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Satellite of Love

By zccasle, on 10 January 2016

The Chemical Physical Society is a student run society like many others. What is great about this society is that we don’t bother with boat parties. I barely even know what a boat party is. What I do know is that the CPS provides extra lectures for anyone who doesn’t already have enough lectures. Yes, it’s great and there’s more. These lectures are not part of formal assessment and they are sandwiched between two predictable and intense periods of snacking, all free of charge for attendees. For those of you concerned with dietary requirements, or who are considering skipping dinner on Tuesday nights, pre-talk provides enough caffeine and sugar to ensure you’ll be buzzing in resonance for the duration of the lecture. Post-talk crashes are mitigated by a raft of savoury delights and liquor. I expect you might be unsure of many things so here follows a brief saunter into the world of CPS tuesday night events. An eclectic series of engaging lectures touching on all manner of scientific interest.  At the end of this post is a song.

RapidEyes-lineup

Some technical staff of Surrey Satellite Technology (left) with RapidEyes 1-5 (right), courtesy of Surrey Satellite Technology.  You can click on the image for higher res.

A personal favourite came from Andrew Margets-Kelly of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. The company is a hugely successful commercial spin-out from Surrey University. His talk related to the application of satellite technology in areas we may not readily suspect.

The unblinking eyes of satellites inevitably spend a lot of their time staring at the oceans. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) are commonly mounted on the satellites of SST, these are non optical devices and hence are unfazed by low light or cloud cover. Systems provided by SST can act as the air traffic control equivalent for ships, with the ability to calculate headings and velocities. All registered vessels have a marker that allow ships and boats to be tracked. The Automatic Identification System would allow a ship has an: “Iceberg, right ahead!” to be warned. Illegal shipping traffic can also be monitored but this requires the use of optical satellites in concert.

The use of SAR can be used to detect oil slick on the surface of the water because of a minor difference that occurs in the surface texture. This might be useful for those who are looking for natural sources of oil seeping from ocean floors. However, it can also be used to monitor pipeline integrity and check that tankers are not washing out their with sea water.

Another impressive activity of the company is the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). It is an SST Ltd project that aims to provide free imaging to the Governments of nations struck by disaster. This can be coordinated within hours of the event and is crucial in providing efficient response strategies. On orbits that follow the rising sun, the satellites are able to cover the entire surface of the planet and have been integral in relief responses in such as Hurricane Katrina or the 2010 Haitian Earthquake. The Imaging helps governments to assess how best to distribute relief in early stages when resources may be limited. Infrastructure damage such as loss of roads or bridges is resolved in the DMC imaging. At such times when conventional communication may be suspended, such information can be utilised by responding emergency services. In addition to disaster response, satellite data is also used in prediction. SAR is used in concert with rainfall data and hydrology models to monitor extent of ground saturation or developing flood progress. This methodology was used as flooding progressed in Malawi in 2015, which affected 220,000 acres of land and 390,000 people. Satellite data from NASA in this instance was used to monitor the developing flood and direct the humanitarian response.

Sheep dogs are saaa-aad. This is about Farming with Satellites. Satellite data can be used to monitor the health of crops! Satellites can detect differences in chlorophyll levels across vast areas of rural land. This data is fed into the Normalised Differential Vegetation Index and the outcomes can be returned to farmers with instruction of which of their fields need more water or fertiliser. This is about efficiency of resources and maintaining food security in adverse climatic conditions. Crop infection or pest infestation can also be tracked and predicted, allowing the focussed application of pesticides only to high risk areas. No mention of sheep, Fifi the dog is still welcome on the farm. Thanks Andrew Margets-Kelly and thanks SST Ltd. More info can be found here, job vacancies and a Grad. Development Programme.

Lou Reed and David Bowie performing ‘Satellite of Love’:  here.

 

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