During the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, the National Space Development Agency of Japan will try to convince other countries to use more of its satellite data to monitor natural disasters, NASDA officials said Wednesday.
On Sept. 2, NASDA representatives will give a presentation at the Japan Pavilion of the Johannesburg summit to global environment researchers and government delegates. NASDA particularly wants to share the data with other parts of Asia that do not have their own satellites, they said.
Japan's satellites can capture close to real-time images of damage caused by major disasters, including forest fires, according to the officials.
As well as monitoring disasters, the satellites can be used to study the current state of the environment, they said.
NASDA is to launch the Data Relay Test Satellite aboard an H-IIA rocket in September. The DRTS is designed to relay data to Japan from the International Space Station and other satellites orbiting below it.
Launches of the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 2 and Advanced Land Observing Satellite are also scheduled.
The Johannesburg summit will run from Monday through Sept. 4.