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Satellite Imagery Analysis Ready For Business

Imagery intelligence is becoming more available to the public, as services such as Allsource Analysis gained attention in the news. In October 2014, the Longmont, Colorado, company wrote a comprehensive summary in which it identified a new kind of North Korean submarine in port during its monitoring of North Korean political prisoner camps.

The Train Network

Trains are using satellite technology—such as position, navigation, and timing (PNT) receivers and communications—to provide a train’s precise position to the people who manage European railway systems. While a train’s movements and schedule might be generally well-known, the PNT reporting will allow for a train’s precise position to be reported to a rail traffic control center, using a combination of 3G/4G data and satellite-based broadband services.

Virtual Eyes Provided Through Imagery, Radar, and Geolocation

Some products tie together multiple space-based technologies, combining them for use in the aviation industry. Hardware and software products, such as 3D-Pilot developed by avionTek, are designed to give pilots situational awareness while flying and landing in low visibility conditions and bad weather.

Ridesharing’s Dependence on Satellite Geolocation

Ride-sharing services are an increasingly popular form of urban transportation that depends on geolocation services provided by satellites. Companies such as Uber and Lyft offer smartphone applications that allow a prospective rider to use the smartphone’s satellite navigation chip to identify the location at which the rider wishes to be picked up.

Lessons Learned During Satellite-building Helps Detect Fraud

Satellite simulation software and banking fraud prevention software—one became more robust and accurate thanks to the experience garnered from the other. Feedzai is a company that took its expertise in developing ESA satellite mission simulation software for space and applied it to the detection of fraudulent activities on Earth. The particular satellite mission software created by Feedzai’s founders simulates a complex “software universe” that was originally developed as a solution to train operators on satellites and systems while in development.

Lawyers use Space Assets to Enforce the Law

As space activities and businesses using space assets grow, entrepreneurs are sensing opportunities in a growing space market. Mixing terrestrial legal expertise with Earth observation technologies, some lawyers are beginning to understand the benefits of space assets in cases that might have otherwise been difficult to win. Legal companies such as Air & Space Evidence are offering specialized space-centric services to clients who might need them. The company uses satellite imagery as part of its toolkit to combat fraud, find and monitor illegal activities, verify environmental claims, and conduct other activities.

Satellite Radar Helps UK police in critical searches

Whether using multispectral imagery from satellite imagery providers such as DigitalGlobe, or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) products from satellites such as the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) TerraSAR-X, law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom and other countries are learning how crime-related investigations can benefit from satellite assistance. The constabulary is using SAR and imagery to reduce costs and time associated with conducting searches for hidden graves in urban locations.

Crowdsourcing the Search for a Missing Jet With Satellite Imagery

There are other ways to become even more involved with space activities. Satellite imagery companies are offering opportunities for people to provide imagery analysis. Crowdsourcing has become a key approach and has resulted in websites such as DigitalGlobe’s Tomnod.[

Conversations of Space Robots and Explorers in Social Media

Social media and space agency public relations worked together to bring awareness of space program activities by endowing personality to robots flying through space. “Namaste, @MarsOrbiter!” displayed a playful tenor in one of the first friendly greetings given to India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) satellite from NASA’s ground-hugging Mars Curiosity rover.

Understanding Droughts and Floods through GRACE

Water—either too much or not enough of it—can pose very different challenges to residents of certain regions in the world. There are satellites that measure the amount of water within the soil of the region and give a better idea if the observed ground is prime for flooding or drought.