Blue Marble image of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on Dec. 7 1972.
Image Credit: NASA
Looking at the latest UK funding for Earth Observation (EO), deorbiting of some EO cubesats, and Planet joining the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies.
Funding For UK Earth Observation
Last week saw the latest call for grant proposals under the UK Government’s Earth Observation Technology Programme. The programme will be delivered by the Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI), on behalf of the UK Space Agency, and has funding of £15 million.
This funding will support research and development of space-based instruments, aimed at supporting a range of environmental services, which could include meteorology, climate monitoring, environmental management, agriculture and urban planning, and improving scientific knowledge. It is hoped that this will enable new technology to be flown on satellites in the next few years.
The activities were highlighted in the National Space Strategy in Action report, published by the Government last month, which outlined plans to ensure the UK remained at the cutting edge of EO tools, technologies, and data use.
The £15 million funding will cover Pathfinder projects of up to £75,000, Fast Track projects of up to £250,000, and Flagship projects of up to £3 million. Pathfinder and Fast Track projects will support new and innovative ideas for technology development, while Flagship projects will develop technologies further, including testing instruments in relevant environments and airborne demonstration flights.
Further details on this opportunity can be found here.
Capella Earth Observation Satellites
Last week we noted the anticipated launch the Capella Acadia 1 satellite, also known as Capella 11, for the US company, Capella Space. The launch was stopped due to negative sensor reading, and the mission has been rescheduled for the 31st August.
There has also been an interesting story reported this week about Capella’s satellites deorbiting faster than had been anticipated. Capella had planned to launch a 30 strong constellation of SAR EO satellites, and to date have launched ten satellites. Eight of these are their Whitney satellites, which were described as having a three year expected mission life, and often this is a conservative figure and may mean satellites go beyond their planned mission life.
However, according to data from the non-profit CelesTrak organisation which tracks orbits, three of the Witney satellites have deorbited this year:-
- Capella-3 launched on 24th January 2021, orbit decayed on the 26th February 2023.
- Capella-4 launched on 24th January 2021, orbit decayed on the 8th April 2023.
- Capella-5 launched on 30th June 2021, orbit decayed on the 23rd February 2023.
This is earlier than expected, between 18 months and two years, and it is also reported that two further satellites launched last year are dropping altitude and could de-orbit later this year. As cubesats tend to be launched into lower orbits than larger satellites, they do deorbit quicker. However, it is unclear what is causing this, and will be interesting to see what happens next.
Planet Joins British Association of Remote Sensing Companies
Fantastic to read this week that Planet has joined the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC). BARSC is an industry association, chaired by Alistair Maclenan, dedicated to promoting of the benefits and opportunities offered by EO and remote sensing.
Pixalytics is a member of BARSC, and our Managing Director Dr Samantha Lavender is an ex-Chair of the organisation. It is exciting to have Planet join the Association as they are one of the biggest satellite launchers in the world with around 200 optical remote sensing satellites in orbit, reportedly imaging every land mass on the planet every single day. It will be interesting to have their knowledge and experience within the BARSC community, and see where the Association can go from here.
Summary
Working in remote sensing, EO, or space, is often a roller coaster, as they are often ups and downs, but it is never boring!
