the development of satellite geodesy in nigeria

8/8/2019 The Development of Satellite Geodesy in Nigeria

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The development of Satellite Geodesy in Nigeria

Introduction

Man has long been able to perform surveys precisely measuring the spatial relationships between

various landmarks within a given land area. This has traditionally been accomplished using the

process of triangulation. For example, in the United States, a high-accuracy triangulation networkwith stations located on mountain peaks and on tall, steel-observing towers has served as the

foundation for our mapping systems for many years. The network was created by the U.S. Coast and

Geodetic Survey.

That agency, founded in 1807 under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, originally was charged

only with mapping our coasts. After it was realized that comprehensive mapping was impossible

without a skeleton of control points, the agencys mission was expanded to include a control

network for the nation.

Similar networks existed within many of the more developed countries or continents, allowing

accurate mapping within each network. Yet, since this type of survey was expensive whenperformed by classical means and since line of sight was required between stations, the networks

were typically limited in coverage. Further, the relationship between such networks was only

coarsely known. Absolute positioning using conventional astronomic observations was adequate for

coarse navigation, but it did not allow precise positioning. Therefore, by the middle of this century

the world had a number of very precise local networks with very coarsely known interrelationships.

With the advent of the space age, a new tool for surveyors emerged. Even though the early satellites

were relatively unsophisticated, the orbiting satellites offered a high, widely visible target.

Geodesists from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, together with Dr. Helmut Schmidt of the Army

Ballistic Research Laboratory, devised a system that was, in effect, three-dimensional triangulation.

Under that scheme, a passive, sun-illuminated satellite could be photographed simultaneously from

three widely spaced locations, with relative positions for two of the locations being known. Using

stars in the background of all three photographs, the precise orientation of each camera and

subsequently the relative location of the third point could be calculated. This concept requires that

the shutters on the cameras, which chop the image of the satellite trail, be synchronized to within

a few millionths of a second.

This led to the advent of GPS surveying or what weve come to know today as satellite surveying.

Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to the

political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous alternativeto Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work on the Explorer

project.

On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I. This

satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts

around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer program

continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.


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The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National

Aeronautics and Space Act (commonly called the "Space Act"), which created

NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for

Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.

Sputnik

NASA did pioneering work in space applications such as communications satellites in the 1960s. The

Echo, Telstar, Relay, and Syncom satellites were built by NASA or by the private sector based on

significant NASA advances.

In the 1970s, NASA's Landsat program literally changed the way we look at our planet Earth. The firstthree Landsat satellites, launched in 1972, 1975, and 1978, transmitted back to Earth complex data

streams that could be converted into colored pictures. Landsat data has been used in a variety of

practical commercial applications such as crop management and fault line detection, and to track

many kinds of weather such as droughts, forest fires, and ice floes. NASA has been involved in a

variety of other Earth science efforts such as the Earth Observation System of spacecraft and data

processing that have yielded important scientific results in such areas as tropical deforestation,

global warming, and climate change.

Since the 1970s, many advanced nations of the world such as Russia, China, Japan, Soviet Union,

France, Ukraine, Iran, United Kingdom, until very recently Nigeria and a whole lot more countries are

added to the list of satellite owning nations

Nigerian Space program

In 1999, the Federal Government of Nigeria approved the Nigerian Space Policy and the

implementation of the space program, as outlined in the policy, commenced with the establishment

of a National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), under the Federal Ministry of

Science and Technology. The mission of NASRDA is to vigorously pursue the attainment of space

capabilities and the enhancement of the quality of life of its people. The space policy has a 25-year

program tailored towards the development of Space Science and Technology in Nigeria through

research and development (R&D), as well as capacity-building in the fields of science, engineering,

space law and administration for sustainable national development. The policy has both short- and

long-term space mission programs. The implementation of the programs focuses on the

achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other regional and


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national socio-economic development objectives as highlighted by the New Partnership for Africas

Development (NEPAD) and National Economic Empowerment & Development Strategies (NEEDS).

