Risk Management/Space Technology

Space technologies can contribute to modern day risk analysis and risk mitigation strategies in three main areas of disaster management

Key areas of UNISPACE+50
see official UNSPACE+50 website of UNOOSA
 * Governance
 * Capacity Building
 * Resilliency
 * Interoperability
 * Space for Sustainable Development

Earth Observation
Earth observation (EO): Satellites provide images that can detect impact of flooding events, detect light emission in various wavelengths for rain fall, greenness of plants, earthness temperature, digital elevation models. That satellite images are used to create rapid-maps in all phases of the /disaster management cycle/
 * mitigation of potential risks after a disaster occurs ,
 * preparedness for likely disasters that happen in the future ,
 * immediate response to a disaster event (technical support for destroyed infrastructure, health service delivery, search and rescue), and
 * the reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure and all recovery efforts for previously existing supply chains.

Global navigation satellite system
Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) supports satellite navigation and autonomous geo-spatial positioning with small electronic receivers. The current location of vehicles (e.g. ambulance or technical support vehicles) can also be submitted to Geographic Information System (GIS) to determine their location (longitude, latitude and coordinate risk mitigation and response activities. The altitude/elevation) to high precision (within a few metres) can be used for assigment of collected data to certain geoposition (altitude and temperature). Geolocation of crowd sourcing information of risk exposed people are important for collecting data about the current situation of the population. In general collected data is more valuable for risk management activities if the geolocation (where was the data collected) is available too and transmitted to GIS, when the mobile device is online again. The GNSS can be used for providing position, navigation or for tracking the position of people or vehicle that are equipped with a receiver (satellite tracking).

Satellite Communication
Satellite Communication assist information exchange between agencies and risk exposed communities. The objective is to support agencies, government and communities
 * aiding search and rescue crews coordinate their support efforts,
 * to manage the use of available infrastructures,
 * to assist (e.g. disaster medicine teams and public health workers) with communication features of satellites which allow the transfer of data (voice, images/maps, video) for tele-medicine when usual communications infrastructures are disabled by the disaster event. The emergency communications carried out using semi-mobile terminals and handheld satellite phones are particularly useful during immediate response activities, including damage assessment, search and rescue efforts, news reporting, aid coordination, and telemedicine activities or in general collect data for risk assessment and allocation of risk mitigation resources.

Example of Space Technology
Satellites can detect light emission in various wave length. The application on the light emission during night shows the emission of artificial light. By the comparison of satellite images before and after a disaster event the images provide a proxy variable for the availability of electricity. Electricity is a key performance indicator for the infrastructure to provide services for the population (e.g. for health care facilities, provision of water supply, application of technology).

Learning Task

 * Explore the Serval Project and identifiy the contribution of space technology for provision of connectivity along with the Serval Mesh technology. Create a use case of the OpenSource approach of [Serval Project] explain the application for communication in a disaster management.
 * Learn about Risk Management and the risk management cycle in general.
 * Create a Wikibook for yourself in Wikipedia that is tailored for your needs.

Use Cases for Space Technology and

 * Serval Project and Satellite Communication
 * Calculating a Regional NDVI can be used to implement Low-Cost Precision Farming for Public Health or One Health risk mitigation strategies.
 * Technology developed for water purification on the International Space Station can be used for humanitarian application and technical support missions after disasters
 * Satellite Communication can be used for very remote areas for application of telemedicine (see Disaster Medicine