Thailand 2009-12-05

While not the first map stamp issue of 2010, Thailand Post’s Theos issue of December 5, 2009 is sure to be high on the list of important cartophilatelic issues of the previous year. The 3.00 Bath stamp was issued to mark the launch of Thailand’s first Earth Observation Satellite (EOS), on October 1st, 2008. The platform has two cameras, a panchromatic and multi-spectral with resolutions of 2m and 15m respectively. The multi-spectral sensor has 4 bands (B,G,R,NIR). The platform is very versatile supplying imagery for natural resources management, agriculture and vegetation monitoring. The 2m data is suitable for cartographic applications, land use monitoring, and security applications. The satellite was built by EADS Astrium and is operated by Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA). You can even track the satellite and others using this link. [ two years ago i had the honor of visiting GISTDA and one of their ground station facilities. it was very fascinating to learn about the infrastructure and the researchers of GISTDA were very excited about the upcoming launch of THEOS. THEOS is one of many EOS that monitor the planet daily, providing massive amounts of data for scientific research. ]