UK to open Earth observation hub

July 21, 2010 at 4:50 am | Posted in Remote Sensing Law Current Events | Leave a comment

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: BBC

By Pallab GhoshScience correspondent, BBC News

Science minister David Willetts is to announce a new UK centre for monitoring the Earth from space.

The Earth observation hub will focus on acquiring environmental data, such as information on deforestation and the impact of climate change.

The hub will be based at the International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell in Oxfordshire, which will open in April 2011.

The aim is to bring together UK expertise in Earth observation.

The hub will also be used as a flight operations centre for controlling satellites.

It addition, it will develop the expertise to analyse environmental information coming from space, helping scientists learn more about how the planet is being affected by climate change.

Tracking pollution

Professor Alan O’Neill, director of the National Centre for Earth Observation, said: “By bringing together the best of our space science base with industrial researchers, we hope to develop a wide range of applications.

“These include global monitoring of deforestation, concentration of greenhouse gasses, and levels of marine pollution.”

Up to 40 scientists will be based at the centre. Many of them will be involved in gathering and presenting the vast amounts of information coming from environmental satellites.

The data will be made available to scientists across the world and to the public.

Details of the hub will be announced by the Science Minister David Willetts in a speech on Wednesday morning at the Farnborough Air Show.

He is expected to say that the centre will not become a “centralising force”; rather, it will serve as a hub to link regional space capabilities and promote knowledge-sharing between academia and industry.

A preview of Mr Willetts’ speech stated: “ISIC will operate at arm’s length from the UK Space Agency so that it becomes a common facility within the Harwell campus.

“And at Harwell, the new European Space Agency facility is already working well, especially in climate change science and related applications.

“Soon it will have an incubator for new space businesses and work on space exploration. This is a fantastic additional catalyst for UK space.”