News
Spot Image Corporation CEO Featured in GIF
09/03/2010
In the February 2010 issue of Geospatial Intelligence Forum, Spot Image Corporation's CEO, Antoine de Chassy, was featured in the Industry Interview section.Antoine discussed the latest news on Pleiades, Spot's continuity plan, and our exciting new SPOTMonitoring service.
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SPOT 5 Satellite Captures the Birth of a Giant Iceberg
08/03/2010
The tongue of the Mertz Glacier, 100 km from Adélie Land, broke away from the Antarctic continent some time between February 12 and 13.The ice tongue was already beginning to crack before it calved. Alerted by the LEGOS space geophysics and oceanography research laboratory, based in France, Spot Image, an EADS-Atrium subsidiary, tasked the SPOT 5 satellite to capture the event.
The satellite image acquired on February 25 confirms the calving of a giant iceberg 70 km long and 50 km across drifting north-westward. These two images will enable the scientific community to study the local impacts of this event and learn more about ice melt and sea level rise.
Spot Image was involved in a number of research programs for the 4th International Polar Year (IPY), developing SPIRIT DEM products specifically for glaciology applications.
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3D Flyover of the Toquepala Copper Mine, Peru
07/03/2010
This 3D flyover was generated by combining a Reference3D digital elevation model and a 1-meter KOMPSAT-2 orthoimage of the Toquepala copper mine in Peru.The resulting image gives a good idea of the scale of this vast open-cast mine, 2.5 km across and 700 m deep. The mine began operating in 1960. Spoil dumps of material mined from the pit are arranged in tiers on the arid slopes of the Andes in southern Peru. The mine is linked by rail to the port of Ilo on the Pacific coast.
A 3D and optical database integrated into a GIS helps to optimize management of industrial and mining facilities, as well as aiding risk prevention.
Satellite imagery is used by surface and underground mining operators for:
- Exploration: to identify minerals ahead of geophysical surveying
- Operations: to monitor earthworks, stocks, mine waste and overburden
- Risk prevention: for slope and subsidence studies
- Pollution control: to avert surface and groundwater pollution
- Regulatory compliance: for filing of administrative returns
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Hurricane Xynthia: SPOT 4 Shows the Flooding on the Vendée Coast
05/03/2010
Hurricane Xynthia swept across several European countries between February 26 and March 1, 2010.The combination of gale force winds and high tides led to a storm surge that caused extensive flooding in the Charente-Maritime and Vendée.
The flood destroyed many sea walls in the Vendée.
The SPOT 4 satellite acquired an image on March 2nd that reflects the extent of the flooding on the coast and the island of Ré.
Spot Image is regularly called upon to task its constellation of satellites for the management of crises related to natural or technological disasters.
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Earthquake in Chile: F2 Captures Images Hours After First Tremor
02/03/2010
An earthquake of magnitude 8.8 on the Richter scale shook Chile on February 27, 2010. The epicenter was 99 km southwest of the city of Talca.
Concepción, the country’s second largest city 111 km from the epicenter, and the capital Santiago 325 km away sustained serious damage. The quake also triggered a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean.
Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO) decided to task its FORMOSAT-2 satellite to cover the area as soon as news of the disaster broke.
The first images were acquired hours after the first tremor and made available to the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. Image of Santiago was acquired on February 28, 2010.
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Pleiades Episode 4 Now Available
02/02/2010
Pléiades Ground Segment Qualification at Spot ImageTechnical qualification
Integration of the ground segment at Spot Image began in October 2008.
The main civil receiving station for the Pléiades system houses a receiving antenna and extensive computing equipment.
This station, which supports data reception, satellite tasking and imaging, will undergo technical qualification tests in February 2010.
Acceptance testing of the second civil receiving station in Kiruna, Sweden, will be signed off in March.
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Spot Provides Immediate Response to Haiti Earthquake
15/01/2010
Hours after the devastating January 12 earthquake struck Haiti, Spot Image personnel were in nearly constant communications with key customers and other organizations that needed access to imagery to assist in disaster response efforts. SPOT 5 captured its first image of Port-au-Prince on Jan. 14 and several more over the surrounding parts of Haiti in subsequent days.“Our job was to acquire data and distribute it as quickly as possible to multiple organizations,” said Brian Cutler, Program Director.
The first order of business was to schedule acquisitions over Haiti that could be downloaded directly to our U.S.-based ground receiving stations. Onsite processing enabled these stations to send the imagery to U.S. military teams spearheading relief efforts and to the U.S. Geological Survey where an imagery web portal was established.
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How Satellites are Being Used in Haiti
14/01/2010
By Jonathan AmosCourtesy of BBC
The events in Haiti this week have been truly shocking.
As I wrote on Wednesday, if there was one country in the world that really didn't need this kind of catastrophe then the Caribbean nation was it.
Its infrastructure is wobbly at the best of times and watching the photographs and video from Port-au-Prince has been heart-wrenching.
I spent Thursday morning with the director general of the European Space Agency to talk about the eye-catching events coming up in 2010, but it was no surprise when he wanted to mention first the events in Haiti.
Natural disasters are the occasion when that fleet of metal boxes orbiting hundreds of kilometres above our heads really come into their own.
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