(English) First anniversary of the Spanish satellite Deimos-1

2010-08-04-satelite_deimos_1_med

Deimos-1 , the first Spanish Earth observation satellite, has completed on its first anniversary 5,352 orbits around our planet.
Deimos-1 was launched on July 29th, 2009 from Kazakhstan, and recorded its first picture on August 7th. The satellite, inscribed in the Spanish Registry of Objects Launched into Outer Space, orbits vertically from pole to pole at a distance of 680 kilometers above the Earth. As part of its observation mission, it takes pictures in a band 650 kilometers wide during its obit. As of today, after a year in space and 5,352 trips around the world, it has registered more than 2,000 informative images of the entire planet, and produces very high quality daily images that cover between one and two million square kilometers of Earth surface.

Already numerous clients use its images to serve their territorial information needs. Deimos-1 collaborates with the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program of the European Space Agency (ESA), established in order to give European entities access to precise and up to date environmental information that helps mitigate the effects of climate change. The information supplied by Deimos-1 is also used by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, for the study of tropical forests.