Vexcel Announces Upgrade to Remote Sensing Ground Station
Written by Vexcel
13 July 2009
New satellite missions added to Apex™ Ground Station in Chile.
Boulder, Colo. — Jul 13, 2009 — Vexcel Corp., a Microsoft company, today announced the completion of a multi-mission upgrade to the recently commissioned Apex remote sensing ground station in Santiago, Chile. The project is part of Lockheed Martin Aeronautic’s Industrial Cooperation Program for the F-16 Peace Puma Program. In May 2008, Vexcel provided a complete, integrated, automated, Apex ground station to the Chilean Air Force’s AeroPhotogrammetric Service (Fuerza Aerea de Chile Servicio Aerofotogrametrico | FACh SAF) initially configured for reception and processing of NASA’s MODIS electro-optical sensor on the Terra and Aqua satellites. Since then, the ground station has been operational 24x7x365 receiving, processing, cataloging, and disseminating MODIS image products. Now, Vexcel has added support for the EROS-B high-resolution panchromatic optical satellite from Imagesat International and the SPOT-4 medium resolution multi-spectral optical satellite from Spot Image. All 4 satellites are now seamlessly integrated into the Apex Commander remote sensing data management system allowing FACh SAF to receive and process these missions automatically from a single consistent user interface.
“We are pleased and excited to have this new space capability in Chile,” said Colonel Ludwig Gronemeyer, director of SAF. “This station has long been awaited by the citizens of Chile and provides our country with a powerful new capability for mapping, environmental monitoring, emergency management, and other critical applications. The Vexcel Apex ground system is a state-of-the-art facility which automates all of our missions and is incredibly easy to operate.”
One of the first MODIS images received at the new station by its 6.1m radome-enclosed X-band tracking antenna clearly depicted the early May 2008 eruption of the Chaitén volcano in southern Chile. One of the first SPOT-4 images received after the station upgrade depicted a long cloud free swath over north central Chile from the Bolivian border, across the Atacama desert, and down to Antofagasta. An EROS-B image captured by Imagesat after station construction in November 2008 showed the radome and SAF facility situated on the north end of the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport.
About Vexcel
Founded in 1985, Vexcel Corp. is a remote sensing company with headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. The company’s legacy offerings to government and commercial markets include turnkey satellite ground systems, a range of remote sensing imagery processing products, and advanced radar processing and geospatial services. The company was acquired by Microsoft Corporation on May 3, 2006. To learn more, please visit http://www.vexcel.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
About FACh SAF
The Aerophotogrametric Service of the Chilean Air Force was founded in October 11, 1963. It is considered one of the official institutions for geographical matters. Since its creation, SAF has been concentrated on the generation of products and delivery of services related to remote sensing, aerophotogrammetry and aeronautical charting. For more information, please visit http://www.saf.cl.
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
See more 
