[11-07-07 – Satellite Today] QinetiQ and other members of a consortium of British firms have agreed to provide satellite images to relief agencies around the world for free, QinetiQ announced Nov. 7.
    Images captured by TopSat, a micro-satellite system that provides high-resolution imaging of the Earth quickly and at low cost, will be included in the International Charter: “Space and Major Disasters”, a joint initiative by global space agencies such as the European Space Agency, to provide responding authorities with rapid access to a wide range of satellite data. The charter was established in 2000 and has since been activated over 140 times.
    Satellite images can be of immense value to relief agencies in the identification and management of both man-made and natural disasters. TopSat has already played a vital role in revealing the full extent of the destruction caused by landslides in North Korea in 2006 which are estimated to have taken more than 10,000 lives. A new TopSat image released today also shows the aftermath of this summer’s forest fires in Greece.