Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EARTH OBSERVATION
Australia's new prototype vehicle to improve Earth observation satellites' accuracy
by Staff Writers
Canberra, Australia (XNA) Sep 30, 2013


The outback rover can collect thousands of times per second that scientists can with spectrometers.

Australian scientists developed a prototype autonomous vehicle, "Outback Rover," to help scientists to improve the accuracy of Earth observation satellites that provide valuable data to Australia's mining and agricultural industries, according to a latest research statement from CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, on Thursday.

Just as the Mars Rover Curiosity is gathering information about our neighboring planet, CSIRO's affectionately nicknamed 'Outback Rover' is helping to calibrate satellites that provide clues to Earth's soil condition, mineralogy and vegetation.

According to the statement, accompanied by researchers from Japan, China, Israel and France, CSIRO scientists recently took the rover prototype on a mission to Lake Lefroy - a huge salt lake in remote Western Australia - to see if they can automate the satellite calibration process.

This is where information gathered by satellites is matched against measurements taken on-ground and compared for accuracy, said Professor Arnold Dekker, Director of Earth Observation and Informatics at CSIRO.

"Satellite data is used for resource exploration, environmental monitoring and agricultural management such as soil mapping. So it must be regularly cross-checked to ensure that observations are accurate," Dekker explained.

"This process is called vicarious calibration and is undertaken by ground crews who walk in grids or transects, taking measurements with hand-held devices known as spectrometers, as satellites travel overhead," Dekker added.

CSIRO's science leader for robotics Dr. Alberto Elfes said this could be about to change. He hopes the rover will be able to collect calibration data autonomously and send it wirelessly back to researchers.

"The ultimate goal is to have the rover operate alone, with scientists from over the world able to retrieve data from it or control it remotely in real-time," Dr. Elfes said.

"For example, scientists could tell the robot to turn left or right, follow a sensor signature that is interesting or do a more detailed analysis in a particular area."

"Once we know we have acquired accurate data from satellites, it can be used for a range of applications. It can show us where to explore for mineral deposits and even allow us to monitor soils, which can provide great benefit to our farmers," Dr. Elfes said.

In addition, as well as ensuring the accuracy of the current suite of space traveling cameras and sensors, the information collected by the rover could also be used for the next-generation of satellites that will use high-resolution 'hyperspectral' images.

Owing to its sheer size, Australia is one of the world's biggest consumers of Earth observation data however it doesn't own any remote sensing satellites.

"This is why international collaborations like this are vitally important, and have led to major achievements such as our world- first continental scale mineral maps, derived from the Japanese ASTER sensor on board the NASA TERRA satellite," Professor Dekker said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

.


Related Links
CSIRO
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EARTH OBSERVATION
Japan takes issue with Google maps over islands: reports
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 29, 2013
Japan has asked local authorities and state-run universities not to post Google maps on their websites because some of them use non-Japanese names for disputed islands, reports said Sunday. The disputed territory includes the South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, and the Japan-held Senkaku islands in the East China S ... read more


EARTH OBSERVATION
China unveils its first and unnamed moon rover

Mission to moon will boost research and awareness

Mighty Eagle Improves Autonomous Landing Software With Successful Flight

Watch Out for the Harvest Moon

EARTH OBSERVATION
Water for future Mars astronauts

NASA Mars rover Curiosity finds water in first sample of planet surface

Science Benefits From Diverse Landing Area Of NASA Mars Rover

First scoop of Mars soil contains 2 percent water: study

EARTH OBSERVATION
Astronauts Practice Launching in NASA's New Orion Spacecraft

"GRAVITY" is Almost Here

International Partnership Releases Space Exploration Benefits Paper

Iran to send second monkey into space

EARTH OBSERVATION
Chinese VP stresses peaceful use of space

China's space station to open for foreign peers

Last Days for Tiangong

China civilian technology satellites put into use

EARTH OBSERVATION
Unmanned cargo ship docks with orbiting Space Station

New space crew joins ISS on Olympic torch mission

Station Crew Readies for Cygnus' Sunday Arrival

American, two Russians take shortcut to space

EARTH OBSERVATION
ILS Proton Successfully Launches ASTRA 2E for SES

APSCC 2013 reaffirms Arianespace's focus on the Asia-Pacific region

Arianespace and Astrium sign deal to begin production of 18 new Ariane 5 vehicles

Problems with Proton booster fixed

EARTH OBSERVATION
How Engineers Revamped Spitzer to Probe Exoplanets

ESA selects SSTL to design Exoplanet satellite mission

Coldest Brown Dwarfs Blur Lines between Stars and Planets

NASA-funded Program Helps Amateur Astronomers Detect Alien Worlds

EARTH OBSERVATION
NGC Completes Safety of Flight Testing on Common Infrared Countermeasure System

Green photon beams more agile than optical tweezers

Space oddity: the mystery of 2013 QW1

Domain walls as new information storage medium




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement