Lifeboat Foundation

Google uses artificial intelligence technology to find millions of buildings on the satellite map that were previously difficult to locate. These can now be used for humanitarian aid or other purposes. Google utilized its building detection model (Continental-Scale Building Detection from High Resolution Satellite Imagery) to create an Open Buildings dataset, containing locations and footprints of 516 million buildings with coverage across most African continent countries.

In this data set, there are millions of buildings that have not been discovered in the past. These newly-discovered building materials will help the outside world understand African populations and where they live, facilitating health care services such as education or vaccination to their communities.

Google’s team of developers built a training set for their building detection model by manually labeling 1.75 million buildings in 100k images to make the most accurate identification possible, even when dealing with rural or urban environments that have vastly different properties and features. The need to identify what kind of dwelling place is being captured was especially difficult during scoping missions in remote areas where natural landmarks were plentiful. At the same time, dense surroundings made it hard to differentiate between multiple structures on an aerial image at once.

Continue reading “Google AI Releases The Open Buildings Dataset, A New Open-Source Dataset Containing The Locations And Footprints Of >500M Buildings Across Africa” »

The world’s first commercial fully re-programmable satellite lifted off from French Guiana on Friday on board an Ariane 5 rocket, ushering in a new era of more flexible communications.

Unlike conventional models that are designed and “hard-wired” on Earth and cannot be repurposed once in orbit, the Eutelsat Quantum allows users to tailor the communications to their needs—almost in real-time.

The satellite will be placed in orbit some 36 minutes after the launch.

AFRL completed a two-year space experiment that will help better understand the effects of radiation on space hardware in medium Earth orbit.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory announced July 19 it has completed a two-year experiment that will help better understand the effects of radiation on space hardware in medium Earth orbit.

Known as the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) mission, the spacecraft was one of 24 payloads launched June 25, 2019, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rideshare.

Continue reading “Air Force satellite completes two-year experiment to study the medium Earth orbit environment” »

Now, in what would be the biggest international step yet towards addressing these concerns, diplomats at a United Nations forum next month might discuss whether humanity has a right to ‘dark and quiet skies’. The debate could initiate a framework for how scientists and the public would deal with the flood of new satellites — with many more expected.

Working with the United Nations, scientists hope to establish standards for satellite ‘megaconstellations’ and reduce disruption of astronomical observations.

An engineer who helped develop a camera for Mars has built a tool to track the most fascinating car in the Solar System.

Amazon acquires Facebook’s Satellite Internet team!

Project Kuiper going strong to compete SpaceX’s StarLink, OneWeb and Telesat.

The deal bolsters Amazon’s $10 billion effort to develop low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites capable of delivering high-speed broadband internet around the globe, while marking the end of Facebook’s ultimately unsuccessful efforts to do the same.

Continue reading “Amazon acquires Facebook’s satellite internet team, bolstering its efforts to compete with SpaceX” »

The deal values the San Francisco-based company at $2.8 billion.

Planet, which operates the world’s largest fleet of Earth-observing satellites, announced Wednesday (July 7) that it will merge with a special purpose acquisition company.

According to NASA, the solar storm is travelling towards Earth at a velocity of 1.6 million km/hr and the speed might even increase more.

The satellites in the Earth’s upper atmosphere are also expected to get impacted by the incoming flares. This will directly impact GPS navigation, mobile phone signal and satellite TV. The power grids can also be impacted due to the solar flares.

On the positive side, the solar flares will create an amplified view of Aurora lights in North or South Pole. The people living near the poles will get to experience these lights.

Continue reading “Massive solar storm heading towards Earth can impact GPS, mobile signal. Details here” »

What do you do if you discover a big rock on a collision course with Earth and have very little time to take action?

Large telecommunication satellites used for TV broadcasting could be quickly and easily repurposed as anti-asteroid weapons according to European aerospace company Airbus.