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World Space Week begins today, Thursday, October 4 – a series of world events organized by the United Nations. This year's theme is "Space Unites the World".
Three new reports released today by the British Space Agency point out that the potential of the space industry lies not only in the observation of the Earth's cosmos, but also in its return to Earth from an orbit to solve terrestrial problems.
The reports reveal how industry can help save lives and livelihoods from natural disasters, address the major challenges of the agricultural sector, and better manage forests to improve production and protect nature. Global scale.
Developing technology for developing countries
The first document, Space for Disaster Resilience in Developing Countries, explains how the space sector is well placed to provide new types of information.
The unique advantage of space solutions is "comprehensive, replicable and scalable data that can provide valuable information about our dynamic planet," he says, especially in developing countries where data and information are available. are insufficient.
The second report, The Space for Agriculture in Developing Countries, describes four major food challenges facing the world: low agricultural production contributing to hunger and malnutrition; increasing demand for food and decreasing availability of land as a result of population growth; extreme weather conditions, as well as land loss and changes in growing conditions caused by climate change; and the decline in access to natural resources such as land and water, due to their unsustainable use.
Earth observation data
The analysis of Earth observation data can also help address these challenges, said the British Space Agency, via better decision-making tools, early warning systems, and the development of new technologies. targeted insurance and financing options to help local farmers.
For example, OT data can help increase production by improving the accuracy and relevance of decision support, by giving producers and support services to agriculture the means to to make better farming decisions.
The OE provides high quality data on crop performance, concurrent land use and modeling to identify any problem that may reduce yields.
The OT data analysis can also provide information on risks and land degradation, which can be used by organizations providing funding to small producers to reduce uncertainties and thus make funding more accessible and affordable.
OT data can also support the supply chain and provide information for improved monitoring and detection of crop productivity at the field and farm level. In addition, it can help local producers to operate more efficiently and sustainably by improving the management of natural resources.
Finally, EO and weather satellites help create effective early warning systems for extreme weather conditions that can lead to pest outbreaks.
In August, the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite, built by the British, was launched, which will help improve weather forecasts.
See the forest above the trees
The third report, Space for Forestry in Developing Countries, paints a gloomy picture of forestry today, with challenges such as: the soaring carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. forests; loss of tax revenue from illegal logging and land use conversion; risks for wood resources resulting from fires, many of which are caused by climate change; the imperative to increase the resilience of forests to the loss of biodiversity – and forest-dependent livelihoods; the need to balance economic development with the maintenance of ecosystems; and the lack of detailed data on all these problems.
In each case, space technologies can strengthen the Earth's defenses, said the British Space Agency, improving: monitoring deforestation and forest degradation; mapping and conservation of forests and biodiversity; commercial management of forests and land use.
The report states, "While satellites capable of imaging forests have been in orbit for decades, the sector is currently undergoing a revolution. There is a profusion of imaging satellites of the Earth's surface with optical and radar sensors operating at different temporal and spatial resolutions, which allows a considerable increase in the number of EO data.
"Crucially, some of the new data is provided for free, for example by the Sentinel satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA). In addition, a parallel revolution in computer science and data science allows software to automatically process EO data in order to extract models and information.
'A rapidly growing ecosystem of space analysis companies uses technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing to develop management solutions and decision tools for the forestry sector.
"As costs decrease and analytics products and platforms become mature, space solutions will increasingly provide an opportunity to tackle the world's most serious environmental problems, while improving the sustainability and profit margins of the forest sector. "
Interest comes from the public and private sectors, he says.
Ray Fielding, head of the international partnership program of the British Space Agency, has hailed the three reports, stating: "Thanks to Britain's global leadership in small satellite construction and observation technologies of the Earth, our space sector is well placed to support the efforts of humanitarian assistance abroad while developing science. and jobs at home. "
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World Space Week in other reserves for the UK, according to the government.
On October 5, for example, new opportunities will be offered to graduates to engage in the burgeoning space sector through a new series of internships in the industry.
These will offer "talented and enthusiastic people the opportunity to engage in a growing global industry, providing hands-on experience to learn new skills and enlighten their knowledge," the government said. this morning.
The United Kingdom is particularly committed to involving more women in the space sector and, in general, in the fields of STEM, the government added.
On October 8th, the British Space Agency, in collaboration with WISE, will publish a new resource pack in schools to strengthen the recruitment of girls in STEM subjects after 16 years, especially physics and engineering .
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