Space camera to monitor deforestation in Congo Basin

The UK and Norwegian governments are getting set to launch a $215 million project designed to “curb climate change by preventing deforestation” in the Congo Basin, according to BBC News.

Part of the project involves a satellite-mounted high definition camera capable of capturing a 55 mile-wide area of the forest in one fell swoop. A single pixel can capture about ten square meters from 400 miles up in the sky. Photos will presumably be used to monitor areas where the rainforest is being illegally harvested. The camera can also be used for “surveillance of environmental change and offshore pollution.”

The technology is being developed by the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which has been involved with projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Express orbiter.