New satellite to monitor fires

Wed, 25 Mar 1998, 00:00 WIB | Source: AP

SINGAPORE (AP): A European-made satellite launched yesterday
by Arianespace will be used in Southeast Asia and elsewhere to
monitor crop growth or spot rain forest fires.

The Spot 4 Earth observation satellite successfully separated
from an Ariane 40 rocket at 10:46 p.m. Monday (8:46 p.m. Jakarta
time yesterday) after liftoff from the Eurospace port in Kourou,
French Guiana.

The launch was shown live to reporters at the French Business
Center yesterday morning in Singapore, the base for Spot Asia, a
joint venture between France's Spot Image and Sweden's SSC
Satellitbild.

When the Spot 4, circling at 800 kilometers above the earth,
starts taking its first pictures over Southeast Asia 15 days from
now, it will be possible to produce images every day of the
forest fires in Indonesia and Malaysia, and the spreading haze.

View JSON | Print