Earth observation

The European Union's (EU) Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defence technology initiative announced on 12 November 2019 its decision to cooperatively develop several military space projects designed to enhance the defence and security of EU member states.

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has signed an agreement with Republic of the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) to provide a share of the tasking and data acquisition services from NovaSAR-1, the innovative small S-Band radar satellite launched into a 580km sun synchronous orbit in September 2018.

Six New Zealand research projects have received NZ$500,000 each to fund the development of innovative space technologies including satellite control systems and ocean and coastal monitoring satellites.

On Monday, 11 November 2019 at 9:56 a.m. EST, 14:56 UTC, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP), the global community steward for Earth science data professionals, has announced Operational Readiness Levels (ORLs) to make Earth science data more trusted and to improve data-driven decision-making during disaster response and recovery.

On 6 November 2019, on the occasion of President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the People’s Republic of China, Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Zhang Kejian, Administrator of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), signed in the presence of Presidents Macron and Xi Jinping a joint statement covering two fields of investigation.

ICEYE, the global leader in small satellite synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with RS Metrics to jointly offer to the commodities market the world’s first global SAR-based iron ore inventories dataset with up to daily updates.

The New Zealand Government announced on 7 November 2019 it would contribute NZ$26 million towards MethaneSAT, a state-of-the-art satellite designed to detect global methane emissions with unprecedented accuracy.

Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall was at the 4th Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) symposium that is taking place in Herzliya, Israel, from Monday 4 to Friday 8 November 2019 on the theme of “Small Satellites for Sustainable Science and Development."

Satellites now play a key role in monitoring carbon levels in the oceans, but we are only just beginning to understand their full potential.