From Reality 2010 to Future Vision 2020

www.secureworldfoundation.org

Promoting Cooperative Solutions for Space Security

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From Reality 2010 to Future Vision 2020

Ray A. Williamson, [email protected]

Secure World Foundation



Outline

• Vision 2020—My vision for 10 years hence• Potential impediments• Positive trends• Reality 2010—the reality and promise of spaceborne

systems and other technologies• Situational awareness • The wider context• Secure World Foundation

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Questions to Answer

• Where would we like to be in 10 years? • Where could we be? • Are we making effective use of today’s resources? • Are we integrating new technologies and

methodologies into practice sufficiently quickly?• Are the supporting institutions moving with the

technologies? • What impediments do we face in reaching the vision?

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2020 Space and Air Resources

• The use of remote sensing (space and air) is a routine and cost-effective means of support to disaster response and recovery

• RS data are routinely and quickly georeferenced and analyzed; resultant information delivered to first responders within 24 hours of collection

• Satellite telecommunications are used to deliver information to response and recovery teams throughout the recovery process.

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Vision 2020—Situational Awareness

• Response and recovery teams, in turn, use the latest in smart phones and other related devices to deliver information back to coordinating organizations. – This “closes the gap” between space and aircraft and

Earthbound response & recovery teams– Updates the situation on the ground quickly with precise

small scale geo-referenced data; results to be compared to any new RS data; provides initial ground-truth

– Assists in maintaining safety of life, both for afflicted populations and for response and recovery teams

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Vision 2020 Requirements

• Vastly improved use of current and immediate future satellite and aircraft resources

• Vastly improved geographical and temporal in-situ situational awareness

• Vastly improved international organizational and institutional structures– Standard information formats – Organizations work together smoothly and routinely within

and across national and institutional borders

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The Opportunity Often Falls Short of Reality

• Too often the benefits of geospatial data & tools do not reach broadly enough, especially in developing countries– Failures often stem from uncoordinated government policies

at different levels of government– Restrictive data policies

• More training needed• More scientific, technical education needed• Most important, however, citizens need to become

involved in their own future by using tools developed for them and also by them

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Other Impediments to Progress

• Institutional inertia• No clear pipeline for institutionalizing new methods• National security concerns

– Some data sources off limits

• Profusion of aid groups– Standards for data/information formats, types, etc?– Standard working methodologies?

• Customs, immigration barriers

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Positive Trends

• Many more countries and groups becoming familiar with RS methods

• Google Earth and Bing have made the information potential of RS data and concepts much more accessible to the average computer user than ever before

• More countries are developing their own satellite systems

• Many more organizations are using RS methods to address disaster response and recovery issues

• Volunteer analysts willing to pitch in with analysis9



Most RS Satellites Fly in Polar Orbit

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Polar Orbit DMC constellationCredit: SSTL



Available Space Systems

• Many more remote sensing resources than ever before– Many operating satellite systems internationally

• Electro-optical

• Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) (all weather coverage)

• Constellations

• Improved position, navigation and timing (PNT) systems– GPS– Galileo– GLONASS

• Mobile satellite communications11



Other Important Technologies

• Airborne remote sensing– Electro-optical cameras; vertical and side view– SAR (all weather coverage)– Lidar (Detailed surface topography)

• Powerful analytic software (proprietary & open source)– Image processing– GIS– Automated change detection

• PNT capability embedded in many new mobile technologies– Phones, tablets, cameras

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Highest Resolution Satellites

• GeoEye, U.S. (commercial)– .5-m panchromatic and 1.65-meter multispectral resolution

• Digital Globe, U.S. (commercial) – .5-m panchromatic and 1.84-m multispectral resolution

• TerraSAR, Germany– Resolution: 1 m, dual-use

• Radarsat II, Canada– Resolution: 1 m/ 3 m

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Constellations

• RapidEye, Germany (private)– Five 6.5 m multispectral EO satellites in constellation– Daily imagery across the globe

• Cosmo-SkyMed, Italy – Four SAR satellites at maximum 1m resolution

• Digital Globe (quasi-constellation)– Three satellites (all different resolutions & other

characteristics)

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Situational Awareness

• Response and recovery crews need better situational awareness– Understand where is the greatest need for assistence – Have a clear idea of the dangers they might face, from

damaged structures , the environment, and from the local population

• Need to be able to communicate that information back to assisting agencies

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Community Remote Sensing Is…

• “a new field that combines remote sensing with citizen science, social networks, and crowd-sourcing to enhance the data obtained from traditional sources.

• It includes the collection, calibration, analysis, communication, or application of remotely sensed information by these community means.”– IGARSS brochure for the 2010 IGARSS conference in Hawaii

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Community Remote Sensing

• Satellite remote sensing services tend to be delivered top-down—with experts developing services to meet a perceived need:

• CRS works in the other direction—individuals contributing data and adding valuable information to satellite or aerial data

• CRS enhances the value of RS data to benefit the community

• CRS works by involving the community, whether geographical or disciplinary, in the enhancement of information to benefit the community as a whole

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Making CRS Work:Smart Phone Application

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4UAO_i1S7Y

Courtesy of International Space University studentsSpace Studies Session 2009



The Wider Context

• Disaster response and recovery fits into a much wider picture than presented here

• To achieve the vision presented here will require operational improvements in many areas of human endeavor: natural resource management and protection; pollution reduction and control, etc.

• My wider vision is a world where individuals and community groups have routine access to satellite and aerial data and use CRS methods to improve their own quality of life

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Secure World Foundation

Secure World Foundation (SWF) is a private operating foundation dedicated to the secure and sustainable use of space for the benefit of Earth

and all its peoples.

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What does the Foundation do?

• Engages with academics, policy makers, scientists and advocates in the space and international affairs communities to support steps that strengthen global space sustainability.

• Promotes the development of cooperative and effective uses of space for the protection of Earth’s environment and human security.

• Acts as a research body, convener and facilitator to advocate for key space security and other space related topics and to examine their influence on governance and international development.

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Key Governance Focus Areas

• Space sustainability• Protection of continued utility of space resources

• Policy development in Emerging Space States• Human & environmental security

• Development and disaster assistance• Environmental change

• Planetary threats– Mitigating the threat of collision from a Near-Earth Object

(NEO) through the establishment of effective international governance for response

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Questions?

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Thanks!

Documents

From Reality 2010 to Future Vision 2020