From: Cool Earth
The first images from Britain's satellite spacecraft UK-DMC2 have been returned.
The craft was launched with Deimos-1 on a Dnepr rocket from Kazakhstan last month and its data is being shared with the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, reports the BBC.
Information provided by the satellites will help the disaster group monitor environmental factors, such as deforestation and provide rapid access to images of natural calamities.
The data will be used to keep check on the extent of deforestation in the Congo Basin, which is a vast area hard to monitor from the ground.
Analysts will also use the images to track changes to the Amazon Basin, which is threatened by carbon emissions and illegal logging.
Meanwhile, a report released May 2009, found that more 70 per cent of Africa's rain forest is now in the Congo Basin but is at risk due to civil conflicts and inadequate governance, reports Business Day.