Nigeria intends to vigorously pursue the attainment of space capabilities as an essential tool for its

socio-economic development and the enhancement of the quality of life of its people. The Nation

shall achieve this through research, rigorous education, engineering development, design andmanufacture of appropriate hardware and software in space technology, including transport and

payloads, such as satellite, telescopes and antennas for scientific research and applications. The

Government shall also foster Bi-lateral and international cooperation in all aspects of Space Science

and Technology to ensure that Nigerian Scientists and Engineers benefit from global developments

in the space enterprise.

The vision of Nigeria and Africa is to attain competence and capabilities in relevant areas of space

science and technology that would impact on sustainable socio-economic development and improve

the quality of life of Nigerians and Africans, and to make Africa pro-active and also compete in space

exploration.

For the attainment of space capabilities, Nigerias space efforts focus on research and rigorous

education, engineering development, design and manufacture, particularly in the areas of

instrumentation, rocketry and small satellites as well as in satellite data acquisition, processing,

analysis and management of related software. The establishment of a national earth observation

station for remote sensing and satellite meteorology data acquisition enhanced the indigenous

ability to adopt, modify and create new techniques for national resources inventories, monitoring,

evaluation and management.

Nigerian Space Agency the National Space Research and Development Agency [NASRDA] was

established with a mission to pursue the development and application of space science and

technology for the socio-economic benefits of the nation and the Nigerian space programme

constitutes an important component of the national strategy for socio-economic development

through space application and participation in the global industry.

The overall agenda of the Nigerias space agenda is geared towards sustainable national

development and security including the development of new resources, understanding of our

environment and the maintenance of national security. The National Geospatial Data Infrastructure

[NGDI] coordinated by [NASRDA], will facilitate efficient production, management, dissemination

and use of geospatial information for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Nigeria launched its first satellite, NigeriaSat 1, into orbit in September 2003, after Nigerian experts

underwent training in London. The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA)

also embarked on the next generations of satellites: a communication satellite to be called

NigcomSat-1 and a high resolution African Resources Management Constellation (ARMC) satellite,

NigeriaSat-2.


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Further plans to develop a communication satellite were in progress; it was recognized that

ineffective communications represented one of the greatest barriers to socio-economic

development and NigComSAT would be designed to contribute to providing an adequate

telecommunications system throughout Nigeria and regional coverage to ECOWAS countries.

Nigeria realized the importance of this technology, did not hesitate in leapfrogging to thetechnology. Satellite can perform several different operations depending on the type of payload.

Most notable are Remote Sensing Satellite, Communication Satellite, Astronomical Satellite,

Meteorology Satellite, and Space Station. Nigeria is presently pursuing the development of the first

two types of satellite.

Short Term Program Objectives are access to real-time and affordable Earth Observation data,

(meteorology and remote sensing), for weather forecast, resources inventory and environmental

and disaster management, through either direct purchase of images from existing satellites or the

development of

(a) Earth observation satellite and

(b) Low cost ground receiving station.

Access to affordable satellite communication back-bone, such as the on-going NigcomSat-1 project

and Rascom, and infrastructure to meet the need for ICT - based investment/business opportunities

and socio-economic development.

NigeriaSat-1 has 3 spectral bands namely; Green: 0.52-0.62m, Red: 0.63-0.69 m and NIR: 0.76-0.9

m. It is one of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) satellites and has a swath width of

600km and revisit cycle of 3-5 days. It has spectral resolution comparable to SPOT XS and spatial

resolution comparable to Landsat TM. The camera is operated in two banks and used to produce

images with approximately 32 m ground sampling distance (spatial resolution), across a swath width

of approximately 600 x 600 km

Nigeria reportedly signed in December 2004 a contract with CGWIC for the design, manufacture and

launch of the NIGCOMSAT 1 (Nigerian Communication Satellite). It was based on the chinese DFH-4

Bus and featured 4 C-band, 14 Ku-band, 8 Ka-band and 2 L-band transponders.

The satellite was successfully launched on 13.05.2007 on a CZ-3B/E booster.

In April 2008, NIGCOMSAT 1 lost power from the southern solar array. The satellite failed in

November 2008 due to a technical error of the satellite's northern solar array and was sent to a

graveyard orbit as it became apparent, that the satellite could not be recovered.

In March 2009 Nigeria signed a contract for the free delivery and launch of a replacement satellite

called NIGCOMSAT 1R. It will be launched in 2011.


