[10-29-07 – Satellite Today]  The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has renewed a contract with DMC International Imaging Ltd. for a third year of acquiring high-resolution satellite images of the Amazon rainforest, DMC announced Oct. 26.
    The program, which monitors deforestation, has reduced the rate of logging in the rainforest from 27,000 square kilometers per year to 10,000 square kilometers in 2007, DMC said.
    "The DMC data is an important affordable contribution to our assessment of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest,” Gilberto Camara, director general of INPE said in a statement. “The constellation is able to rapidly acquire and deliver high quality imagery so that we have up-to-date information to focus our efforts. It is our intention to develop a long term relationship with DMC"
    The five-satellite international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) provides DMC imagery. The DMC small satellites, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), use wide area cameras to capture the high-resolution images. Two new DMC satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2008 and a third in 2009.
    "When the new DMC satellites launch in 2008, these will add considerably to INPE’s ability to monitor and combat changes in the rainforest and their consequences for both the local people and the global climate,” Paul Stephens, DMC’s marketing director, said.