ESA satellite data helps fight Portuguese forest fires
The European Space Agency (ESA) satellite Artemis is currently being used for the first time under the international charter on space and major disasters to help fire fighters in Portugal tackle the blazes in the south of the country. Portugal's civil protection unit has been receiving information, including images showing the scope of the fires, from Envisat, ESA's Earth observation satellite, via the Artemis data-relay spacecraft in geostationary orbit. Using Artemis for data relay significantly reduces delays in image reception. The charter provides for international collaboration to combine satellite resources in order to assist rescue authorities and other civil protection agencies. Members include ESA, Argentina, Canada, France, India and the US. Artemis is ESA's latest telecommunications satellite, and is designed to qualify new space technologies and promote new services. It also carries payloads for land mobile communications and a navigation payload as part of the European geostationary navigation overlay service.
Countries
Portugal