Category Archives: Eyes in the Sky

Eyes in the Sky, Space Systems

100 examples of earth observation apps + Imaging all of earth every day

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Satellite observation of earth has become an essential tool for monitoring and studying what is happening on our planet on the short and long term. Here is a good sampling of the amazing diversity of applications and benefits of earth observation satellites: 100 Earth Shattering Remote Sensing Applications & Uses – GIS Geography.

A sampling from the list:

5. Predicting retail earnings and market share by counting cars in parking lots

9. Searching for aircrafts and saving lives after fatal crashes

10. Detecting oil spills for marine life and environmental preservation

19. Extracting mineral deposits with hyperspectral remote sensing

38. Keeping tabs on the shift from rural to urban growth

59. Monitoring active volcanoes using thermal remote sensing 

69. Understanding the human rights situation in North Korea 

89. Improving efficiency and safety of air traffic control

BTW, on Wednesday the Indian space agency ISRO plans to launch a PSLV rocket to send 104 satellites into polar orbit.

The payload consists of one large Indian earth observation (EO) satellite – Cartosat -2 – and 103 smallsats, including 88 Doves for the earth observation company Planet, which will expand its constellation of small and large EO satellites to over 140. Once it has its full constellation in orbit, Planet will produce a complete image of the entire earth every day.

These videos give an overview of Planet’s plans and capabilities:

Planet has also had many Doves injected into lower inclination orbits via deployment from the International Space Station. This video shows a sampling of such deployments, which are arranged by the company NanoRacks;

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Eyes in the Sky, Multiple media

Video: The Earth in 4K – Extended Edition

Here’s some beautiful 4K imagery of earth to stream onto that 4K TV you got for Christmas but can’t find any material that shows off its capabilities:

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Eyes in the Sky, Space Science, Space Systems

Blue jets and red sprites observed from the ISS

Blue and red lightning bolts shooting upwards from high altitude clouds have been observed from the International Space Station and recorded on video: Blue jets studied from Space Station – ESA

Screen capture from video of blue jet of lightning as seen from the ISS.

For years, their existence has been debated: elusive electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere that sport names such as red sprites, blue jets, pixies and elves. Reported by pilots, they are difficult to study as they occur above thunderstorms.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen during his mission on the International Space Station in 2015 was asked to take pictures over thunderstorms with the most sensitive camera on the orbiting outpost to look for these brief features.

Denmark’s National Space Institute has now published the results, confirming many kilometre-wide blue flashes around 18 km altitude, including a pulsating blue jet reaching 40 km. A video recorded by Andreas as he flew over the Bay of Bengal at 28 800 km/h on the Station shows the electrical phenomena clearly – a first of its kind.

The Station’s low orbit makes it an ideal platform from which to observe and study these unusual electrical atmospheric phenomena. In the video below,

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen explains the phenomena he filmed over India from the International Space Station’s Cupola observatory in September 2015 during his postflight tour at ESA’s technical heart ESTEC in The Netherlands.

The film shows lightning illuminating clouds and recently discovered phenomena called blue jets and Red Sprites.

As part of his 10-day mission Andreas performed an experiment called Thor after the god of thunder, lightning and storms in Nordic mythology. Initiated by the Technical University of Denmark, Thor had Andreas test a new thundercloud imaging system that looks at the electrification of lighting.

Researchers are particularly interested in newly-discovered lights that occur in the upper atmosphere during thunderstorms called red sprites, blue jets and elves. Sprites last 20 milliseconds at most, and to capture them on camera is a real challenge. They received their name because of their elusive nature. Blue jets are found up to 50 km altitude with Red Sprites occurring between 60-80 km altitude.

Andreas received the coordinates of a few possible thunderstorms together with the times and instructions on which lens, filter and camera settings to use.

Some of the most violent electric discharges are very difficult to capture from the ground because the atmosphere blocks radiation. Apart from covering all the main thunderstorm regions, the International Space Station brings scientists as close as possible to the electric phenomena. Its great vantage point has the lowest orbit available for observation at around 400 km altitude – imaging satellites mostly operate at 800 km.

Read more about Andreas’s iriss mission: http://www.esa.int/iriss

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Contests and Games, Eyes in the Sky, Space participation

Video: Children’s space art displayed in orbit by Peggy Whitson

While floating in the ISS Cupola module with the earth seen passing by in the windows behind her, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson shows off some of the art submitted by children ( 4 to 12 years old) to the Commercial Crew 2017 Calendar Contest –

Eyes in the Sky, Software

Google app “Land Lines” finds earth images to match a stroke of your finger

Check out this cool Google experimental app called Land Lines. Just draw a short curvy line and it will instantly find a satellite image of a spot on the earth with a linear feature that matches your line: Land Lines is an addicting game from Google that turns scribbles into satellite images | WIRED.

This video illustrates how it works: