New satellite imaging concept proposed by University of Leicester-led team could significantly reduce search areas for missing boats and planes
- Concept uses satellite technology already in orbit to take images of sea
- Enables ship and plane movement to be pinpointed to much more accuracy
- Data can be used when vessels are lost at sea to minimise search area and speed up search and rescue time
- Could have been used to aid search for missing Malaysian flight MH370
A space scientist at the University of Leicester, in collaboration with the New Zealand Defence Technology Agency and DMC International Imaging, has been trialling a concept for using satellite imagery to significantly improve the chances of locating ships and planes, such as the missing Malaysian flight MH370, lost at sea.
A preliminary study published this month in the International Journal of Remote Sensing, identified 54 satellites with 85 sensors, currently only taking images of land, which could be used to take images of the Earth’s oceans and inland waters.
The research team believe regularly updated images of the seas via these satellites could enable the reduction of search areas for missing ships to just a few hundred square miles. This offers the possibility of dramatically reducing search and rescue times and significantly improving chances of survival for missing ships.
Dr Nigel Bannister from the University’s department of Physics and Astronomy explained: “If you are in the open ocean, and you get into difficulty, particularly in a small vessel, there is a significant chance that you will be lost at sea. There is currently a big problem tracking small vessel maritime traffic and this system could provide a much improved awareness of vessel movements across the globe, using technology that already exists.
“This isn’t a surveillance system that monitors vessel movements across the oceans in real time, like radar tracking of aircraft in the sky; instead we have proposed a system which records images every time a satellite passes over specific points of the sea. If we are alerted to a lost vessel, the images allow us to pinpoint its last observed position. This could be very powerful for constraining search areas and it could reduce the time it takes to locate missing boats and planes, and hopefully their crews and passengers.”
David Neyland, former Assistant Director of the US Navy Office of Naval Research-Global, who funded the research, added: “The University of Leicester brought to this research a unique capability to build a public, open source model, of an International Virtual Constellation of spacecraft from 19 nations – a transparent view of space operations never done before.
Read more: Scientists trial system to improve safety at sea
The Latest on: Satellite imaging
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Satellite imaging” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Satellite imaging
- Watching The Global Oil Trade With Satellite Imageryon May 27, 2023 at 5:00 pm
Using satellite imagery, they are using a simple way to monitor the occupancy crude oil storage facilities around the world. The key is in the construction of large capacity crude oil storage tanks.
- Satellite Images Shows Destruction in Guam After Typhoon Mawaron May 27, 2023 at 8:03 am
Cleanup efforts continued in Guam on Friday, May 26, after Typhoon Mawar hit the island earlier in the week.Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on Friday show destroyed homes and ...
- Satellite images reveal destruction in Bakhmut as CNN looks into American’s deathon May 26, 2023 at 6:15 pm
US army veteran Nicholas Maimer was killed in a battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. CNN examines the circumstances of Maimer’s death and the fight between Wagner fighters and the ...
- You Can Find Military Radars On Publicly-Available Satellite Dataon May 26, 2023 at 5:00 pm
Let’s explore how! A diagram indicating how interference from military radars shows up on SAR satellite images. Credit: Ollie Ballinger, used with permission The discovery that openly-available ...
- Can satellite imagery fight illegal logging in Mexico?on May 26, 2023 at 9:10 am
New monitoring system aims to combat deforestation in Michoacan, but locals remain sceptical about enforcement.
- Homeland security an untapped market for satellite imagery and analyticson May 25, 2023 at 11:37 pm
Madigan oversees satellite imagery collection for DHS and previously worked at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He said there is growing interest in using synthetic aperture radar (SAR ...
- South Korea launches first commercial-grade satellite, as North Korea plans first spy satelliteon May 25, 2023 at 6:10 pm
South Korea has launched a commercial-grade satellite for the first time as part of its growing space development program, as rival North Korea is pushing to place its first military spy satellite int ...
- Thermal imaging startup Satellite Vu closes $15.8 million ahead of first launchon May 24, 2023 at 12:20 pm
British startup Satellite Vu has raised £12.7 million ($15.8 million) to develop what it calls “the world’s thermometer”: a satellite constellation capable of monitoring thermal emissions around the ...
- Italy Flood Damage Revealed in Before-and-After Satellite Imageryon May 23, 2023 at 4:57 pm
Satellite imagery captured damage caused by severe flooding in Faenza, Italy, this month.Maxar Technologies released before images, captured on April 6, and after images, captured on May 21 and 23, of ...
- SkyFi lets you order up fresh satellite imagery in real time with a clickon May 22, 2023 at 1:16 pm
SkyFi is looking to disrupt the satellite imagery marketplace with an app and API that lets any customer task a satellite on demand.
via Bing News