New satellite to monitor fires

New satellite to monitor fires

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.