China joins 'Space and Major Disasters' charter

Stephen Withers
Friday, 25 May 2007 07:17

Science - Space

The China National Space Administration has joined an international group that shares satellite images with countries affected by natural disasters.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) administrator Sun Laiyan signed the charter yesterday at ESA headquarters in Paris.

Welcoming China to the group, ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain said "The International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' has proven to be a very successful mechanism for international cooperation among partners for contributing Earth observation data."

The charter has been activated more than 125 times, most recently in response to this month's floods in Uruguay.

Existing charter members include the space agencies of Europe, France, Canada, India, Argentina, Japan and UK, along with the US Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Commercial satellite operators DigitalGlobe and GeoEye also provide the charter with archived and new images.