Iran has successfully recently launched a sub-orbital rocket called Safir (Envoy). The payload that was launched by Safir sent real-time data back to earth from about 250 km. Next, a satellite called Omid (Hope) will be placed in a near-polar orbit satellite, at an altitude of 650 km and will pass over Iran six times every 24 hours.

Geoscience Australia has decided on a Landsat replacement by sourcing data from Resourcesat-1, which is owned and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation. Officials of Ministry of Resources and Energy say “The US Landsat satellites are not in the best of health; this new source will ensure we can continue to do our business in the unfortunate event that they fail. Resourcesat-1 images shall be similar to Landsat, but with the advantage of more frequent coverage.”

The Municipal Corporation of Vijayawada shall carry out satellite mapping of the city through an agency in Hyderabad using the pictures provided by the National Remote Sensing Agency. It will help the civic officials to identify the illegal structures. www.newindpress.com/

A space-based international Earth observation network to detect and
monitor natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region has been formed with a substantial contribution from Australian science. Called Sentinel Asia, the network of information-delivery websites has its roots in the Australian bushfire tracking system, Sentinel Hotspots, which was developed in 2002 by CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation.