Attitudes of UK and Australian farmers towards monitoring activity with satellite technologies: Lessons to be learnt

Governments are increasingly using satellite technologies to check for compliance with legislation, e.g. to verify that farmers are complying with environmental legislation on vegetation clearance in Australian states. As the detail of what can be seen by satellite technologies continues to improve and they are likely to become ever more attractive to those monitoring compliance with numerous different laws, it is important to consider the attitudes of those groups currently being monitored this way. Two surveys, the first of their kind internationally, were undertaken in the UK and Australia to assess attitudes in regulated communities (here farmers) where satellite monitoring was already being used. The aim was to understand attitudes to this method of monitoring, including its perceived benefits and drawbacks. Many of the farmers surveyed were either positive, or ambivalent, about satellite monitoring taking place. Only about a quarter of Australian farmers and a third of UK farmers were against being monitored this way. Large numbers actually wanted satellite monitoring to be used as a method of checking compliance, although if something was detected by a satellite many wanted any subsequent investigation to be done on the ground by humans. There were high levels of support for the use of satellite technologies because these were seen to be fairer, and more equitable than conventional methods, but concerns over how satellite monitoring might affect privacy and the technology not being used properly, or producing inaccurate results were expressed. Communication between regulator and regulated should be encouraged wherever possible, because many of the concerns of farmers and other potential regulated groups might be reduced if more information was given to them.     

Earth observation and the public good

The term ‘public good’ is often used in satellite Earth observation to indicate that Earth observation data are of value or interest to the public. In fact, the term ‘public good’ has a more specific meaning, originating in the discipline of Economics, which carries with it a set of assumptions and implications about how markets operate. In this context a public good has two main characteristics: non-rivalry and non-excludability. In their most common digital format, Earth observation data can appear to be both non-rivalrous and non-excludable. However, it is not the digital medium itself which controls the ‘publicness’ of a good but the conditions of access to that good. This paper explores the meaning of the concept of public goods in an Earth observation context by, first, examining public good theory and related concepts of categories of goods and, second, applying the concepts to nine Earth observation missions, programmes and data.     

The need for air space and outer space demarcation

This paper argues the need now to consider defining a vertical or spatial boundary between air space and outer space, which in turn effectively means defining the extent of air law and space law. Technology changes in aircraft, spacecraft, positioning systems and remote sensing, combined with the growth in the number of spacefaring nations, make the situation different from the early days of the space era when it was assumed that a boundary would be defined at a future indeterminate date. This article describes the background to the debates and the growing pressures of the questions of sovereignty concerning air and space law, and argues the case for a vertical or spatial boundary rather than a functional one.     

Signal Representation by Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions

The efficiency for signal representation of the angular prolate spheroidal wave function, particularly the two sets Sol(1, t) and Sol(8, t) is discussed Six signal waveforms are considered: rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, exponential, Gaussian, and cosine-squared. For each, a representation is made in terms of the two sets above and also the Fourier cosine functions. As the number of terms of the representation increases, the approximation gets better. A measure of the ?goodness? of the approximation is the percentage of the total signal energy represented by the finite expansion, over a fixed, finite time interval. The angular prolate spheroidal wave functions are a very efficient orthogonal set in this sense. Their principal advantage over Fourier cosine functions occurs for cases whereby only a very few terms of the expansion are to be used to approximate a signal shape.     

Tidal Models in a New Era of Satellite Gravimetry

The high precision gravity measurements to be made by recently launched (and recently approved) satellites place new demands on models of Earth, atmospheric, and oceanic tides. The latter is the most problematic. The ocean tides induce variations in the Earth's geoid by amounts that far exceed the new satellite sensitivities, and tidal models must be used to correct for this. Two methods are used here to determine the standard errors in current ocean tide models. At long wavelengths these errors exceed the sensitivity of the GRACE mission. Tidal errors will not prevent the new satellite missions from improving our knowledge of the geopotential by orders of magnitude, but the errors may well contaminate GRACE estimates of temporal variations in gravity. Solar tides are especially problematic because of their long alias periods. The satellite data may be used to improve tidal models once a sufficiently long time series is obtained. Improvements in the long-wavelength components of lunar tides are especially promising. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

史汪彗星的彗尾

史汪彗星彗尾里的纹纹路是怎么产生的?2006年11月,史汪彗星意外增亮到肉眼可见的程度,而离子尾也出现了幽灵般变幻的细部构造.离子尾是由太阳紫外线游离的体所构成,并在太阳风的推送下离开太阳.太阳风本身就具有很强的结构性,并深受太阳变幻莫测的磁场的挟制.     

The relevance of economic data in the decision-making process for orbital launch vehicle programs, a U.S. perspective

Over the past fifteen years, major U.S. initiatives for the development of new launch vehicles have been remarkably unsuccessful. The list is long: NLI, SLI, and X-33, not to mention several cancelled programs aimed at high speed airplanes (NASP, HSCT) which would share some similar technological problems.The economic aspects of these programs are equally as important to their success as are the technical aspects. In fact, by largely ignoring economic realities in the decisions to undertake these programs and in subsequent management decisions, space agencies (and their commercial partners) have inadvertently contributed to the eventual demise of these efforts.The transportation revolution that was envisaged by the promises of these programs has never occurred. Access to space is still very expensive; reliability of launch vehicles has remained constant over the years; and market demand has been relatively low, volatile and slow to develop. The changing international context of the industry (launching overcapacity, etc.) has also worked against the investment in new vehicles in the U.S. Today, unless there are unforeseen technical breakthroughs, orbital space access is likely to continue as it has been with high costs and market stagnation.Space exploration will require significant launching capabilities. The details of the future needs are not yet well defined. But, the question of the launch costs, the overall demand for vehicles, and the size and type of role that NASA will play in the overall launch market is likely to influence the industry. This paper will emphasize the lessons learned from the economic and management perspective from past launch programs, analyze the issues behind the demand for launches, and project the challenges that NASA will face as only one new customer in a very complex market situation. It will be important for NASA to make launch vehicle decisions based as much on economic considerations as it does on solving new technical challenges.     

Global Monitoring for Environment and Security: data policy considerations

Data policy is an important element of the initiative on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), which aims to establish a European capacity for the provision and use of operational information for monitoring and management of the environment and civil security by 2008. This paper documents the data policies of the variety of information providers likely to be involved in GMES, identifies the obstacles and draws conclusions on ways to improve data policy coherence. It addresses the main policy issues associated with Earth observation data, as well as with other types of environmental data.     

Assuring the sustainability of space activities

The growth of new space systems and the continued creation of orbital debris could in a few years make activities in Earth orbit unsustainable, so finding cost-effective ways to sustain space activities in Earth orbit is essential. Because outer space activities serve the needs of the military–intelligence, civil, and commercial communities, each with their own requirements, creating the necessary international agreements for reaching and maintaining a condition of sustainability will not be easy. This paper summarizes the primary issues for the international space community regarding our future ability to reap the benefit of space systems in Earth orbit. It explores several of the efforts to develop international agreements that would lead to or support the sustainability of space activities and examines the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. In particular, it reviews progress within the UN COPUOS, and examines the EU's proposal for an international Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. It also notes the need for states to establish or expand their own space legal infrastructure to conform to the UN treaties and guidelines for space activities.