DigitalGlobe, a commercial high-resolution satellite imagery and geospatial information products provider, has joined the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), NASA and the Medallion Foundation to launch a research and development project designed to help improve aviation safety in Alaska.

The state is one of the world’s most aviation-dependant regions in the world, with approximately 600 public airports and more than 3,000 airstrips. Using cutting-edge, high-resolution satellite imagery, the DMVA is developing an estimated 65,000 square kilometers’ worth of extremely accurate terrain datasets for Alaska’s most deadly mountain passes and transportation corridors in order to reduce the number of aircraft accidents.

With help from Medallion Foundation, a non-profit aviation safety group, the Alaskan Aviation Safety Project (AASP) is developing advanced training technologies which allow pilots access to state-of-the-art flight training in preparation of their negotiating dangerous routes.

Prior to the AASP, Alaska had generated approximately 35 percent of the nation’s commercial aviation accidents; the DMVA forecasts that by next year the statistic will drop to 20 percent.