15.12.2005 - DMC well represented at the 11th Conference on 'Control with Remote Sensing (CwRs) of area-based subsidies'

DMC was well represented at the 11th Conference on 'Control with Remote Sensing (CwRs) of area-based subsidies' hosted by ARMA in Kraków on 23th - 25th November 2005.

CwRs is one of Europe's biggest remote sensing programmes and the annual conference is organised by the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the IPSC AGRIFISH Unit.

Presentations included :

An introduction to the DMC by David Hodgson (DMCII)

Robert Stein's (EFTAS) assesment of 'The use of DMC data in the CwRs Programme - accuracy and spectral capabilities' (6.68mb pdf)

Lars-Åke Edgardh's (Spacemetric) 'MONITOR – an integrated EO monitoring service' (2.34mb pdf) that utilises DMC data for forest clearcut monitoring.

15.11.2005 - DMC Joins worlds space agencies in International Charter: Space and Major Disasters

Lord Sainsbury, The UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, today announced that the satellites of the UK built Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) had officially joined the worlds major space agencies in adhering to the “International Charter: Space and Major Disasters”. The speech was made to international government representatives attending the 19th Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) plenary in London.

The DMC is an international collaboration of member nations (Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey and the UK) to provide rapid response disaster imagery from space. Later at a ceremony presided over by Dr Colin Hicks, Director General of the British National Space Centre, the DMC nations were welcomed into the ‘Charter’ by Dr Volker Liebig of the European Space Agency (ESA). Within the Charter each nation is also authorised to receive valuable satellite imagery from the world’s earth observation satellites in time of crisis for national disaster management.

Coordination of the DMC is undertaken by DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) who will also provide a specialised 24-hour emergency satellite planning service to task the Charter satellite fleet as Emergency On-Call Officers. In joining the Charter recognition is given to the services that the DMC has been providing by supplying broad daily image coverage during disasters such as hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami. DMC has also supplied data in non-natural disasters for mapping applications such as to the UN for Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp placement in Darfur, Sudan.

More information can be found here on the ESA website

18.09.2005 - DMCII Hosts the World's Space Agencies for Global Disaster Observation Training

DMCII successfully hosted training for the US Geological Survey (USGS) and DMCII in satellite planning for disaster management at its headquarters in Guildford, Surrey. Both organisations will provide Emergency on Call Officer (ECO) services to the "International Charter: Space & Major Disasters". The "Charter" is a global effort by national space agencies and affiliated organisations to use Earth Observation (EO) satellites for disaster management.
The ECO is responsible for tasking all the EO Satellites available to the Charter during a disaster such as Fire, Flooding & Tsunami. Attendees at the training represented the major international space agencies including the European Space Agency (ESA), Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

It is currently planned that DMCII undertake final ECO qualification testing in November 2005, and upon completion become responsible for planning and tasking a global interagency satellite fleet that includes:

LANDSAT 5/7, SPOT 4/5, RADARSAT-1, ENVISAT, RESOURCESAT-1, SAC-C, NigeriaSat-1, ALSAT-1, BILSAT and UK-DMC.

The DMC satellite constellation is to be represented within the Charter by British National Space Centre and DMCII on behalf of the DMC Consortium members:

• Centre National des Techniques Spatiales (CNTS), Algeria
• National Remote Sensing Centre, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), China
• National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Nigeria
• TUBITAK BILTEN, Turkey
• Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, UK

DMC gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) for its duties within the Charter.

06.09.2005 - Disaster Monitoring Constellation responds to New Orleans disaster

The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) was activated by a request from the International Charter to acquire images of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the region.
The first DMC image of the area was acquired by NigeriaSat-1 on Friday 2nd September 2005 and this was processed and delivered to the United States Geological Survey. The image covers an area of 400km wide by 220 km, showing the Mississippi Delta and New Orleans as well as coastal regions eastwards to Gulfport, Biloxi and beyond.
The wide area coverage of the DMC combined with its high resolution capabilities mean that a large affected area can be surveyed in a single scene. Very high-resolution satellites or aerial surveys can then focus on specific areas of damage that need more detailed mapping.

Please see our Disasters page for more images.

22.07.2005 - DMCII to host training for International Charter: Emergency On Call Officers (ECO)

In September 2005, DMCII will host 3 days of training for the International Charter: Emergency On Call Officers (ECO) at the facilities of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) on the University of Surrey Campus. Attendees are expected to include representatives from USGS, NOAA, JAXA, ESA, CONAE, CSA, CNES & ISRO.

The ECOs are satellite operations experts on 24hr call who, in the event of a charter activation, help determine and task the space assets (Satellites) available to the Charter for a given crisis.
In conjunction with the British National Space Centre (BNSC) the DMC Consortium is working towards integration with the 'International Charter: Space and Major Disasters' by the end of 2005. DMCII will present its 'Integration Plan' during the training event.

20.07.2005 - DMCII participating in the Disaster Prediction, Detection and Recovery: Communications, Technology, Systems and Planning Conference

DMCII will be participating in this IEE event on the 15th of September, which is designed to give an overview of developments in areas of technology that relate to Disaster Prediction, Detection & Recovery.
The need for areas such as modelling, sensor, communication systems, network infrastructure and disaster recovery have become of paramount importance to global and regional governments and business alike.

Full details of the event are here

06.06.2005 - Global Earth Observation Guide features DMC

The DMC features alongside other Earth Observation (EO) systems in the recently published Athena Global Earth Observation Guide.

The guide, described as "A decision-maker's guide to the use of satellites for environment, resources, disasters and security" is an informative review of global EO in the key areas of environment, resources, disasters and security.

06.06.2005 - 7th DMC Consortium meeting in Algiers prepares for membership of International Charter

The 7th DMC Consortium Meeting was successfully hosted by the National Centre of Space Techniques in Algiers in May 2005 (24th-25th). The meeting was attended by delegates from all DMC member nations (Algiers, China, Nigeria, Turkey, UK) and formally opened opened by Dr Oussedik, Director of the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) and Mr Zerhouni President of ASAL. A busy agenda of policy and operational matters included:

• Upcoming membership of the International Charter: "Space & Major Disasters"
• Review of DMC Asian Tsunami response
• Commercial activities
• DMC satellite operations and data quality
• Summer 2005 radiometric calibration campaign planning (Railroad Valley, Nevada)
• Launch and commissioning of the China DMC+4 satellite (August 2005)

Sir Martin Sweeting, DMCII CEO, said that "The 7th meeting of the DMC consortium demonstrated the continued benefits of international cooperation in space as realised through the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. The DMC members continue to develop and improve upon this unique application of space technology for humanitarian and commercial needs".

07.03.2005 - Results from the Announcement of Opportunity for applications of DMC imagery

In January 2005 a panel of experts including representatives from NERC, BNSC and DMCII selected successful proposals from submissions received in response to the "Applications of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation" announcement of opportunity. Interest was high and DMCII would like to thank all respondents for the high quality of submissions. A full list of the successful projects that will receive support and free data from DMCII during 2005 can be found here. DMCII also wishes to thank and acknowledge the support of NERC and the BNSC.

04.01.2005 - Indonesian Earthquake imagery

UK-DMC has demonstrated its daily imaging capability by its coverage of the recent disaster in Indonesia. Full details can be found here on the disasters page.