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This book was compiled from contributions given at the 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, May 4-8, 2009, Berlin (IAA - International Academy of Astronautics). From the 15 sessions for oral presentations and two poster sessions, 52 contributions were selected which are representative for the new developments and trends in the area of small satellites for Earth observation. They re ect the potentials of a diversity of missions and related technologies. This may be based on national projects or international co-operations, single satellites of constellations, pico-, nano-, micro- or mini-satellites, developed by companies, research institutions or agencies. The main focus is on new missions to monitor our Earth´s resources (Part I), and the environment in which our Earth is emb- ded (Part II). Part III deals with distributed space systems, a unique feature of small satellites and in most cases impractical to do with large satellites. Here we concentrate on constellations of satellites with focus on future missions relying on co-operating satellites. For all the new developments and projects we need well e- cated specialists coming from the universities. Many universities included already the development and implementation of small satellites in their curriculum. The u- versity satellites chapter (Part IV) shows the high quality which is already reached by some of the universities worldwide.

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Dr. Rainer Sandau, PhD 1997 and habilitation 1990, is Chief Scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, Germany. He has over 25 years of experience in airborne and spaceborne remote sensing activities.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Roeser is director of the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart and head of the German SOFIA Institute.
Arnoldo Valenzuela Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, has served in this capacity at Media Lario Technologies since January 2004. From 1999 until 2003 he was president and CEO; and from 1995 to 1998, Dr. Valenzuela served as the Company´s managing director. Prior to joining Media Lario Technologies, Dr. Valenzuela was director of scientific programs and responsible for business development and marketing strategy at Kayser-Threde GmbH, a German provider of complete space systems from launch to recovery.
Also in Germany, from 1971 through 1994, Valenzuela was senior scientist and leading investigator at the Max Planck Institut (MPE).
From 1986 until 1988, Valenzuela was president of the Argentine National Commission for Space Research. A board member of Argentina´s National Commission for Space Research, Valenzuela was the Argentine representative to the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space within the United Nations´ General Assembly.
Internationally recognized for scientific achievement, Valenzuela has garnered awards from the International Academy of Astronautics (2), NASA (2), and European Space Agency (1). He has three international patent applications and is an active member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Academy of Space Sciences: Argentina, and many professional scientific organizations.
In addition to his current responsibilities at Media Lario Technologies, Valenzuela serves as chairman of both the Commission IV and the Committee on Small Satellite Missions for the International Academy of Astronautics.
Valenzuela holds a Ph.D. in physics and a M.S. in physics from the National University of Cuyo, Argentina. He received a B.Sc. in electronics from the University of Córdoba, Argentina.

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