RE: Small satellites for small nations

I don't think I posted this earlier.  If so, mea culpa.

food for thought.

<snip>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2984182.stm

Disaster relief from space
		 By Helen Briggs 
		 BBC News Online science reporter 

		 When a lake high in the Andes threatened to flood
earlier
this
		 year, sending a river of debris on to the town below,
there
was
		 little that could be to done to avert a humanitarian
disaster. 

		 Thanks to images taken by a US space agency (Nasa)
satellite,
		 authorities were at least able to monitor the situation
and
make
		 plans to evacuate residents. 

		 Hi-tech satellite imagery is
		 increasingly being used by
		 international agencies and
		 governments to help deliver aid
		 when disaster strikes. 

		 But, while there is no shortage of
		 earth-observing satellites
		 orbiting the globe, they are not
		 always in the right place at the
		 right time to take pictures. 

		 This is about to change. Next
		 month, three satellites belonging
		 to Nigeria, Turkey and the UK, will
		 be launched from the Plesetsk
		 Cosmodrome in Russia. 

		 The first satellite, from Algeria, was launched last
November and
		 is now operational. 

		 Together, they will form a constellation of micro
satellites
		 dedicated to disaster monitoring that will cover the
whole
world
		 every day for the first time. 

		 Smaller, cheaper 

		 The satellites have been built by a spin-off company
from
the
		 University of Surrey in Guildford, southern England. 

		 The firm, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, is leading
the
disaster
		 monitoring constellation, a collaboration of
organisations
in seven
		 countries: Algeria, China, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey,
Vietnam and
		 the UK. 

		 What is different about these satellites is that they
are
smaller
		 and cheaper than most; this makes them more accessible
to
		 countries that don't have sophisticated space
programmes. 

		 "Space has been the reserve of the large economies
traditionally
		 for the last 20 years," says senior marketing manager
Paul
		 Stephens. 

		 "But we have been working to build small satellites at
very
low
		 cost at Surrey and these have been based on using
commercial,
		 off-the-shelf components that are used in every day
computers
		 and cars and so on. 

		 "By cutting the cost by perhaps a factor of ten it
means
that
		 many more countries can afford to have presence in
space
that
		 enables their own scientists and people to use that
resource in
		 the country." 

		 Knowledge transfer 

		 Engineers from 12 emerging space nations, including
Algeria,
		 Nigeria and Turkey, have spent months at the green
lake-side
		 campus where Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd is based. 

		 Alongside the company's staff, they learn the
technology
to
build
		 and operate satellites when they return home. 

		 Once the satellites are in
		 operation late this year, each
		 nation will have its own resource
		 for geographical mapping, while
		 contributing 5% of satellite time
		 free of charge for international
		 disaster relief through the charity
		 Reuters AlertNet. 

		 "If a disaster strikes, people
		 need information very quickly and
		 the existing satellite
		 infra-structure has difficulty
		 responding within 24 hours," says Ian Downey, head of
		 applications and market development at the British
National
		 Space Centre in London. 

		 He says Britain's contribution to the programme, the
satellite
		 UK-DMC, is primarily to complete the constellation for
disaster
		 relief work. 

		 "The UK satellite will help to provide 24-hour coverage
of
the
		 globe for disaster relief and natural resource
monitoring,"
he
		 says. 

		 Information from the constellation of satellites should
also prove
		 invaluable to aid workers in the field. 

		 Using hand-held devices, that will be able to get
up-to-date
		 images and maps wherever they are in the world. 

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