Space Products & Innovation
Energy, Resources, and Environmental Management
Oil and Gas Facilities Made Safer
Technology designed to enable the operation of space systems also has applications on Earth. A French-Dutch company, EATOPS, has developed a software tool called Remote Intuitive Visual Operations, which is based on ESA satellite control and operations software.
Orwellian Bear Country
The near-real-time monitoring capabilities of satellites also enable applications for tracking animal populations and their interactions with human communities. In Florida, a project sponsored by the Nature Conservancy fuses GPS and cell phone technology to track a regional population of black bears.
Studying Climate and Weather From Space
A new spacecraft launched in 2009 is helping scientists to understand how Earth’s climate and weather systems work. The European Space Agency launched the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Earth Explorer satellite in November 2009.
Why Is the Grass Greener In the Neighbor’s Yard? Landsat Might Have the Answer
In the United States, the state government of Idaho uses a water-use mapping system based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat satellites. The system can identify the amount of water being used in individual fields and supports decisions to enable more sustainable water consumption practices.
Measuring Groundwater Levels Through Gravity
Satellites provide a way to take repeated measurements over time, enabling the tracking of changes in resource levels. In 2009, authorities in India partnered with NASA to study water use in northwest India, ultimately finding that prevailing practices were unsustainable.
Water Management With TIGER
Satellite-enabled measurement is becoming increasingly important in water resources management. Since 2002, ESA’s TIGER Initiative has supported projects in Africa that leverage remote sensing satellite technology to better manage increasingly scarce water resources.
Can’t See the Trees, For the Forest No Longer Exists
In December 2009, Google unveiled software that allows users to monitor deforestation online. The software extracts information from decades of satellite images and provides access to raw satellite imagery as well as analytical data such as locations and the measurements of deforestation.
International Partnership Releases Global Terrain Map
Remote sensing satellites, operated by governments and private companies, provide a wide-perspective view of Earth that enables applications at local and regional levels in the energy, resources, and environmental management sectors.
Locating Oil Well Locations Using Gravity
In support of the oil and gas industry, a U.K.-based company has used technology from an ESA gravity mission to develop a gravity strength sensor, or gravity gradiometer, to help find the most appropriate locations for drilling and to plan further exploration.
Earth Observation Assets Documenting Changes in the Gulf of Mexico
In 2008, NASA presented new efforts to use remote sensing data to improve the Gulf of Mexico coastal environment. NASA is working with the Gulf Coast Alliance, a partnership of the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, using seven NASA and internationally controlled Earth-observing satellites with direct coastal coverage.