• DataCosmos is a new platform from Open Cosmos which will make it easier for governments and organisations to access and utilise essential data from space
• The platform brings together data from satellites and complementary sources and allows users to access applications to derive insights from earth observation including monitoring to advanced oil spill detection 
• DataCosmos is part of Open Cosmos’s mission to make satellite data useful and valuable to everyone to solve the world’s greatest challenges

OXFORD, UK (Open Cosmos PR) — Open Cosmos – the leading SpaceTech startup simplifying access to space to help solve the world’s biggest challenges is today launching DataCosmos, its multi-satellite data platform that will provide advanced visualisation and data usage tools to transform access to critical space data. Publicly showcased today at the ESA Living Planet Symposium in Bonn, DataCosmos marks a paradigm shift in how companies and organisations can access satellite data and turn it into actionable information. 

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) — Landsat 9, a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that launched Sept. 27, 2021, has collected its first light images of Earth.

The images, all acquired Oct. 31, are available online. They provide a preview of how the mission will help people manage vital natural resources and understand the impacts of climate change, adding to Landsat’s unparalleled data record that spans nearly 50 years of space-based Earth observation.

A new satellite will build on five decades of Earth observations

Landsat 9 is a partnership between NASA and USGS. The satellite will continue the Landsat program’s mission to capture repeat snapshots of Earth to monitor, understand and manage natural resources.  

RESTON, Va. (U.S. Geological Survey PR) — It’s 7 o’clock on a Tuesday morning. As you decide what kind of cereal to have, you accidentally splash a bit of almond milk onto your cotton pajama top. The last thing on your mind is a pair of satellites orbiting Earth over 400 miles away. 

And yet, those satellites are a part of your morning routine. They tell farmers how much water their almond trees need to thrive and reveal how soil once used for cotton is now used for fruit.  

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the Landsat 9 satellite, a joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mission that will continue the legacy of monitoring Earth’s land and coastal regions that began with the first Landsat satellite in 1972.

Landsat 9 is scheduled to launch at 2:11 p.m. EDT (11:11 a.m. PDT) Monday, Sept. 27, on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Landsat 8 (Credit: NASA)

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Citing a combination of negligible revenues and negative economic impacts on the economy, an Interior Department advisory committee has recommended that the government not implement fees for the use of data from the Landsat 8 and 9 satellites.

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Landsat 8 (Credit: NASA)

NASA’s Landsat 9 program is in good shape and on track for a launch as early as December 2020, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment.

The positive assessment makes the $885 million Earth observation satellite a rarity among the major NASA projects that GAO evaluated in its annual assessment. The government watchdog found that most of the programs are suffering cost overruns or schedule delays.

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The Trump Administration is considering re-imposing fees for Landsat images that were eliminated in 2008. The US government is considering whether to charge for access to two widely used sources of remote-sensing imagery: the Landsat satellites operated by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and an aerial-survey programme run by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Officials at the Department of the Interior, which oversees the USGS, have asked a federal advisory […]