Over the last few months, a chunk of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf has been hanging on precariously as a deep crack cut across the ice. Witnessed by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, a lump of ice more than twice the size of Luxembourg has now broken off, spawning one of the largest icebergs on record…
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Copernicus – a joint project between the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA) that uses satellites and ground sensors to monitor the environment – is the world’s largest civil Earth observation programme, producing over 8 petabytes per year. Earth observation data has many important uses, such as tracking deforestation and rising sea levels, helping…
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Small satellites used for observing conditions on the earth are the fastest growing segment of the $260.5 billion global satellite industry, the Satellite Industries Association said in an annual report released on Tuesday. Small satellites, some no bigger than a shoe box, generated an 11 percent jump in annual revenue for Earth imagery in 2016…
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All eyes are on Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf as a deep crack continues to cut across the ice, leaving a huge chunk clinging on. When it eventually gives way, one of the largest icebergs on record will be set adrift. Even before the inevitable happens, ESA’s CryoSat mission can reveal some of the future…
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While a fire at a rubbish depot was detected from space by the Copernicus Sentinel-3A and ESA’s Proba-V satellites, pollutants in the plume of thick smoke were measured by instruments that will be used to validate information from the upcoming Sentinel-5 Precursor mission. The fire broke out on 5 May in Pomezia, a town 50…
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A team of scientists led by the Universities of Leicester and East Anglia are leading research to protect wildlife by using satellite data to identify monkey populations that have declined through hunting. In a new article in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, a working group chaired by Professor Heiko Balzter, from the National Centre for…
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European launch provider Arianespace will launch a remote-sensing satellite for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in mid-2018 using the Italian-made Vega rocket, Arianespace announced June 19. OHB Italia, manufacturer of the Precursore Iperspettrale della Missione Applicativa, or PRISMA satellite, signed the launch contract on behalf of ASI. Arianespace will launch the satellite into a 615-kilometer…
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Looks like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on a roll! The space organisation has announced to launch Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger Nano satellites this Friday. It is expected to launch the 712 kg observation satellite and the others into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Weighing…
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ESA’s SMOS mission maps variations in soil moisture and salt in the surface waters of the open oceans. When the satellite was designed, it was not envisaged that it would be able to measure salinity in smaller seas like the Mediterranean, but SMOS has again surpassed expectations. The satellite carries a microwave instrument to capture…
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Over two decades of observations by five radar satellites show the acceleration of ice loss of 30 glaciers in Western Palmer Land in the southwest Antarctic Peninsula. The study in Geophysical Research Letters combines over 24 years of radar data from satellites including ESA’s Envisat and ERS missions, as well as from the Copernicus Sentinel-1…
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