Thursday, January 04, 2007

Paris as seen by Envisat


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This Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) multitemporal colour composite image shows an area of 100 Km swath width centred over Paris, France, shown as a large bright area. The image is made of three ASAR images acquired on different dates and assigning a colour to each date (Red) 11 January 2003, (Green) 3 July 2003, (Blue) 3 April 2003.

Visible landmarks are the Seine River that flows across the image, the Peripherique (City Ring), the Charles De Gaulle (north of Paris) and the Orly International (south) Airports. The gray-greenish patches just outside the Paris Ring Road are the Bois de Boulogne (west) and the Bois de Vincennes (east).

The faint line running from the centre of Paris westward is the line formed by the Louvre, the Tuileries Gardens (along the Seine river), the Champs-Elysees, and the Defense. The magenta and yellow colours around the city are agricultural fields, mostly the wheatfields of the Beauce region, which show a high degree of change from one season to the next.

Overview of ESA communication activities in 2007

2007 will be a highly symbolic year for the space sector worldwide
50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, marking the start of the space age
and for Europe in particular - 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome establishing the European Community.

Under the motto "Discovery, competitiveness and European identity", ESA Communication will strive to promote ESA’s missions in its main areas of activity: Science, Earth observation, Navigation, Telecommunication, Human spaceflight and Exploration, and Launchers. Watch out for press conferences, exhibitions, political rendezvous, launch events and much more.
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Dream no small dreams for they have no power
to move the hearts of men. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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