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1. Italian Satellite Launched from India - April 23
2. Haiyang-1B successfully launched, China - April 11
3. 25thAIAA International Communications Satellite Systems
Conference (ICSSC-2007) Seoul, Korea - April 11-13
4. Seminar of Space Technology for National Development,
Nepal - April 6
5. Launch of INSAT-4B, India - March 12
6. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - April
- June 2007]]
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1. An Italian Satellite Launched from India - April 23, 2007
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Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C8) successfully launched the Italian
astronomical satellite at 3:30 on April 23, 2007 from Satish
Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, India, into
a 550 km circular orbit, inclined at an angle of 2.5 deg
to the equator.
Since 1994, PSLV has successfully launched the eight Indian
remote sensing satellites, an amateur radio satellite,
a recoverable space capsule and six foreign small satellites.
However, PSLV-C8 was the first major commercial launch
with committed finance in India. Starting from this PSLV-C8
launch, ISRO is expecting to get into international competition
for commercial launch businesses.
This Italian satellite, AGILE, is the 352kg small satellite
to study the distant celestial objects by using X-ray and
Gamma ray sensors.
Mr. G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO, gave a comment
to the APRSAF News letters. "PSLV-C8 mission was unique
in many respects. In this mission, PSLV was flown, for
the first time, without the six strap-on motors of the
first stage. Also, for the first time, PSLV launched a
satellite into an equatorial circular orbit of 550 km.
PSLV-C8 was the first major commercial launch the contract
for which was won against stiff international competition."
Dr. Rajeev Lochan, Assistant Scientific Secretary of ISRO,
said "This launch becomes very important for us because
this opens the door to many more commercial launches in
the future. For the coming launches, we've already have
few contracts with foreign customers. Low launching cost
and large number of launching site, including for small
satellites, are the strength of ISRO's launching business.
We hope to see more commercial launches in India next few
years."
ISRO Website:
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Apr23_2007.htm
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2. The Haiyang-1B successfully launched, China - April 11, 2007
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China successfully launched its second oceanic survey
satellite Haiyang-1B (Ocean 1B) from Taiyuan Satellite
Launching Center at 11:27 am on April 11, 2007, and it
reached the sun synchronous orbit [altitude - 798km; inclination
angle - 98.6 deg; repeat time - 7 days] aboard a Long March-2C
carrier rocket. This satellite was developed by the China
Academy of Space Technology of China Aerospace Science
and Technology Corp (CASTC).
"The Haiyang-1B has been on its way for Chinese civil
service as the second of the oceanic satellite family synchronous
with the sun. Data products obtained by the Haiyang-1B
mission on ocean color, temperature of ocean surface, ocean
contamination and environment of inshore area will be widely
used in fields such as development and management of resources,
environment monitoring, disaster monitoring and scientific
research of oceans." said Mr. Yao Jianting, Deputy
Division Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs
of China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The satellite was launched on the 96th flight of a Long
March carrier rocket, which was developed by the China
Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology of the CASTC.
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3. 25th AIAA International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC-2007)
Seoul, Korea - April 11-13, 2007
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Under the main theme entitled "Evolution towards
a Ubiquitous Network Society" the Asia-Pacific Satellite
Communications Council (APSCC), the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the AIAA Japan
Forum on Satellite Communications (AIAA-JFSC) organized
the conference ICSSC-2007. This conference explored the
evolutional directions of advanced satellite technologies
as well as the possible means to vitalize satellite markets
with new technologies towards a ubiquitous network society.
APRSAF secretariat received a comment from Mr.Inho SEO,
the Conference Director of ICSSC 2007. "Over 160 papers
were presented at ICSSC 2007. These papers offered an opportunity
for in-depth discussion on not only the technical issues
but also the economic, marketing, and regulatory issues
related to satellite systems. During the conference, the
AIAA Aerospace Communications Award was presented as well
to Robert Briskman, Co-founder and Technical Executive
of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. for his outstanding contribution
in the field of aerospace communications and for his pioneering
efforts in developing the Satellite Digital Radio Services."
Also Mr. Yoshiaki Suzuki, the Deputy General Chair of
the conference and Secretary of AIAA-JFSC said, "This
is party because the conference was the first ICSSC held
in Korea?during the conference there were many presentations
from Korean presenters about the application of the satellite
mobile broadcasting, Korea-made satellites, etc and many
participants debated eagerly about them."
The next ICSSC 2008 will be held in San Diego on 9-12
June 2008.
ICSSC-2007
http://www.icssc2007.com/
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4. Seminar of Space Technology for National Development, Nepal - April 6, 2007
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The Nepal Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric
Society (NRSPS) is a professional organization established
in 1991 aiming to benefit human society by promoting applications
of remote sensing technology in various activities for
national development. On April 6, 2007, NRSPS in association
with the Japanese University Student's Association in Nepal
(JUSAN) and the Nepal Development and Research Institute
(NDRI) organized a one-day seminar on "Space Technology
for National Development" in Nepal. Eighty one participants
from government, non-government, private and academic organizations
participated in the event.
