Earth-imaging and scientific payloads have arrived in French Guiana, both designed for Ariancespace’s Vega mission in November. The spacecraft were delivered by a chartered Antonov AN-124 cargo jetliner that touched down at Cayenne’s Félix Eboué Airport. They were then transported by road to the Spaceport, where processing is now underway in separate clean room areas of the S5 payload processing... read more
Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil have hit record numbers, and satellites have been able to capture imagery of them. According to NASA, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on its Aqua satellite captured images of several fires burning in the states of Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará and Mato Grosso on Aug. 11 and Aug. 13. There have been 72,843 fires... read more
The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has produced a map showing the damage caused by the Camp Fire in Northern California. After two and a half weeks of historic destruction, the fire is now 100 percent contained. Teams continue to search the destruction — including the destroyed town of Paradise — for... read more
DigitalGlobe has released pre- and post-event satellite imagery of the areas in India affected by heavy flooding. According to the company, massive flooding devastated the Kerala state of India in late May and early August. At least 164 people were killed and more than 223,000 were displayed from their homes and are living in relief camps. In addition, Kerala has... read more
Newest version of Raytheon’s Joint Polar Satellite System Common Ground System is now operational Raytheon’s next-generation Common Ground System for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS CGS 2.0) is now operational, supporting 11 polar-orbiting satellites and delivering observations to NOAA’s National Weather Service almost 50 percent faster than before. Svalbard, Norway, is the location of the northernmost Joint Polar Satellite... read more
DigitalGlobe released satellite imagery of Houston after Hurricane Harvey hit. Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast of Texas — just southwest of Houston — on Aug. 25. According to DigitalGlobe, the hurricane packed sustained winds at more than 130 miles per hour and has been identified as the largest single rainmaking event in continental U.S. history. The images show... read more
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has begun production of higher level (more highly processed) Landsat data products to help advance land surface change studies. One such product is Landsat surface-reflectance data. Landsat satellite data have been produced, archived, and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey since 1972. Surface reflectance data products approximate what a sensor held just above the Earth’s... read more
DigitalGlobe, a provider of commercial high-resolution Earth observation and advanced geospatial solutions, successfully launched WorldView-3, the company’s sixth and most advanced super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite. The satellite launched August 13 on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. “The successful launch of WorldView-3 extends DigitalGlobe’s commanding technological lead and will enable us to help... read more
