Artist’s rendition of a Landsat Satellite, part of the Landsat programme facilitated by USGS. Credit: NASA
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Geoscience Australia have signed a comprehensive new partnership for the use of remote sensing data to address issues of national and international significance.
The news comes after last week’s announcement that the European Space Agency (ESA) and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have signed an agreement which will give Australia better access to information from Europe’s Earth-observing satellites.
Dr. Frank Kelly, USGS Space Policy Advisor and Director of the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center said the agreement makes use of existing ties between the two nations: “This partnership builds on a long history of collaboration between the USGS and Geoscience Australia and creates an exciting opportunity for us to pool resources across our organisations.”
“We will work collaboratively to implement a shared vision for continental-scale monitoring of land surface change using time-series of Earth observations to detect change as it happens.”
Dr. Chris Pigram, Geoscience Australia’s Chief Executive Officer added, “This new partnership elevates an already very strong relationship to a new level, and will see both organisations harness their respective skillsets to further unlock the deep understanding of our planet that the Landsat programme provides.”
The partnership involves a major upgrade to Geoscience Australia’s Alice Springs satellite antenna which will see the station play a much more significant role in the international Landsat ground-station network. Following this $3 million upgrade by the Australian Government, the Alice Springs antenna will transmit command and control signals to the Landsat satellites and support downloading of satellite imagery for the broader South East-Asia and Pacific region. Alice Springs will be one of only three ground stations worldwide playing this role in the Landsat programme.
The partnership will also include a focus on applying new science and big data techniques, such as Geoscience Australia’s Geoscience Data Cube and the USGS’s land change monitoring, assessment, and projection capability, to help users unlock the full value of the data from the Landsat programme.
