Satellites in the developing world

An MIT researcher looks at a growing trend in a number of developing countries: national satellite programs. CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Within 24 hours of the catastrophic 2010 earthquake near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, space agencies and companies around the world tasked satellites with providing free images of the earthquake's aftermath. Experts quickly analyzed and interpreted images taken from space, mapping out essential information for rescue workers on the ground: areas with many damaged buildings, roads likely closed by debris. The information was provided through an international charter under which satellite operators around the world offer to share satellite data after a natural or man-made disaster. But now, a number of developing countries are taking steps to build their own national satellite programs, seeking more control over remote-sensing data to map and forecast disasters, monitor crop yields and track environmentally driven diseases such as malaria. In a paper published recently in the journal Acta Astronautica , Danielle Wood, a PhD candidate in MIT's Engineering Systems Division, and Annalisa Weigel, assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, examine countries including Nigeria, Malaysia and Thailand where nascent satellite programs have cropped up, thanks to a relatively recent philosophical change within the space industry.