strictly a group of companies interested in furthering the goals set forth in the National Space Policy. It will also have a strong educational focus, providing a source of industry expertise on hosted payloads on commercial satellites to stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
Steering Committee members include Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, Intelsat General Corporation, Iridium Communications Inc., Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Orbital Sciences Corporation, SES WORLD SKIES U.S. Government Solutions, and Space Systems/Loral. Membership will be open to other satellite operators, satellite manufacturers, system integrators and other interested companies. The Steering Committee is working to create an organizational structure and identify specific tasks and action plans for the group and will issue guidelines for prospective members to join the Alliance.
Engineering Examples
Gazing through infrared cameras and building paper structures strong enough to hold textbooks are just a few of the many activities elementary, middle and high school students throughout the Chicagoland area are taking part in to learn about engineering.
Each year, representatives from the companys Rolling Meadows facility visit local schools in Rolling Meadows and the surrounding counties to share their engineering expertise, discuss potential careers in engineering and involve the students in hands-on classroom projects and activities. Each school visited receives a stipend from Northrop Grumman to support math and science-related programs and activities
Northrop Grumman is committed to working with students in the community, especially when promoting engineering and related fields through STEM education, said Jeff Palombo, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grummans Land and Self Protection Systems Division. Our goal is to inspire area students to pursue math and science-related careers and to encourage them to become future engineers and technologists.
The National Society of Professional Engineers introduced Discover E many years ago as part of an outreach effort aimed to foster student interest in engineering. Northrop Grumman has been a major sponsor of Discover E in the Chicagoland area for the past 13 years in an effort to help address a critical national need to identify, cultivate and motive the engineers of tomorrow.
The China Satellite 2011 Conference and Exhibition will be held on 26th - 28th of this October at Hotel Nikko New Century in Beijing.
China Satellite is a large-scaled, comprehensive, international conference that focuses on the area of the Chinese satellite application industry. It has been 13 years since the first China Satellite Conference, which was held in 1999. The conference will include keynote speeches, an equipment exhibition, technology lectures and roundtable discussions, becoming an open platform for professionals to discuss the development of satellite communication, satellite broadcasting, satellite remote sensing and navigation and location and more.
In China, the satellite communication and satellite TV service markets are being energetically promoted in rural and remote border areas. The participants of this conference come from all the areas covering broadcasting, communication, military, power industry, water conservancy, oil industry, education, meteorology and navigation. The China Satellite Conference will pay attention to market development, business cooperation, channel expansion and so on, providing an effective business platform for interaction between the products and solution providers and the buyers. Many more details will be available during this conference and further details are available at...
http://www.china-satellite.org/index.htm
Outer Space Issues 2011
There are outstanding issues in the coming year that deserve increased attention in terms of global outer space activities from tackling the growing problem of orbital space debris, enhancing Earth security via satellite data, protecting our planet from Near Earth Objects, and assuring a sustainable space environment for all nations to improve their well-being.
Space isnt the new frontier any more. Its an integral part of our daily existence, said Cynda Collins Arsenault, President and co-founder of Secure World Foundation (SWF). As we move into 2011 new ideas for the practicalities of utilizing space are coming forward. Working collaboratively to know whats where, coming to agreements on responsible behavior in space, and a cooperative approach to understanding and responding to threats from asteroids, they are all on the SWF agenda for 2011.
There is no doubt that space satellites continue to bring us perspective and solutions for many of Earths issues, Arsenault added. SWF continues to work on understanding our impact and responsibility to the larger ecosystem in order to reap the benefits it has to offer.
This has been an exciting year for advocates of a stronger push toward the goal of space sustainability, noted Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation. Williamson said that from the new U.S. Space Policy to the European Unions Draft International Space Code of Conduct to the new Working Group on Space Sustainability in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS), the world community has shown a new understanding and a new willingness to tackle this important issue for the long term utility of space activities.
On the other hand, SWFs Williamson noted that much remains to be done. Space faring countries need to be more aggressive in tackling the ongoing problem of space debris, which threatens to undercut our ability to use space for human benefit. They also need to find improved means to use the information that satellites provide for human benefit, Williamson said.
Impressive List Of Activities
Throughout 2010, Secure World Foundation has chalked up an impressive list of activities, including:
– Convening meetings on steps needed for securing a more sustainable environment in outer space, as well as advocating transparency and confidence-building measures.
– Partnering with Chinas Beihang University in Beijing and International Space University in Strasbourg, France to work on orbital space debris mitigation issues.
– Encouraging dialogue and conducting analysis of President Barack Obamas National Space Policy.
– Joining forces with the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) Space Policy Program to foster an open discussion on topics of mutual interest in the arena of outer space security.
– Engaging in active dialogue with participants in the Sixth Space Conference of the Americas in Pachuca, Mexico regarding Latin America space policy development. SWF played a leadership role in helping to shape the Pachuca Declaration and the Plan of Action of the 6th Space Conference of the Americas.
– Outlining with international experts needed steps and concerns in establishing a global detection and warning network to deal with possible Near Earth Object (NEO) threats to Earth. SWF contributed to a special NEO report to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).
– Issued fact-filled briefs on the U.S. governments Space Situational Awareness Sharing Program, the Iranian space program, and the U.S. Air Force X-37Bs orbital space plane project.
– Advocated for Citizen Science and Community Remote Sensing to push for the combining of Earth remote sensing satellite data with social networks to establish a take charge public management of local environmental issues.
For further information about Secure World Foundation (SWF), go to:
http://secureworldfoundation.org/