Italian satellites are set to
monitor the Amazon rainforest for deforestation, sources said
Tuesday.
The four satellites of the Cosmo-SkyMed constellation will
control the state of health of a million square metres of Amazon
forest, with a close eye on growing deforestation in Brazil,
they said.
The e-Geos company, 80% owned by Finmeccanica-Telespazio and
20%-owned by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), has landed a
contract, along with Brazil's Geoambiente, from the management
centre for the protection of the Amazon, Censipam.
The contract, valid thorugh 2016 and renewable for a second
year, will enable researchers to get the first complete picture
of the situation, given how hard it is to get data and images
from an area that is continually covered in cloud.
Thanks to their radar, the Cosmo-SkyMed satellites will be
able to capture images and data in any weather conditions,
working day and night.
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