NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visited Brazilian space research center INPE on Wednesday and proposed extending satellite partnerships with the United States to help monitor and prevent destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
Nelson said NASA will have a satellite in January that can even render images of what is happening below the forest canopy. The satellite, called NISAR, will be launched with India.
"It is going to be able to look through the canopy of the jungle so that we can see if someone has burned the undergrowth and that would ultimately kill the big trees," he said at a news conference at INPE in Sao Jose dos Campos.
Science Minister Luciana Santos showed Nelson around INPE headquarters and explained Brazil's space program. The agency has launched a series of satellites in partnership with China since 1999 for agricultural and environmental monitoring.
Brazil relies on satellite imagery to watch over the Amazon, but cloud cover is often a hurdle for precise and timely images.
Nelson, a former U.S. senator, met on Monday with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia.
"I thanked the president for his continuous effort to save the Amazon rainforest," he told reporters after the meeting.
Nelson said when he flew in space 37 years ago he could see with the naked eye the destruction of the rainforest by the different colors visible from his spacecraft window.
Satellites that NASA plans to place in orbit early next year will add "extreme ability to understand what is happening" to the rainforest, he said in Brasilia.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nelson visited Brazilian plane maker Embraer in Sao Jose dos Campos and toured the production line for its narrow-body commercial E-Jets.
Nelson will continue his South American trip this week with visits to Argentina and Colombia.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Hindu Families Observe Muharram In This Tamil Nadu Village
Amazon Prime Day 2024 Sale to Bring Discounts on OnePlus 12, MacBook Air M1, iPhone 13 and More Did A Massive Dam In China Alter Earth's Rotation? The Truth Behind Viral Claim Meta Decides To Suspend Its Generative AI Tools in Brazil World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage Madhya Pradesh's CBI Move: Agency Needs Written Consent To Probe Cases Why BJP Lost Lok Sabha Polls In Uttar Pradesh - 6 Reasons In Party Report OpenAI Unveils Cheaper Small AI Model GPT-4o Mini Man Insulted By Employer's Son Takes Revenge, Robs Him Off Rs 3.5 Crore Norton Motorcycles To Be Launched In India; Six Motorcycles Announced For Global Markets Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.