News Mails - 2007
1. Italian Satellite Launched from India - April 23
2. Haiyang-1B successfully launched, China - April 11
3. 25thAIAA International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC-2007) Seoul, Korea - April 11-13
4. Seminar of Space Technology for National Development, Nepal - April 6
5. Launch of INSAT-4B, India - March 12
6. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - April - June 2007]]
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1. An Italian Satellite Launched from India - April 23, 2007
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Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C8) successfully launched the Italian astronomical satellite at 3:30 on April 23, 2007 from Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, India, into a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg to the equator.
Since 1994, PSLV has successfully launched the eight Indian remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite, a recoverable space capsule and six foreign small satellites. However, PSLV-C8 was the first major commercial launch with committed finance in India. Starting from this PSLV-C8 launch, ISRO is expecting to get into international competition for commercial launch businesses.
This Italian satellite, AGILE, is the 352kg small satellite to study the distant celestial objects by using X-ray and Gamma ray sensors.
Mr. G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO, gave a comment to the APRSAF Newsletters. "PSLV-C8 mission was unique in many respects. In this mission, PSLV was flown, for the first time, without the six strap-on motors of the first stage. Also, for the first time, PSLV launched a satellite into an equatorial circular orbit of 550 km. PSLV-C8 was the first major commercial launch the contract for which was won against stiff international competition."
Dr. Rajeev Lochan, Assistant Scientific Secretary of ISRO, said "This launch becomes very important for us because this opens the door to many more commercial launches in the future. For the coming launches, we've already have few contracts with foreign customers. Low launching cost and large number of launching site, including for small satellites, are the strength of ISRO's launching business. We hope to see more commercial launches in India next few years."
ISRO Website:
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Apr23_2007.htm
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2. The Haiyang-1B successfully launched, China - April 11, 2007
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China successfully launched its second oceanic survey satellite Haiyang-1B (Ocean 1B) from Taiyuan Satellite Launching Center at 11:27 am on April 11, 2007, and it reached the sun synchronous orbit [altitude - 798km; inclination angle - 98.6 deg; repeat time - 7 days] aboard a Long March-2C carrier rocket. This satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASTC).
"The Haiyang-1B has been on its way for Chinese civil service as the second of the oceanic satellite family synchronous with the sun. Data products obtained by the Haiyang-1B mission on ocean color, temperature of ocean surface, ocean contamination and environment of inshore area will be widely used in fields such as development and management of resources, environment monitoring, disaster monitoring and scientific research of oceans." said Mr. Yao Jianting, Deputy Division Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs of China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The satellite was launched on the 96th flight of a Long March carrier rocket, which was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology of the CASTC.
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3. 25th AIAA International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC-2007) Seoul, Korea - April 11-13, 2007
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Under the main theme entitled "Evolution towards a Ubiquitous Network Society" the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the AIAA Japan Forum on Satellite Communications (AIAA-JFSC) organized the conference ICSSC-2007. This conference explored the evolutional directions of advanced satellite technologies as well as the possible means to vitalize satellite markets with new technologies towards a ubiquitous network society.
APRSAF secretariat received a comment from Mr.Inho SEO, the Conference Director of ICSSC 2007. "Over 160 papers were presented at ICSSC 2007. These papers offered an opportunity for in-depth discussion on not only the technical issues but also the economic, marketing, and regulatory issues related to satellite systems. During the conference, the AIAA Aerospace Communications Award was presented as well to Robert Briskman, Co-founder and Technical Executive of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. for his outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace communications and for his pioneering efforts in developing the Satellite Digital Radio Services."
Also Mr. Yoshiaki Suzuki, the Deputy General Chair of the conference and Secretary of AIAA-JFSC said, "This is party because the conference was the first ICSSC held in Korea?during the conference there were many presentations from Korean presenters about the application of the satellite mobile broadcasting, Korea-made satellites, etc and many participants debated eagerly about them."
The next ICSSC 2008 will be held in San Diego on 9-12 June 2008.
ICSSC-2007
http://www.icssc2007.com/
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4. Seminar of Space Technology for National Development, Nepal - April 6, 2007
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The Nepal Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric Society (NRSPS) is a professional organization established in 1991 aiming to benefit human society by promoting applications of remote sensing technology in various activities for national development. On April 6, 2007, NRSPS in association with the Japanese University Student's Association in Nepal (JUSAN) and the Nepal Development and Research Institute (NDRI) organized a one-day seminar on "Space Technology for National Development" in Nepal. Eighty one participants from government, non-government, private and academic organizations participated in the event.
