got geoint?

Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? We hope everyone had a restful weekend. Once again, we have a complete roster of GEOINT-related stories to help you have the most productive week of 2011. From the surge in mobile and cloud-based GEOINT applications to a future where we harvest energy from the sun from space, we have all the news you need in one convenient location. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on. Happy Monday!

US Military Seeks to Turn Planes into Satellite Launchers
MSNBC story about the Pentagon’s program to turn airliners into airborne launch platforms that can send small satellites into orbit within 24 hours.

Demand Prompts Surge in GEOINT Applications for Mobile Devices
Insightful Space News article about the rise in mobile GEOINT applications that features Raytheon and General Dynamics’ efforts in this arena.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency November/December Pathfinder Highlights Grand Opening of NCE
The November/December issue of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) Pathfinder magazine, now available online at www.nga.mil, highlights the grand opening of NGA Campus East—NGA’s new headquarters for GEOINT.

Ball Aerospace Wins U.S. Air Force Contract to Support Distributed Common Ground System
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been awarded four task order contracts worth more than $17 million to develop and integrate enhanced operational capabilities for the U.S. Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS).

Northrop Grumman-Built STSS Demonstration Satellites Participate in THAAD Weapon System Multiple Missile Test
The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites tracked two different missile targets and delivered data in real-time to support a successful Oct. 5 flight test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system, according to Northrop Grumman Corporation.

Is Geospatial Cloud Computing a Commodity?
Our friends at Directions Magazine Directions Magazine conducted a survey among several solution providers (Esri, Ubisense,eSpatial, Accela, ERDAS) to see if they considered geospatial cloud computing to be a commodity and what additional differentiators potential users are looking for before buying solutions.

U.S. Government Turns to Crowdsourcing for Intelligence
National Defense Magazine’s recent piece on the rise of crowdsourcing to help with intelligence gathering.

Orbiting Stations Would Harvest Sun’s Energy
Researchers are predicting that we will be able to harvest the sun’s energy from space in 30 years.

Tags: Ball Aerospace, Crowdsourcing Intelligence, ERDAS, GEOINT, geospatial cloud solutions, geospatial intelligence, Harvesting the Sun's Energy, Mobile GEOINT, NGA Pathfinder, Space Tracking and Surveillance System