News Mails - 2014

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ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL SPACE AGENCY FORUM (APRSAF)
News Mail No. 116 Mar/31/2014
http://www.aprsaf.org/
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- * CONTENTS

• 1. News on APRSAF: APRSAF Newsletter No. 17 published
• 2. News on APRSAF: Interviews with APRSAF Community members
• 3. GPM core observatory successfully launched
• 4. ANGKASA appoints new Director General
• 5. Interoperability WG on Satellite Based Augmentation Systems held in India
• 6. Event Calendar

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* 1. News on APRSAF: APRSAF Newsletter No. 17 published
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APRSAF Newsletter No. 17, featuring the result of APRSAF-20 that was held last December in Hanoi, has been published and is now available at the following website:
http://www.aprsaf.org/newsmails_newsletters/letters.php

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* 2. News on APRSAF: Interviews with APRSAF Community members
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At APRSAF-20 held last December in Hanoi, the APRSAF Secretariat conducted interviews with the key players of APRSAF activities. The interviewees are listed below, and articles featuring the interviews are available at the following website:
http://www.aprsaf.org/interviews_features/interviews_2014/

<Interviewees> (in alphabetical order)

• - Dr. Chharom Chin, Deputy Director, Urban Planning and Construction, Ministry of Land Management, Cambodia
• - Mr. Nguyen Vu Giang, Assistant Manager, Department of Remote Sensing Technology, GIS & GPS, STI, VAST, Vietnam
• - Dr. Jin Teong Ong, Director, Research and Technology, C2N Pte., Ltd., Singapore
• - Prof. Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abdul Rahman, Head, Enzyme and Microbial Technology Research Centre, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia
• - Dr. Suvit Vibulsresth, Former Executive Director, GISTDA, Thailand

The APRSAF Secretariat also talked with Professor Hiroaki Akiyama of Wakayama University, Japan, about his capacity-building activities in the Asia-Pacific Region. His counterparts from Vietnam (Prof. Pham Anh Tuan, VNSC) also provided his comment.
http://www.aprsaf.org/interviews_features/interviews_2014/interviews05.php

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* 3. GPM core observatory successfully launched
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On February 27, 2014 (GMT), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory was launched by a JAXA H-IIA launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The first images from the satellite were released on March 25, 2014.

The GPM program is a joint mission between JAXA and NASA, consisting of a core satellite and a constellation of other satellites to observe global rainfall several times a day. The GPM Core Observatory is carrying a GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) developed by the US and Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) developed by Japan. The GPM program is designed to render a more accurate observation of global precipitation, which will lead to improvements in weather forecasting as well as contribute to the earth sciences, such as the study of climate and water cycle variations.

References:
JAXA Press Release:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2014/02/20140228_h2af23_e.html
NASA News Release:
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/february/nasa-and-jaxa-launch-new-satellite-to-measure-global-rain-and-snow/#.UxBHx-N_saA
First images:
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/march/first-images-available-from-nasa-jaxa-global-rain-and-snowfall-satellite/#.UzIqVl5hTKg

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* 4. ANGKASA appoints new Director General
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On February 26, 2014, the National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA) announced that Dr. Noordin Ahmad had taken up the post of Director General effective February 12, 2014, succeeding Dr. Mustafa Din Subari, who had retired from the post on September 13, 2013.

Reference:
ANGKASA News (in Malay)
http://www.angkasa.gov.my/?q=en/node/788

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* 5. Interoperability WG on Satellite Based Augmentation Systems held in India
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The 26th Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) Interoperability Working Group (IWG) was held in New Delhi, India from February 5 to 7, 2014.

The IWG, at the 25th meeting held in June 2013 in Russia, agreed to adopt a SBAS message standard based on dual-frequency multi-constellation signals when using four navigation systems, including GPS (US), Galileo (Europe), COMPASS (China), and Glonass (Russia). After the 25th meeting, two options for the standard were studied, one by ESA with the European industry and the other by the US Federal Aviation Administration and Stanford University. At the 26th meeting, a proposal to use the L5 band (1176.45 MHz) as a standard message was submitted by both the sides. The proposal will be formally reviewed for a final conclusion at the 27th meeting in September 2014 in the US.

Meanwhile, with the current operation of three SBAS, namely, EGNOS (Europe), WAAS (US), and MSAS (Japan), India is about to start the operation of its GAGAN and has formally begun providing its navigation services to civil aircrafts in February 2014.

References:
ESA Navigation
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo_to_augment_systems_guiding_aircraft_in_2020
ISRO Press Release
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/scripts/pressreleasein.aspx?Jan03_2014

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* 6. Event Calendar
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- Cosmological Quests for the Next Decade
(16-18 April 2014, Daejeon, Korea)
http://cosmology.kasi.re.kr/conf2014/home.html

- 9th SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium
(13-17 Oct 2014, Beijing, China)
http://spie.org/asia-pacific-remote-sensing.xml

The 35th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS)
(27-31 Oct 2014, Nay Pyl Taw, Myanmar)
http://www.acrs2014.com/

- GIS/RS User Conference 2014
(24-28 Nov 2014, Suva, Fiji)
http://picgisrs.appspot.com/

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Copyright 2014 The APRSAF Secretariat

APRSAF News Mails are distributed to update the readers on recent developments in space-related activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

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We welcome your updates on space-related activities and also your comments and suggestions to the APRSAF secretariat.

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APRSAF Secretariat
c/o Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
ochanomizu sola city, 4-6 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-8008 Japan
Tel: +81-50-3362-5880 / Fax: +81-3-5209-3208
E-mail: secretariataprsaf.org
Web: http://www.aprsaf.org
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