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CORONAVIRUS SAFE APP AUSTRALIA covidsafe.gov.au                                   aus.gov.au/app Australian government’s Covid-19 safe tracking app The app will ask for your name (or pseudonym), age range, postcode and phone number. How does the app work? After you download and install the app from the Australian Apple App store or Google Play store – which you can also access from the government’s Covidsafe app page covidsafe.gov.au or aus.gov.au/app – you’ll be asked to register your name (or pseudonym), age range, postcode and phone number. That information is stored encrypted on a government server, and then passed on to state and territory health authorities in the event that someone you’ve been in contact with has tested positive. Using Bluetooth, the app records anyone you get close to wh...

Mapping methane emissions on a global scale : An important new tool to combat climate change is now available. Using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, this new technology makes it possible to track and attribute methane emissions around the world. Mapping methane emissions on a global scale Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas and its concentration in the atmosphere is currently increasing at a rate. of around 1% per year. It effectively absorbs heat from the sun, more so than carbon dioxide, and contributes significantly to the warming of the atmosphere. As a result, there is a growing demand to track and regulate methane emissions. Scientists from Kayrros, a European technology start-up, have recently developed a platform to monitor methane emissions on a global scale. Their findings come from a technology that leverages  Copernicus Sentinel-5P  data along with additional information from a range of other sources – such as ground ...

DRIVING INTO THE FUTURE  Image: A highly autonomous self-driving shuttle has entered service at ESA’s technical heart.   it was assigned a suitably spacey name – ‘Orbiter’ – chosen through  an employee competition. The Agency’s ESTEC establishment in Noordwijk, the Netherlands,  is being used as a testbed for the automated shuttle,  to assess its viability as a ‘last mile’ solution for public transport. ESTEC was selected because it is a controlled private environment  but with all common transport found on public roads – cars, bikes,  pedestrians and roundabouts – the shuttle is able to operate in mixed traffic. “We’re very pleased to be involved with testing this project,” said Franco Ongaro,  Head of ESTEC and ESA’s Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality,  “as it makes practical use of technologies we have been developing here at ESTEC.” The autonomous vehicle calculate...

SOCIAL DISTANCING APP FREE FOR YOU...…… Social distancing app uses space to save lives A free app that helps people observe social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus is about to launch. Devised by Lanterne , a UK start-up company supported by ESA, it uses satellite data and artificial intelligence technologies to identify where people are congregating anywhere in the world.