The inauguration session of the seminar began with the welcome speech from Vice President of NRSPS Mr. Ganga B. Tuladhar. The seminar was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Prof. Dr. Hom Nath Bhattarai. In his speech, he stressed that society should propose policies to solve the problems rather than to mention only them and the society should suggest to the government by identifying the national organization to deal with the space technology in Nepal.
The General Secretary of the Asian Association on Remote Sensing (AARS) Prof. Emeritus Shunji Murai delivered a keynote speech on the topic "Advanced Space Technologies." He suggested that the use of Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) data is cost effective for studies on disaster management. He also mentioned that currently he is working on the prediction of earthquakes by analyzing data from continuous observation of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The secretary of NRSPS Dr. Krishna Pahadi offered a vote of thanks during the session. The session was chaired by the president of NRSPS Mr. Rabin K. Sharma and in his closing remarks he mentioned that "Thousand-steps far destinations begins with a step" so although the Society was established 16 years ago, it has just begun the journey to reach its destination.
One of the attractions of the seminar was the exhibition stall of the Survey Department of Nepal where various products of the department were displayed to demonstrate the process of updating topographical base maps using remote sensing techniques.
NRSP Website:
http://www.nrsps.org.np/
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5. Launch of INSAT-4B, India - March 12, 2007
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ISRO's latest communication satellite, INSAT-4B, was successfully launched on March 12, 2007, by the European Ariane-5 ECA launch vehicle of Arianespace. Weighing 3,025 kg at the time of launch, INSAT-4B is the second satellite in the INSAT-4 series. Its identical predecessor, INSAT-4A, was also launched by Ariane-5 in December 2005. With 12 high power Ku-band transponders and 12 C-band transponders, INSAT-4B will further augment the INSAT capacity for Direct-To-Home (DTH) television services and other communication and TV services.
Director of Publications and Public Relations of ISRO Dr. S. Krishnamurthy said, "Today, INSAT has become the largest domestic communication satellite system in the Asia-Pacific region with ten satellites in service -- INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1, GSAT-2, EDUSAT, INSAT-4A and the latest INSAT-4B. Together, the system provides 199 transponders in C-band, extended C-band and Ku-band for a variety of communication services. Some of the INSAT satellites also carry instruments for providing meteorological services. KALPANA-1 is an exclusive meteorological satellite. The success of INSAT-4B will herald a boom in DTH television in the country besides augmenting other communication services."
Full text of the article available at:
APRSAF Hot Topics:
http://www.aprsaf.org/interviews_features/features_2007/feature_06.php
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6. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - April - June 2007]]
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* May 2-6, 2007
GeoHab 2007 - Marine Benthic Habitats of the Pacific and Other Oceans: Status, Use, and Management
Noumea, New Caledonia
http://www.circum-pacificcouncil.org/Circular-RegForm.pdf
* May 5-9, 2007
5th International Conference on Research, Innovation & Vision for the Future (RIVF'07) Information & Communication Technologies
Hanoi, Vietnam
http://www.rivf.org/
* May 14-18, 2007
Spatial Sciences Institute Biennial International Conference
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
http://www.ssc2007.com/
* May 15-18, 2007
5th Taipei International Digital Earth Symposium - TIDES 2007
Taipei, Taiwan
http://deconf.pccu.edu.tw/2007/en-info.htm
*May 21-25, 2007
CEOS SGISS-23 Plenary Meeting & Remote Sensing Workshop
Hanoi Vietnam
http://www.wgiss23.com/
*June 12-13, 2007
Location India 2007, 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Vehicle Tracking, Location Intelligence and Surveying
Bangalore, India
http://www.location.net.in/india/index.htm
*June 12-15, 2007
13th PCGIAP Annual Meeting
Seoul, Korea
*June 14-16, 2007
RAST 2007 3rd International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies
Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.rast.org.tr/
*June 20-27, 2007
Geoinformation Forum Japan 2007
Yokohama, Japan
http://www.jsurvey.jp/eng-geoforum2006.htm
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Copyright 2007 The APRSAF Secretariat
APRSAF Secretariat