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Uses of the NigeriaSat 1 Satellite

At conception, Nigerian intended to use the satellite for a range of vital humanitarianactivities, including disaster management and early warning signals for floods.

Information obtained would assist government to document, plan, evacuate victims, andmanage disasters.

The satellite is also to be used to determine human activities on the environment, identifynatural occurrences and their potential areas of spread and damages. This would enable

government install appropriate plans to avoid or manage occurrence of disasters such as oil

pollution, desertification, erosion, forest fire, and deforestation.

In agriculture, the NigeriaSat-1 is to be used for mapping, land use planning andmanagement of sustainable grazing, forest logging and planning afforestation programmes.

It would also provide data needed for crop inventory and yield forecast.

Water resources development and management, including assessment of the quantity andquality of surface and underground water, rainfall prediction, as well as integrated water

resources management on drought and other disaster forecast.

Solid mineral exploration and exploitation, including general geological mapping and mapupdate or revision, as well as differentiating host mineral areas in oil, gas and solid mineral

exploration.

Ecosystem: Evaluation and monitoring of vegetation and land use as well as the aquaticsystem.

Local and regional planning for tourism and its potentials. Scientists from the National Airspace Development Agency say that the satellite is capable of

delivering data that would serve demographic uses such as mapping and planning of

population surveys, census enumeration areas, as well as mapping, planning and monitoring

of rural and urban growth.

The NigeriaSat-1 satellite project would also be used to map state and internationalboundaries, plan and map terrain traffic for defense and security purposes, as well as serve

as a potent weapon to identify and neutralize international criminals.

Finally, the NigeriaSat-1 project provides important services in the areas of health andeducation. It would be used in public health delivery to establish the relationship between

malaria vectors and the environment that breeds malaria, while its remote sensing

technology can be used to give early warning signals on future outbreaks of meningitis.

The satellite is also to provide the technology needed to bring education to all parts of thecountry via distant learning.

Commercial benefits of NigeriaSat 1

Space activities incorporate some of the most important areas of high technology such ascomputer software and hardware development, sophisticated electronics,

telecommunications, satellite manufacturing, life sciences, advanced materials and launch

technology.


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Space activities also involve some of the most significant issues of international trade andpolicy, gaining access to global markets and remote areas.

Government hopes in future to employ people in space industry as an important economicengine of development.

It is also expected that the Nigerian space industry would serve neighboring Africancountries with data needs and thereby generate foreign exchange for the country.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) signed in November 2006 a contract in Abuja for the supply of

the NIGERIASAT-2 Earth observation satellite, related ground infrastructure and a training

programme to further establish a national indigenous space capability in the Federal Republic of

Nigeria.

The selection of SSTL by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria

follows a detailed technical evaluation and due diligence undertaken by NASRDAs procurement

advisor, Telesat of Canada, confirming the UK companys position as the world-leading supplier of

advanced operational small satellites.

The new 300 kg satellite, for launch in 2009, will provide Nigeria with valuable geographically

referenced high-resolution satellite imaging for applications in mapping, water resources

management, agricultural land use, population estimation, health hazard monitoring and disaster

mitigation and management.

SSTL will develop NIGERIASAT-2 based upon its new generation of high-resolution Earth observation

satellites to provide affordable access to space, using the latest advanced small satellite technologies

developed from the TOPSAT and Beijing-1 missions launched successfully in 2005.


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References:

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/history/links/gps.htm

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsatellite.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/nigeria/nigeriasat-1.htm

Berry, J.K. (1993) Beyond Mapping: Concepts, Algorithms and Issues in GIS. Fort Collins, CO: GIS

World Books.

Bolstad, P. (2005) GIS Fundamentals: A first text on Geographic Information Systems, Second Edition.

White Bear Lake, MN: Eider Press, 543 pp.

Burrough, P.A. and McDonnell, R.A. (1998) Principles of geographical information systems.Oxford

University Press, Oxford, 327 pp.

Chang, K. (2007) Introduction to Geographic Information System, 4th Edition. McGraw Hill.

Coulman, Ross (2001present) Numerous GIS White Papers

the development of satellite geodesy in nigeria

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