Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

14/05/08

Sichuan, China asks for COSMO's help

The ASI satellite system takes two images of the area hit by the earthquake

COSMO-SkyMed, the Italian satellite system for Earth observation, is being
used to help the Chinese areas hit by the devastating earthquake of May 12.
Yesterday, by request of the Chinese Government, the ASI satellites captured
two images of the area surrounding the city of Guan Xian, close to the
epicentre, thus proving to be able to operate on critical areas with very
short response time. Moreover, due to the difficult weather conditions, only
the Italian radar satellites could operate yesterday on Sichuan. In the
upper left part of the picture a dam is clearly visible, and will be
constantly monitored in the next days for damages.

The images were processed yesterday at ASI's Data Acquisition Centre in
Matera, southern Italy, managed for ASI by Telespazio.

In the next few days, COSMO-SkyMed will continue providing useful data to
the Chinese Gonvernment, to the Italian Civilian Protection Department
(which is planning a mission in Sichuan) and to various NGOs. COSMO images
will be used to detect damages to buildings and metal structures, including
bridges and dams.

COSMO-SKyMed is a satellite system for Earth observation by the Italian
Space Agency and the Italian Defence Ministry.

[NOTE: An image supporting this release is available at
http://www.asi.it/Allegati/20080514010828guan_xian_HI_13_05_2008.jpg (13MB)]
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