Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has completed its August 2008-July 2009 detailed survey of deforestation by shallow cut throughout the Amazon region (INPE announcement). Its PRODES (Monitoring of the Brazilian Forest by Satellite) programme analyzed 400 images from Landsat, CBERS and the DMC Satellite Constellation to confirm that deforestation during the period was 7464 square kilometers, a reduction of 42% in comparison to 2007-2008. This is the lowest annual deforestation rate since INPE started systematic monitoring of the Amazon forest by satellite in 1988.

DMCii has worked with INPE to provide annual imaging of the whole Amazon Basin since 2005 to support this activity. By using multiple satellites, each capable of imaging a 650km wide swath of the forest canopy, DMCii is able to provide multi-spectral images of the entire area in 4-6 weeks. This provided INPE with valuable and timely information to help identify the extent of deforestation.

A significant decline in deforestation in the Amazon Basin has been observed since 2004. This is due in part to INPE’s new earth DETER system that detects deforestation in real time by fortnightly satellite imaging. This allows the supervisory board to take effective and prompt actions to combat illegal logging as it happens, rather than having to wait until after the damage is done.

Satellite capabilities play a crucial role in providing impartial information about deforestation in these large, inaccessible areas. The development of satellite constellations, pioneered by the DMC satellite constellation, has led to improved temporal and spatial resolution, enabling operational monitoring to support active and timely response to deforestation.

INPE announcement: www.inpe.br/ingles/news/news_dest117.php

Space Blog readers from the US might be interested to learn that SSTL and its earth-imaging subsidiary DMCii will be featured in the Discovery Channel series program “How Do They Do It?”. The show has already aired in Europe, and now as promised in our August blog Watch SSTL and DMCii on TV, here's an update on the first US broadcast.

The episode is due to receive its first US transmission on Discovery Science Channel on Thursday 1st October at 9pm Eastern Time. It will also be repeated at midnight that day and then on Saturday 3rd October at 4am Eastern Time. Tune in with your family and friends for a lighthearted insight into how SSTL is changing the economics of space and see a hyperspectral imager being assembled at SSTL's optical payloads group.

Nigeria’s space programme has made further progress this month, as the NigeriaSat-2 and NX Earth observation satellites passed environmental tests.

Environmental tests comprise a series of rigorous checks that are conducted to simulate the environment in which the spacecraft will operate in space. All spacecraft undergo these tests to validate the designs and to ensure quality control. It is a formal review milestone and a point at which SSTL engineers can identify potential issues for correction.

The NX satellite has been integrated and tested by Nigerian engineers working at SSTL during the past 2 years as part of their training and development programme.

This is the second such programme that SSTL has supplied to NASRDA. In 2003, NigeriaSat-1 was launched into the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) and remains operational. The launch of two further Nigerian satellites into the DMC will ensure continuity of the nation’s space assets as well as a significant advancement in capability through NigeriaSat-2’s high-resolution capability.

Under the current contract with the National Space Research & Development Agency (NASRDA), SSTL is providing a high-resolution Earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2, based on the SSTL-300 platform – the first to be built by SSTL. NX is based on the SSTL-100 platform, which has gained flight heritage through existing satellites in the DMC. Under the supervision of SSTL engineers, NX was built by the Nigerian training engineers, who also took the satellite through its test programme. A Nigerian operations team will also be on hand throughout the launch and commissioning phase, learning the necessary skills to operate the new spacecraft..

The tests include thermal simulation, taking the spacecraft through the extreme ranges of temperature that they will experience in low earth orbit. These tests were conducted in the large space test chamber at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. Each spacecraft was subjected to hot and cold cycles within a temperature range of +60dC to -20dC. Vacuum tests replicated the non-atmospheric environment in which the satellites will operate some 686km above the Earth. Thermal vacuum tests ran over a 5-day, 24-hour period with each subsystem tested individually within the extremes of environment.

The two satellites were then taken to EADS Astrium’s Portsmouth facility for vibration tests that simulate the challenging conditions of launch.

NigeriaSat-2 was then moved to the QinetiQ facilities in Chertsey where electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests were carried out to simulate interference and radiation effects that the satellite and subsystem electronics will face in orbit.

This is an exciting time for the 25 Nigerian engineers who have spent varying periods of time at SSTL and the University of Surrey over the past 2 years, working and studying to achieve the skills that will underpin Nigeria’s ongoing space programme. Both NigeriaSat-2 and NX are now nearing completion with the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) this month.

On September 22nd the training and development programme will reach completion and a new generation of highly skilled engineers will return to Nigeria to resume their work at the National Space Research & Development Agency (NASRDA) whilst they wait with anticipation for the launch of the two new satellites.

Just over a month ago, on July 30, 2009 Visit NASRDA website marked its 10 years of existence as a National Space Research & Development Agency, with mandate for the implementation of the Nigeria National Space Policies and Programmes

SSTL & DMCii are scheduled to be featured on the Discovery Channel’s "How Do They Do It?" television programme. Tune in to either Discovery Channel or Discovery HD at 20:00 on Thursday 27th August (Updated).

If you are not one of the 1.2 billion who already watch the program, "How Do They Do It?" showcases a wide variety of technology and inventions from around the world from the cutting-edge to the well established, telling the story behind the technology and essentially explaining how things work.

The SSTL/DMCii section is entitled “How do they make the satellites that provide pixel perfect pictures of the earth from deep space?”, which seems partucularly timely, considering the SSTL built UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 satellites have just been launched and are supplying their first satellite images to DMCii as this blog is published.

For those readers outside the UK, the program will be followed by a US version on the Science Channel in early September. Space Blog will keep readers up to date nearer the time, with details where possible.