Quality assessment by region in spot images fused by means dual-tree complex wavelet transform

This work is motivated in providing and evaluating a fusion algorithm of remotely sensed images, i.e. the fusion of a high spatial resolution panchromatic image with a multi-spectral image (also known as pansharpening) using the dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT), an effective approach for conducting an analytic and oversampled wavelet transform to reduce aliasing, and in turn reduce shift dependence of the wavelet transform. The proposed scheme includes the definition of a model to establish how information will be extracted from the PAN band and how that information will be injected into the MS bands with low spatial resolution. The approach was applied to Spot 5 images where there are bands falling outside PAN’s spectrum. We propose an optional step in the quality evaluation protocol, which is to study the quality of the merger by regions, where each region represents a specific feature of the image. The results show that DT-CWT based approach offers good spatial quality while retaining the spectral information of original images, case SPOT 5. The additional step facilitates the identification of the most affected regions by the fusion process.     

Satellite communications and the Internet: implications for the outer space treaty

The speedily expanding Internet is in the process of transforming the technological, economic, and policy bases for nation-state regulation of telecommunications, including space-based satellite networks. Deployment of the packet-switched Internet has accelerated the liberalization of telecommunications markets and has led to far-reaching regulatory restructuring and policy shifts regarding state ownership and control of networks and information flows. As space-based GMPCS networks become integral parts of the globalizing Internet infrastructure, the state-centric legal paradigm requiring state “authorization and continuing supervision” of space activities by “non-governmental entities” stipulated under Article VI of the OST and associated treaties forming the outer space legal regime will be called increasingly into question. This paper examines the technological, economic/trade, and security issues that question whether the existing state-centric paradigm for regulating Internel-based GMPCS satellite systems will remain in legal phase with emerging liberalized regulatory regimes for terrestrial Internet-based infractructures.     

Updated TUS space fluorescence detector for study of UHECR

The TUS (Tracking Ultra-violet Set up) space fluorescence detector has to be launched in 2010 as a separated platform in Foton (Bion) mission prepared by the Samara enterprise. This detector was designed for another satellite and the updated variant of the TUS detector for a new platform is presented. The data on UV glow of the atmosphere obtained in operation of one pixel of the TUS detector on board the Moscow State University “Universitetsky-Tatiana” satellite was taken into account in design of the updated TUS detector. The data on UV transient flashes registered in “Universitetsky-Tatiana” mission are of special interest. Electronics of the TUS detector able to select and register different types of UV events in the atmosphere is presented.     

Africa’s first International Astronautical Congress: Highlights of IAC 2011

The 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC), held in Cape Town from 3 to 7 October 2011, was a significant milestone in the development of the African space arena. The recent emergence of a number of African countries as space actors provided fertile ground for engagement with the global space community through the medium of an IAC. A large number of space actors, in Africa and globally, coordinated their activities during the triennium 2009–2011 to build up to this historic first IAC in Africa. This paper discusses the main highlights of the congress and its immediate and potential long-term impact on the development of the African space arena.     

Building capacity in the basic space sciences in Southern Africa: Experiences and prospects

The basic space sciences and their supporting technologies underpin the ability of a country to utilise space applications programmes for development. By whatever measure is employed, Africa is under-represented in the international space science community. This paper reviews lessons learnt over the past 8 years with regard to sustainable capacity building in the region. At present there are a number of role-players in the space arena engaged in various capacity-building initiatives. We advocate that the emphasis of these initiatives should shift from fairly isolated capacity-building activities to comprehensive regional capacity-building programmes developed jointly by the different role-players. In order to develop such coordinated programmes, the establishment of a capacity-building forum involving the space community, the development sector and the developing countries in a region, is proposed.     

SETI in the light of cosmic convergent evolution

Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the founding fathers of the modern evolutionary synthesis, once famously stated that “nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution”. Here it will be argued that nothing in astrobiology makes sense except in the light of “Cosmic Convergent Evolution” (CCE). This view of life contends that natural selection is a universal force of nature that leads to the emergence of similarly adapted life forms in analogous planetary biospheres. Although SETI historically preceded the rise of astrobiology that we have witnessed in the recent decade, one of its main tenets from the beginning was the convergence of life on a cosmic scale toward intelligent behavior and subsequent communication via technological means. The question of cultural convergence in terms of symbolic exchange, language and scientific capabilities between advanced interstellar civilizations has been the subject of ongoing debate. However, at the core of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence lies in essence a biological problem since even post-biological extraterrestrial intelligences must have had an origin based on self-replicating biopolymers. Thus, SETI assumes a propensity of the Universe towards biogenesis in accordance with CCE, a new evolutionary concept which posits the multiple emergence of life across the Cosmos. Consequently, we have to wonder about the biophilic properties the Universe apparently exhibits, as well as to try to find an encompassing theory that is able to explain this “fine-tuning” in naturalistic terms. The aims of this paper are as follows: 1) to emphasize the importance of convergent evolution in astrobiology and ongoing SETI research; 2) to introduce novel and biology-centered cosmological ideas such as the “Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis” and the “Evo Devo Universe” as valuable arguments in theorizing about the origin and nature of extraterrestrial intelligence and 3) to synthesize these findings within an emerging post-biological paradigm on which future SETI efforts may be founded.