December Earth Observation Satellites

As we approach the end of 2022, the Earth Observation (EO) industry continues to launch new satellites. This week we’re looking at the world’s two EO powerhouses, China and the United States, and the latest launches from these countries. China … Continue reading

Ministerial Revolving Door Doesn’t Help Space Sector

In the week that the UK have appointed our third Prime Minister in less than two months, Rishi Sunak, MP, has a large in-tray to deal with; not least providing economic stability, cost of living crisis, energy bill support, supporting … Continue reading

Developing UK Space Capabilities

After looking at China in the previous blog, this time we’re highlighting the latest space capability developments within the UK and a few things have happened in the last week. Firstly, last Friday the UK launched Space Command – whilst … Continue reading

Space and Mining Industry Collaborating to Explore Battery Mineral Extraction Sites with Satellites

With transport being the UK’s biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, the transition from conventional engines to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is imperative but will bring an unprecedented increase in demand for battery metals. The Satellite Applications Catapult is leading on … Continue reading

Joint UK-Kenyan project to support the sustainable supply of sand and aggregates within Kenya using Earth observation data

Sand used as aggregate forms an essential and finite resource.  Growing demand for construction – buildings and infrastructure, creating land through reclamation, and coastal protection from climate change – has resulted in supply pressures on traditional sources.  Unmanaged extraction is … Continue reading

Detecting waste from space

This week we’re delighted to announce that we’ve got a peer-reviewed paper published in the open-access journal Remote Sensing. The paper titled ‘Identification of Tyre and Plastic Waste from Combined Copernicus Sentinel-1 and -2 Data’ by the author’s Page and … Continue reading

Earth Observation for Sustainable Aggregate Supply

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, the UK Space Agency has announced new funding for Pixalytics to help Kenya tackle the social and environmental impacts of unsustainable sand mining. Pixalytics will be leading the international project, called Earth Observation for Sustainable … Continue reading

Good or Bad Week for UK Space Industry … You Decide

Last week saw some interesting developments for the UK Space Industry. Firstly, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Industrial Policy Committee awarded contracts of €2.55 billion for the development of six new Copernicus satellite missions, with both Thales and Airbus being … Continue reading

What role does Artificial Intelligence have in an Earth Observation business strategy?

Last Friday afternoon, 26th June, I spent an interesting session at the British Association Remote Sensing Companies (BARSC) Cuddle Number Seven. These networking Cuddles bring together BARSC Members, speakers and other industry organisations to discuss key issues that matter to … Continue reading

From Stratosphere to Below Ground

Two reports caught our attention this week as they have links to some of the work we’re doing on a couple of UK Space Agency International Partnership Programme (IPP) projects. The first was from NASA Earth Observatory looking at drought … Continue reading