Weighing 180 kg and with a 2.5 m resolution, Malaysia’s second remotesensing satellite shall provide images every 100 minutes. The RazakSAT is expected to be launched into space by the middle of this year. The satellite was jointly developed by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd and Satellite Technology Research Center Initiative Co Ltd, South Korea. The cost of the RazakSAT programme is RM60 million. http://www.nst.com.my/

Scientists from the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) are conducting the first ever ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey in Bihar's in Nalanda district to trace the location of the buried ancient structures. According to officials of the Archaeological Survey of India, Patna circle, NRSA team comprise of five-member team of scientists for the work. www.earthtimes. org/articles/show/162036.html

More than 10 000 tons of oil from the tanker is reported to have leaked into the sea since colliding with another vessel on 7 December in the southwest of Seoul. The image was acquired on December 11, 2007 at 01:40 UTC by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) aboard ESA’s Envisat.

The presence of oil on the sea surface damps down smaller wind generated waves that reflect the radar signal back in the direction of the source. When they are damped, the reflected power measured by the radar is reduced, causing oil slicks to be seen as dark areas on an otherwise brighter sea. www.esa.int

Dr Prithvish Nag, Director, The National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation was given the National Geospatial Award for Excellence 2006 in recognition of his outstanding life time contributions for introducing digital age – geospatial technologies and providing institutional leadership in the mapping organisations in the country. The award was given at National Conference on High Resolution Remote Sensing & Thematic Applications, Kolkata during 18-20 December 2007.