Artist’s rendition of a satellite – paulfleet/123RF Stock Photo
This week we’re looking at the latest news on Earth Observation (EO) data tools released by NASA and the latest Chinese EO satellite launches.
NASA’s Earth Observation
Last week NASA released the latest version of their Software Catalog, which has over one thousand programs available for download and many new software packages in this release. This is software developed by NASA scientists, engineers, and developers to manage space missions, test spacecraft, and analyze data, and to further their goal of benefiting humanity, NASA releases many of these for anyone to use. The Software Catalog offers packages in the following categories:
- Aeronautics
- Autonomous Systems
- Business Systems and Project Management
- Crew and Life Support
- Data and Image Processing
- Data Servers Processing and Handling
- Design and Integration Tools
- Electronics and Electrical Power
- Environmental Science
- Materials and Processes
- Operations
- Propulsion
- Structures and Mechanisms
- System testing
Although the software is free to download and use, some of the packages are limited to use by US citizens, or for US Government purposes. In addition, some of the software has been licensed by NASA for commercial purposes and is only available to other agencies or companies with a government contract. The Software Catalog can be explored here.
Alongside, the Software Catalog, NASA has released a Remote Sensing Toolkit which supports users to find satellite data and offers tools to help them work with the data. This toolkit can be found here.
In addition, last week NASA extended its contract with Spire Global for the provision of Earth Observation data under NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CDSA) Program. The year long contract was worth US$6.5 million, and represented a US$500,000 increase on the previous contract from a year ago. The CDSA aims to acquire data from commercial small-satellites to complement NASA’s own EO satellites, enabling it to benefit from new technology and new instruments without having to develop and launch their own versions.
China Earth Observation Launches
On the 8th August, a Long March 2C rocket successfully put the Huan Jing 2F (HJ-2F) satellite into a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at around 500 km altitude. This is a second generation satellite, and followed the launch of its partner satellite, HJ-2E, ten months ago.
This satellite uses S-Band SAR remote sensing to provide all-weather land observation, and the data is expected to be used for disaster monitoring. The data is processed and analysed by the China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application (CRESDA).
The day after the Huan Jing 2F launch saw the commercial Chinese company Galactic Energy launch seven satellites from its CERES-1 Y7 rocket, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. These were:
- Xiguang-1 01 : A hyperspectral satellite carrying a hyperspectral camera, infrared camera, panchromatic camera, & on-board intelligent processing unit for a range of Earth observation uses.
- Xi’an Hangtou 06, – 88, -104, & -112 : Four optical satellites focusing on assisting ecological sustainability in the Qinling region of Shaanxi.
- Xingchi 1B : An imaging satellite for Tuoyuan Shikong (Elliptic SpaceTime) of Beijing.
- Diwei Zhineng Yingji 1 (Henan Ligong 1, WonderJourney 1A, WJ 1A) : This is China’s first satellite featuring an Artificial Intelligence onboard, developed by commercial company Star Vision. The data is expected to be used for applications such as disaster alleviation, water resource management to agriculture, forestry and oceanic exploration.
Summary
It is interesting to see how the combination of space agencies and commercial space companies play an increasing role, something that is likely to continue to grow.
