Activities/18 Jan 2005/

Author: Vitaliy
Date of the publication:  January 18, 2005, 10:08

Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring (NTs OMZ) — An affiliated branch of the Space Observation Center which is a directing agency of Roskosmos engaged in exploitation of Earth remote sensing systems.

At present NTs OMZ is offering remote sensing data of different spatial resolution from Russian spacecraft — METEOR-3M ¹1, MONITOR-E, METEOR-M, ELEKTRO-L, RESURS-O1, OKEAN-O, and from foreign spacecraft — QUICKBIRD, IKONOS, EROS, SPOT, IRS, LANDSAT, RADARSAT, ERS, TERRA (MODIS, ASTER radiometers), NOAA (AVHRR radiometer), as well as services on data thematic processing and value-added product generation in accordance with consumer’s requirements.

The NTs OMZ’s principal activities take place within the framework of the Federal Russian Space Programme and under the agreements between Roskosmos and the European Space Agency, Space Agencies of France, Germany, USA, Ukraine, and other countries.

The lines of the NTs OMZ’s activity are as follows:

• Space system exploitation, satellite data acquisition, processing, and delivering to consumers;
• Space data archive and electronic catalog generation and support;
• Monitoring techniques development and spacecraft instrument payload characteristics and data quality control;
• In-flight tests of scientific/information instrument packages on operational earth observing spacecraft;
• Advancement and upgrade of ground facilities and technologies for space data acquisition, processing, archiving, and dissemination;
• Development of scientific and applied projects including international ones, on the Earth’s resources study, ecological monitoring, the World Ocean research, and generation of regional and territorial information systems based on space data.

In NTs OMZ there was established the Center for Earth Remote Sensing Data Acquisition and Processing at the international bands 8.0-8.4 GHz (data rate up to 300 Mbps) and 1.67-1.71 GHz.

The NTs OMZ is the Roskosmos ground segment designed for acquiring, recording, processing, and distributing data from remote sensing systems. Hard- and software of the ground segment may be adapted for acquiring and processing data from any Russian and foreign spacecraft.

The NTs OMZ provides the support of Remote-Sensed Data Fund and fills orders for making an operational space survey and delivering archived data of previously made surveys with different resolution (up to 1 meter), including data from scientific and experimental equipment. Consumers may be supplied with data products of standard processing levels and thematically processed data.

The technologies for value-added processing of Earth remote sensing data implemented in NTs OMZ enable digital mapping of river flows, forest fires, land use, ice conditions, etc. The maps may comprise coordinate grid, hydrological object boundaries, administrative boundaries, road network, populated area names.

Based on archived high-resolution data there may be produced digital ortho-transformed monochromatic images of ground with resolution between 1 and 10 m, digital terrain models, geoinformation systems required for municipal services, building, nature protection, and other socio-economic needs. Moreover, a variety of value-added maps of 1:10000 in scale and less may be constructed and updated by use of very high resolution data.

The NTs OMZ is a leading division of the Roskosmos ground information system engaged in acquisition, recording, processing, archiving, cataloging, and dissemination of data from domestic and foreign remote sensing spacecraft.

The major functional components of the NTs OMZ information system are:

• Complexes of the technique and hard- and software providing for antennae control, remotely-sensed data acquisition and recording as a part of the high-informative PK-7 antenna station with 7 m antenna and the low-informative PK-2 antenna station with 2.6 m antenna;
• Complexes of preliminary and prime processing hard- and software that provide recorded data arrays unpacking, data products generation for archiving, cataloging and delivering to consumers;
• Complex of hard- and software for maintaining the long-term remote sensing data archive and general electronic catalog;
• Multifunctional computing facilities equipped with special-purpose software and GIS program packages designed for value-added processing of multispectral images;
• Hard- and software complex designed for interaction with consumers of remote sensing data products underwent different processing levels;
• Multifunctional complex for processing very high resolution space image data and generating cartographic products.

The NTs OMZ develops and exploits the onboard information and measuring instrument packages designed for the near-Earth space monitoring. The data obtained are transmitted on an operational basis to Heliogeophysical Service of Roshydromet to be processed and analyzed for providing authorities, population, and the Russian Federal Armed Forces with heligeophysical data including:

• On-line current data and predictions on solar activity, radiation environment in the near-Earth space, the magnetosphere and ionosphere condition, and radio wave propagation conditions;
• Predictions of the useable frequency bands at specified radio channels;
• Urgent data on hazardous situations caused by abnormal natural heliogeophysical phenomena.

The heliogeophysical instrument packages are used on board METEOR-3M ¹1 spacecraft and developed for promising METEOR-M and ELEKTRO-L.

NTs OMZ is striving for producing high-quality data products based on remotely-sensed data in the interests of various economy branches, the Earth researches, and international cooperation.

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