Remote sensing solutions provider DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) has agreed a 3-year agreement with Russia’s ScanEx Research and Development Center to provide rapid 22m data reception from the UK-DMC2 satellite to ScanEx ground stations in Russia and CIS countries.

ScanEx will employ a network of four ground stations strategically placed throughout the vast Russia and CIS territory to downlink data directly. This new rapid delivery system is particularly suited to agricultural planning and monitoring forest fires – an area of great concern to Russia following the devastating fires experienced around Moscow in July 2010.

The enormous 650km swath width and enhanced imaging capacity of UK-DMC2 will enable ScanEx to image vast areas rapidly with 22m resolution. Its multi-spectral data includes a near infra-red band that is particularly effective for detecting growing vegetation or heat.

Olga Gershenzon, co-founder and vice president of ScanEx, said, “I am delighted to have reached this agreement with DMCii. Combining UK-DMC2’s unique wide area mapping capability with our comprehensive groundstation network we can now deliver timely geospatial products of anywhere in the vast Russian and CIS landscape to our customers. In addition, UniScan™ stations, functioning at public departments, educational institutions, commercial companies, etc. can be upgraded to receive data from the UK-DMC2 satellite”

Paul Stephens, Sales and Marketing Director of DMCii, said, “We see direct downlink as an important new development in remote sensing and it gives me great pleasure to enter this agreement with our colleagues at ScanEx. Our satellite will provide vast imaging capacity to ScanEx in near real time and with rapid revisit, enabling them to deliver time-critical geospatial services.”

Under the agreement, all imagery acquired by ScanEx will be made available through the DMCii catalogue, building significant Russia and CIS coverage for less time-sensitive applications.

For more information, please see www.dmcii.com