The inauguration session of the seminar began with the
welcome speech from Vice President of NRSPS Mr. Ganga B.
Tuladhar. The seminar was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor
of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Prof.
Dr. Hom Nath Bhattarai. In his speech, he stressed that
society should propose policies to solve the problems rather
than to mention only them and the society should suggest
to the government by identifying the national organization
to deal with the space technology in Nepal.
The General Secretary of the Asian Association on Remote
Sensing (AARS) Prof. Emeritus Shunji Murai delivered a
keynote speech on the topic "Advanced Space Technologies." He
suggested that the use of Advanced Land Observing Satellite
(ALOS) data is cost effective for studies on disaster management.
He also mentioned that currently he is working on the prediction
of earthquakes by analyzing data from continuous observation
of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The secretary of
NRSPS Dr. Krishna Pahadi offered a vote of thanks during
the session. The session was chaired by the president of
NRSPS Mr. Rabin K. Sharma and in his closing remarks he
mentioned that "Thousand-steps far destinations begins
with a step" so although the Society was established
16 years ago, it has just begun the journey to reach its
destination.
One of the attractions of the seminar was the exhibition
stall of the Survey Department of Nepal where various products
of the department were displayed to demonstrate the process
of updating topographical base maps using remote sensing
techniques.
NRSP Website:
http://www.nrsps.org.np/
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5. Launch of INSAT-4B, India - March 12, 2007
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ISRO's latest communication satellite, INSAT-4B, was successfully
launched on March 12, 2007, by the European Ariane-5 ECA
launch vehicle of Arianespace. Weighing 3,025 kg at the
time of launch, INSAT-4B is the second satellite in the
INSAT-4 series. Its identical predecessor, INSAT-4A, was
also launched by Ariane-5 in December 2005. With 12 high
power Ku-band transponders and 12 C-band transponders,
INSAT-4B will further augment the INSAT capacity for Direct-To-Home
(DTH) television services and other communication and TV
services.
Director of Publications and Public Relations of ISRO
Dr. S. Krishnamurthy said, "Today, INSAT has become
the largest domestic communication satellite system in
the Asia-Pacific region with ten satellites in service
-- INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1,
GSAT-2, EDUSAT, INSAT-4A and the latest INSAT-4B. Together,
the system provides 199 transponders in C-band, extended
C-band and Ku-band for a variety of communication services.
Some of the INSAT satellites also carry instruments for
providing meteorological services. KALPANA-1 is an exclusive
meteorological satellite. The success of INSAT-4B will
herald a boom in DTH television in the country besides
augmenting other communication services."
Full text of the article available at:
APRSAF Hot Topics:
http://www.aprsaf.org/feature/feature_05.htm
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6. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update - April - June 2007]]
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* May 2-6, 2007
GeoHab 2007 - Marine Benthic Habitats of the Pacific and
Other Oceans: Status, Use, and Management
Noumea, New Caledonia
http://www.circum-pacificcouncil.org/Circular-RegForm.pdf
* May 5-9, 2007
5th International Conference on Research, Innovation & Vision
for the Future (RIVF'07) Information & Communication
Technologies
Hanoi, Vietnam
http://www.rivf.org/
* May 14-18, 2007
Spatial Sciences Institute Biennial International Conference
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
http://www.ssc2007.com/
* May 15-18, 2007
5th Taipei International Digital Earth Symposium - TIDES
2007
Taipei, Taiwan
http://deconf.pccu.edu.tw/2007/en-info.htm
*May 21-25, 2007
CEOS SGISS-23 Plenary Meeting & Remote Sensing Workshop
Hanoi Vietnam
http://www.wgiss23.com/
*June 12-13, 2007
Location India 2007, 3rd International Conference and Exhibition
on Vehicle Tracking, Location Intelligence and Surveying
Bangalore, India
http://www.location.net.in/india/index.htm
*June 12-15, 2007
13th PCGIAP Annual Meeting
Seoul, Korea
*June 14-16, 2007
RAST 2007 3rd International Conference on Recent Advances
in Space Technologies
Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.rast.org.tr/
*June 20-27, 2007
Geoinformation Forum Japan 2007
Yokohama, Japan
http://www.jsurvey.jp/eng-geoforum2006.htm
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Copyright 2007 The APRSAF Secretariat
APRSAF Secretariat
c/o. Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan
Roppongi First Bldg. 12F, 1-9-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
106-0032,
Japan
Tel:+81-3-5572-6708 / Fax:+81-3-5572-6707
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