WorldView-2 launched

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

Ball Aerospace built WorldView-2 was launched at 18:51 GMT on October 8, 2009. DigitalGlobe partnered with Boeing commercial launch services to deliver WorldView-2 into a sun-synchronous orbit. WorldView-2 is the latest high-resolution, remote-sensing satellite; launched on a Boeing Delta II 7920 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. DigitalGlobe ground station received a downlink signal confirming that the satellite successfully separated from its launch vehicle and has automatically initialized its onboard processors. WorldView-2 is currently undergoing a calibration and check-out period. DigitalGlobe expects imagery products and services from WorldView-2 to be commercially available in approximately 90 days. WorldView-2 features advanced agility and accuracy, industry-leading capacity, and eight-band multispectral imagery. WorldView-2 will collect multispectral imagery at 1.8 meter resolution and panchromatic imagery at .46 meters. The additional band capability supports improved levels of feature identification and extraction and more accurately reflects the world’s natural color.

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Posted in News, Remote Sensing 101, Satellites | Leave a comment

Satellite images to map Development of Lucknow

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

To ensure perfection in drafting the city’s development plan, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has decided to get satellite images of its development area. LDA plans to get aerial pictures of the city and land use-mapping of major urban/rural objects. According to LDA authorities, the state government has already decided to divide the Lucknow development area in 22 zones for better planned development and that satellite images will help design the layout plans of the zones. The Lucknow development area is spread over 1,400 square kms approximately, including 350 square kms of urban area and 1,050 square kms of rural area. The LDA will hire a consultant to prepare the ‘base map’ of development area with details of urban and rural settlements, cultivated land, forest, vegetated land/orchards, barren land, waterlogged land, water bodies, canals, brick kilns, national and state highways, other roads, power transmission lines and embankments.

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Posted in GIS, India, map making, Remote Sensing 101, Satellites, Urban Studies | 2 Comments

Dust Storm in Australia Leads to Life Explosion

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

The red dust storm that dumped thousands of tons of soil across eastern Australia  has caused an explosion in microscopic life in Sydney Harbor and beyond.Researchers  say that the  finding validates plans to increase fish stocks to feed some of the world’s poorest people using ocean fertilization.Scientists also opined that the idea of  enriching oceans with nitrogen will also aid the fight against climate change.

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Posted in BIODIVERSITY, Winds | 2 Comments

New Ring of Saturn Discovered

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Rashid Faridi

artist conception of the newly-discovered ring

NASA has discovered a new ring of  Saturn. The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered  it around the planet — by far the largest of the giant planet’s many rings.The new ring is far from the planet with an orbit tilted 27 degrees from the main ring plane. The bulk of its material starts about six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) away from the planet and extends outward roughly another 12 million kilometers (7.4 million miles). One of Saturn’s farthest moons, Phoebe, circles within the newfound ring, and is likely the source of its material.

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Posted in inventions, Solar System | 2 Comments