I started writing these reviews in 2017, really to get a feel of the pace of change in Earth Observation / Geospatial today. Looking back over this year the pace has again been incredible.
Every three weeks or so we discuss some of the main news items in more detail in the #scenefromabove podcast. If you are interested in more in-depth discussion, visit the podcast pages here, here or here.
Q4 2018
Launches
HyperSat to launch 2 satellites in 2020.
Planet was gearing up to launch (and later did launch) more satellites in November.
Morocco’s Mohammed 6-B satellite was launched.
31 more satellites including Hysis, Global-1 and 16 doves were launched on PSLVC43 rocket.
Update #13#ISROMissions#PSLVC43
Finally home! #PSLVC43 successfully launches #HysIS and 30 foreign satellites into their designated orbits.@PMOIndia
— ISRO (@isro) November 29, 2018
The small Sat express from Space X launched 64 small Sats. Get a list of them here.
Rocket Lab launched CubeSats for NASA.
Planet launched 12 more Doves on the 27th December, making three launches in 28 days.
We’re wrapping up 2018 with one final launch of 12 Dove satellites! Tonight at 6:07 pm PST, our Doves are launching on a Soyuz Rocket out of Vostochny Cosmodrome. Stay tuned for updates and watch with us here: https://t.co/oOlMicSgal pic.twitter.com/HIcC1kVYDo
— Planet (@planetlabs) December 26, 2018
New contracts demonstrated the continued strong demand for smallsat rideshare launch services.
Data
More Sentinel 5P datasets were released and more information is shown here on the value this sensor has added.
🔴Breaking
Three new #Sentinel5P datasets are now freely and openly available for download from our Open Access Hub!
➡️Ozone (O3)
➡️Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
➡️Formaldehyde (HCHO)
Example of use case: monitoring SO2 volcanic emissions, here Mt Agung, Bali, 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/JWQ5qadN6M— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) October 18, 2018
Digital Globe produced the ‘first high-precision U.S. building footprints dataset created with machine learning’.
Work continued on the Landsat and Sentinel 2 harmonization project.
#AGUPaper The NASA Harmonized #Landsat / #Sentinel-2 Dataset: A Case Study of Cloud-based Earth Observation Processing https://t.co/yo7WN53F4J #AGU18 pic.twitter.com/BhbmdsTj9P
— USGS Landsat Program (@USGSLandsat) December 14, 2018
First images came back from NOVOSAR.
HysIS returned its first image.
ICEYE-X2 acquired its first image.
The First Radar Image from ICEYE-X2 Published Only A Week After Launch. Imaged: Natural Parks Aralar and Aizkorri-Aratz, Spain on December 7, 2018 during night time. https://t.co/nt6uXZJ7SN
— ICEYE (@iceyefi) December 11, 2018
NASA IceSat began measuring ice thickness.
From mid December 2018 onwards, Sentinel 2 was made availabe worldwide to level 2a.
Good news for #Sentinel2 users. @ESA_EO will start processing L2A data globally! Soon we should therefore be able to see such an image, but with atmospherically corrected data! Great for exploitation of @CopernicusEU data, especially in #agriculture. https://t.co/xsV11WrwBY pic.twitter.com/Iecka11AdR
— Sentinel Hub (@sentinel_hub) December 8, 2018
Projects / Workflows
Locating dams from space, a novel approach.
How to do a landcover classification with EO Learn.
Using the Radiant Earth Foundation API.
Identifying Whales from space using VHR data.
SparkGeo are doing cool things with STAC.
From a Satellite to computer in 55 seconds.
BlueDot was launched, providing information about the world’s water resources.
Monitoring human rights from space.
Processing satellite imagery onboard the satellite was demonstrated.
Mapping ALL the trees with Machine Learning.
Using AI to Map the world’s Palm Oil plantations and natural forests.
Technology
Earth Engine Apps released.
Raster Vision from Azavea was open sourced.
QGIS 3.4 (long term release) was released.
We are pleased to announce the release of QGIS 3.4 ‘Madeira’! https://t.co/t0P3ngbffy pic.twitter.com/5B53fH3huU
— QGIS (@qgis) October 28, 2018
A good summary of some of the available processing EO options.
AWS Ground Station! Instead of building ground stations, it is now possible to use AWS on an as you need basis.
AWS Ground Station is a fully managed Ground Station as a Service to easily control satellites, downlink & process satellite data on-demand, and innovate rapidly using other AWS services. #reInvent https://t.co/Wdma9PL69R pic.twitter.com/ozfXBnf8xT
— Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) November 27, 2018
GDAL 2.4.0 was released.
ESA prepared for onboard EO processing using AI.
Events
Phi week took place – videos are available.
Give a #MachineLearning computer a picture of our #Sentinel1 🇪🇺🛰️ and a painting of #VanGogh and this is what it will produce: a treat for #Sentinerds
Great demonstration of the power of #MachineLearning by our @ESA_EO colleagues pic.twitter.com/WKqxNUg7RG— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) November 12, 2018
The winners of the Copernicus Masters were announced.
Companies / Investment / Governmental
Rezatec completed follow-on investment.
Capella space raised $19 million for radar constellation.
Seraphim Space camp mission 2 startups were revealed.
Digital Globe and NASA extended their partnership.
Australia’s CSIRO boosted Earth Observation and AI Budgets.
The Q3 seraphim space index for venture funding is here.
Subscription business model is the way forward for Planet data.
Copernicus (and other EU funded space activities) are set to receive an increase in funding.
Planet announced agreement to acquire Boundless.
DigitalGlobe and Orbital Insight deepened their partnership.
Is the gap between commercial and governmental EO growing?
Government inertia a problem for small satellite industry https://t.co/Jv3eyLpLLe pic.twitter.com/h3RlHzqOtE
— SpaceNews (@SpaceNews_Inc) November 20, 2018
Points of interest / News
Only 5% of Low Earth Orbit satellites have insurance.
NASA is evaluating small Sats.
Check out the Sentinel Hub Education website.
Group on Earth Observations (GEO) highlights 2017-18 are now available.
Updated QGIS map design book is out now.
Devastating California fires as captured from space.
UNICEF and ESA work together to use Earth Observation for the most vulnerable.
The change in the Earth’s surface over the last 25 years is captured in this interesting article.
The future of Low Earth Orbit satellites was discussed in the Economist.
The space industry will grow from $350bn in 2016 to more than $1.1trn by 2040, Morgan Stanley predicts https://t.co/p9yYmmloKq
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) December 8, 2018
Google to shut down Fusion Tables.
Enjoy a review of the best space pictures of 2018.
The most important satellite images from 2018?
….To finish this Q4 review, here is a stunning off-nadir World View 3 image of San Francisco:
Off-Nadir #WV3 shot of #SanFrancisco from @DigitalGlobe is stunning! #remotesensing pic.twitter.com/mE5j6qni95
— Amanda O'Connor (@asoconnor) November 12, 2018
Happy New Year to you all!
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