IMAGERY IN YOUR WORLD
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Remote Sensing for Search, Prediction, and Fun

A Second Satellite for Taiwan 
Taiwan's second satellite, ROCSAT-2, successfully reached orbit in late May. The 724-kilogram, hexagonal-shaped orbiter was co-developed with the French satellite manufacturer Astrium and others, and carries a sensor capable of capturing 2-meter resolution imagery. ROCSAT's final orbiting altitude will be 891 kilometers. U.S. contractor Orbital Sciences Corp. was responsible for the launch vehicle, a 35-meter Taurus XI rocket. Authorities were pleased with the company's work and expect Orbital to provide the rocket carrier for Taiwan's next satellite, ROCSAT-3, scheduled for launch in late 2005. Taiwan's first satellite, 295-kilogram ROCSAT-1, was launched in January 1999. Despite a four-year life-expectancy, ROCSAT-1 is still operational.

Washington, D.C. Losing Its Green
A new study reports that between 1986 and 2000 the area around the United States capitol of Washington, D.C. lost twice as much green space as it did in its entire prior history. A study from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the National Park Service concludes that 28 to 43 square miles of green space in the region vanish each day. It turns into parking lots, strip malls, developments, and other man-made features. The Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project, as the study is known, used satellite imagery to map a 3,000-square-mile area around the District of Columbia. The authors compared aerial images dating back to 1986 with more recent data. One of the findings of the study is that development tends to occur in small clumps making larger areas of green space scarce. Larger areas are required for healthy animal populations and native plant species.

Satellite Imagery and DVDs 
Step into Liquid was a not so well-received theatrically released documentary film from last year. This year it debuts on DVD, bringing its coverage of surfing the big waves to the small screen. The film was made without stuntmen in some of the more exotic surfing locations around the world. One of the DVD extras is Activision's Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer video game which puts the player into the action riding the waves. Another goody is from Keyhole, the company that brought 3D Iraqi geography into living rooms on the evening news. This time the company's geospatial databases provide users the chance to virtually visit the great surfing destination from the film. The DVD includes a free seven-day Web trial of the company's imagery from around the globe.

Satellite Imagery Book
Gregory Dicum's book, Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air, has received positive reviews. The book features 70 images and tips on picking out features while traveling via air across the United States and Canada.

Distinguished Satellite Imagery User 
Oceanographer Dudley Chelton, Jr. was named a distinguished professor at Oregon State University (OSU), the highest honor awarded. Chelton uses satellite imagery to analyze the oceans and helped the university land the new Cooperative Institute for Oceanographic Satellite Science, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Chelton helped revolutionize the study of oceans through the use of satellite data and he is a principal architect of the U.S. microwave ocean observing satellite constellation. His studies focus primarily on air-sea interactions and his models and multi-satellite assessment techniques are widely used by scientists throughout the world. Chelton also designed and helped implement an exhibit on satellites and El Niño for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry which has been duplicated for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Museum of Science and Industry. Chelton, who has been on the OSU faculty since 1983, has won the Patullo Award for Excellence in Teaching and the NASA Public Service Medal.

Man Sees Noah's Ark in Satellite Imagery
Daniel McGivern, a businessman and Christian activist, hopes to look for Noah's Ark this summer. After several attempts to capture images of Mt. Ararat in Turkey via satellite, he was finally successful. DigitalGlobe provided him with imagery he says shows an 80% likelihood of a man-made object in an appropriate location on the mountain. Warmer than normal temperatures have caused melting of the snowcap and may have revealed something that's not been visible in the past. McGivern plans to mount an expedition to the area between July 15 and August 15 at a cost of $900,000.

Satellites Help Predict Malaria 
Dr. Ron Welch, a scientist with NASA's Global Hydrology and Climate Center at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Alabama is leading a project to identify the conditions that lead to the breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. "What we are trying to do is develop an early warning system for malaria, although it can be used for other diseases. We are going to start with the malaria," he reports. Scientists have a good sense of the exact combination of environmental factors that allow breeding. They now hope to pinpoint areas with those factors using ground-based sensors for temperature, humidity, and soil conditions, along with satellite imagery. High resolution commercial imagery allows researchers to identify standing water near major population centers. The goal is a warning system that will allow early, limited area spraying some weeks or even a month before breeding might occur. Early work on the model was done in Guatemala but now interest is focused on southern India, one of the areas most susceptible to malaria in the world.

Washing Machine Shaped Satellite? 
Proba, an acronym for Project for On Board Autonomy, is a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite that has been described as looking like a washing machine. It captures 14-km square images to 18-meter resolution via the Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) and black and white 25-km square images to a resolution of five meters via a High-Resolution Camera (HRC). The satellite or micro-satellite, as it's called, was launched in October 2001 as a demo but worked well enough to serve scientists' needs. It's outlived its one-year expected life span and has a companion under development. Proba-2 is due to be deployed by ESA around 2005.

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