Ben Gurion University to Monitor Natural Hazards in Mideast
Integral Systems, Inc.
today announced that the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert
Research, part of Ben Gurion University in Israel, has purchased a complete
SKYLIGHT Direct Broadcast Ground Terminal for receiving and processing
satellite Earth science data. The real-time data will be used for
environmental monitoring of dust, floods, air and water pollution, fires,
earthquakes, and other natural hazards over the Middle East region.
The project is part of a long-term collaboration between the University
and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to establish a “super-site” for assessing
various satellite-derived data products. Arnon Karnieli, who is leading the
project at the Institute, stated, “To implement the ‘super-site’ objective, we
are assembling a large variety of remote sensing instruments for measuring
atmospheric and surface properties. The main component of the site will be
Integral’s SKYLIGHT system.”
SKYLIGHT incorporates the most recently released NASA science algorithms
for a variety of science data products, including fire detection maps, volcano
eruption alerts, atmospheric profiles, and other data products. The highly
automated system tracks, downlinks, and processes data from the MODIS Earth
imaging instrument aboard the two NASA flagship Earth Observation System (EOS)
satellites, Terra and Aqua. Its data products can be searched for,
distributed, and analyzed entirely through a sophisticated web interface.
With Ben Gurion University’s system, real-time images will be transmitted to
NASA’s MODIS Land Rapid Response system, which has been developed to provide
rapid access to MODIS data globally. The complete system will be delivered in
late June.
About Integral Systems
Founded in 1982, Integral Systems is a leading provider of satellite
systems and has supported over 190 different satellite missions for
communications, science, meteorological and earth resource applications. The
Company was the first to offer an integrated suite of COTS (Commercial-Off-
The-Shelf) software products for satellite command & control, the EPOCH 2000
product line. EPOCH has become a world market leader in commercial
applications with successful installations on 5 continents. The Company also
offers products and services for satellite integration and test and payload
data processing.
In addition to the SKYLIGHT satellite ground terminals, the Company’s
subsidiary, SAT Corporation, provides satellite and terrestrial communications
signal monitoring systems to satellite operators and users throughout the
world. Through its Newpoint Technologies, Inc. subsidiary, the Company also
provides software for equipment monitoring and control to satellite operators
and telecommunications firms. The Company’s RT Logic subsidiary builds
telemetry processing systems for military applications including tracking
stations, control centers and range operations. Integral Systems has
approximately 350 employees working at Company headquarters in Lanham,
Maryland, and at other locations in the U.S. and Europe. For more
information, visit http: //www.integ.com.
Except for statements of historical facts, this news release contains
forward-looking statements about the Company. Such statements are subject to
risks and uncertainties, including the Company’s reliance on contracts and
subcontracts funded by the U.S. government, intense competition in the ground
systems industry, the competitive bidding process to which the Company’s
government and commercial contracts are subject, the Company’s dependence on
the satellite industry for most of its revenues, rapid technological changes
in the satellite industry, the Company’s acquisition strategy and those other
risks noted in the Company’s SEC filings. The Company assumes no obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statements appearing in this news
release.
