News Mails - 2007
1. Thai Two-Sister Team performed "Zero-Gravity Flight Experiment" in Japan
2. e-Map for Access to Geographical Data, Brunei
3. The new "Compass" navigation satellite successfully launched and put
into use, China - April 16
4. Satellite Monitoring of Active Volcanoes in East Asia
5. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - May - June 2007]]
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1. Thai Two-Sister Team performed "Zero-Gravity Flight Experiment" in Japan
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In cooperation with NSTDA (National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Thai students participated in the "Zero-Gravity* Flight Experiment Contest"** organized by JAXA.
This was the first challenge for students in the Asia-Pacific region to experience the "Zero-Gravity" flight as an international cooperation project.
A proposal titled "Study of Medical Drug Dispersion under the Microgravity Environment" was finally selected from 7 entries in Thailand by the theme selection committee of NSTDA by two selection steps at the end of December 2006.
The experiment was designed, built and tested by the two-sister team, Apaporn and Sarunporn Boonyarattaphan, from Mahidol University and SaintJohn International School. The first-ever Thai Zero-Gravity Flight Experiment on the JAXA's parabolic flight was successfully conducted from Nagoya Airport in Japan on March 9-10, 2007.
Thai students flied together with Japanese students in University of Tokyo and Gakushuin University. During the flight, their experiment devices operated normally. Thai students cheerfully returned to the airport after the experiment. At present they are investigating the results of the experiment.
Dr. Sawat Tantiphanwadi, Manager of this collaboration in Thailand and Deputy Director of Technology Management Center NSTDA said "Thai experiment was about observing the medical dispersion under micro-gravity conditions. As the astronauts will in the future have to take some medical drugs when they get sick, this experiment will benefit future drug design.
This is the first time that JAXA allowed an experiment on board that was not Japanese. It was a great opportunity for Thai students to gain this valuable experience. We hope that JAXA will continue its support of this parabolic flight program and let some other Asia-Pacific nations gain excess to this useful micro-gravity program."
*Approximately 20 seconds of Zero-gravity (weightlessness) can be made inside an aircraft flying a parabolic maneuver. During one flight, about 10 opportunities to conduct zero-gravity experiments (20 seconds each) are possible.
**JAXA student zero-gravity experiment web-site
http://iss.jaxa.jp/education/parabolic/en/index.html
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2. e-Map for Access to Geographical Data, Brunei
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The Brunei government is embarking on a $9.5 million e-government project for the delivery of the country's National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).
The e-Map project will provide users the means to share geographical data and promote the development of business applications that utilize spatial data, which will produce significant savings for data collection and use and enhance decision-making.
The signing ceremony between the Ministry of Development and Selective Powertech Consulting was held at the Ministry of Development on April 21, 2007.
"The e-Map is a system that will disseminate information related to geographic, survey, land, development, town planning and other information over the Internet. It comprises a group of sub-systems, all of which will access a common set of databases," said the Surveyor General of the Survey Department, Ministry of Development, Hj Mohammed Jamil Hj Mohammed Ali.
He added "Through this infrastructure, Brunei will reduce duplication of effort among agencies, improve quality and reduce costs related to geographic information and make them more accessible to the public."
The project that will also increase data availability is expected to be completed over a 12-month period. The primary contractor for the project is Selective Powertech Consulting of Brunei Darussalam, which has a specialization in ICT consultation and implementation for e-government.
The project team and major subcontractors include geomatics software company, Caris, from Canada, where their regional representative is Maicons Technology Sdn Bhd, from Malaysia and an e-commerce and finance specialist from Brunei Darussalam, Dalplus Technologies.
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3. The new "Compass" navigation satellite successfully launched and put into use, China - April 16
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China successfully launched the new "Compass" navigation satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 4:11 a.m. on April 14, 2007, and has put it into use after the third position in a geostationary earth orbit fixing on April 16, 2007. The satellite is the 5th "Compass" navigation satellite and is part of the country's ambitious "Compass" navigational system, expected to provide services to customers all over China and neighboring countries by 2008. It will be expanded to become a global navigation and positioning network.
The system includes at least 35 satellites, namely five geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) and 30 medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites and will provide clients with positioning accuracy within 10 meters, velocity accuracy with 0.2 meter per second and timing accuracy within 50 nanoseconds.
The satellite and carrier rocket were developed respectively by the China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which are under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The launch represents the 97th flight of China's Long March series of rockets.
This news source (17th April 2007) written by Mr. Mu Xuequan is the following China view Web site
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/17/content_5985469.htm
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4. Satellite Monitoring of Active Volcanoes in East Asia
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The Earthquake Research Institute (ERI) of the University of Tokyo developed a near real-time monitoring system for 147 active volcanoes in East Asia in cooperation with the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) of the University of Tokyo and the University of London.
The system uses visible and infrared images from the US radiometer MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and the Japanese satellite MTSAT (Multi-functional Transport Satellite) sensors. The data form MODIS and MTSAT are immediately uploaded on the web site (http://vrsserv.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/REALVOLC/), which is useful for early detection of volcanic eruptions or changes in volcano activities. Because of this easy access to the volcanic data on the web, the IIS is expecting many volcanologists and other interested parties to use the MODIS and MTSAT data.
Dr. Takayuki Kaneko, Research Associate of ERI of the University of Tokyo, said "MODIS is good for observing a small-scale eruption. MTSAT is good for observing a large-scale eruption. We will continuously research the character of each volcano in detail and we hope to contribute to the volcanic disaster-prevention in Asia."
Full text of the article available at:
APRSAF Hot Topics:
http://www.aprsaf.org/interviews_features/features_2007/feature_07.php
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5. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - May - June 2007]]
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* 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 17-18, 2007
5th Annual Mekong Flood Forum
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
http://www.mrcmekong.org/MRC_news/upcoming_events.htm
*May 21-25, 2007
CEOS SGISS-23 Plenary Meeting & Remote Sensing Workshop
Hanoi Vietnam
http://www.wgiss23.com/
*June 6-8, 2007
Rivers 2007: 2nd International Conference on Managing Rivers in the 21st Century Solutions Towards Sustainable River Basins
Contact: rivers2007@gmail.com
http://rivers07.eng.usm.my/
*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