Mexico

ONU-SPIDER, la Carta Internacional Espacio y Grandes Desastres, el Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de Desastres Naturales en América Central y República Dominicana (CEPREDENAC) y la Universidad Federal de Santa María de Brasil (UFSM) organizaron un curso de entrenamiento para facilitar la activación de la Carta Internacional Espacio y Grandes Desastres en México, América Central y República Dominicana, Dicho curso se llevó a cabo en Ciudad Guatemala del 30 de noviembre al 2 de diciembre del 2021.  El curso fue brindado por expertos de la Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales de Argentina (CONAE), el Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales de Brasil (INPE), el Servicio Geológico de los Estados Unidos (USGS) y UFSM. Los expertos  describireron el proceso que utiliza la Carta Internacional en caso de activaciones y los procedimientos y lineamientos que deben seguir los gerentes de proyecto que son designados por la Carta Internacional en caso de…

To facilitate the activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters in Central America, Mexico and Dominican Republic, UN-SPIDER, the Central American Coordination Centre for Natural Disaster Prevention (CEPREDENAC) and the International Charter Space and Major Disasters organized a regional training course in Guatemala City, Guatemala, from 30 November to 02 December 2021.   Experts from the National Commission on Space Activities of Argentina (CONAE), National Space Research Institute of Brazil (INPE), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) made participants aware of the procedures used by the International Charter in case of activations, and on the procedures and guidelines that project managers designated by the International Charter must follow when designated as project managers in case of activations. In addition, an expert from the Federal University of Santa Maria of Brazil (UFSM), in its role as a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office,…

In collaboration with the National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) of Argentina, the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) recently launched a digital platform to improve the integration of satellite data for environmental monitoring in Latin America. The Comprehensive Regional Satellite Information System (SIRIS) provides access to satellite information in order to enhance decision-making and facilitate disaster management.

The SIRIS platform provides access to satellite imagery for different areas. The platform supplies information on the agriculture and forestry sector to better monitor the impact of natural disasters on agricultural production and woodland. It also offers up-to-date and archived data on fires to strengthen early warning and build long-term resilience. On floods, information provided by SIRIS indicates the water level to improve damage evaluation of the impacted area and facilitate humanitarian relief. In…

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) - Mapping and the International Charter Space and Major Disasters have been activated for a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Mexico.

The earthquake is considered among the strongest to hit Mexico. Several people were trapped under the collapsed buildings. Emergency workers, volunteers and military personnel are have been working day and night in search of the victims.

The Charter has been activated by UNITAR-UNOSAT on behalf of UNOCHA.

• Copernicus EMS - EMSR244: Earthquake in Mexico
• International Charter Space and Major Disaster - Earthquake in Mexico

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, through its UN-SPIDER progamme, and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) are joining forces to conduct the upcoming Regional Expert Meeting entitled Enhancing the use of Space based information in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems. The Regional Expert Meeting is conducted with the support of Mexico’s National Centre for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED) and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC). It will be held in the premises of CENAPRED from 11 to 13 July 2017 and will bring together experts from Latin America to address ways in which space-based technologies can be used to improve multi-hazard early warning systems in this region.

Furthermore, the Regional Expert Meeting will also contribute to the UNISPACE+50 process that the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) launched in the…

As part of its activities as a Regional Support Office, the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) is conducting monthly teleconferences with the national partners of the SEWS-D project (Strengthening Early Warning Systems for Droughts).   The telecons contribute to plan upcoming activities and to inform all regional and international partners regarding advances in each of the four countries where the project is conducted

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) signed a Cooperation Agreement to incorporate AEM as the newest Regional Support Office of the UN-SPIDER programme that is managed by UNOOSA.  This Regional Support Office will contribute to efforts conducted by the Office in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The Mexican Space Agency is a decentralized public agency of the Federal Government of Mexico under the Communication and Transportation Secretariat. It was officially created on 31^st July 2010.  Its mission is to use science and space technology to meet the needs of the Mexican population and to promote innovation and the development of the space sector in Mexico; contributing to the peaceful uses of outer space.

In recent years AEM has been supporting the UN-SPIDER programme through the provision of experts to conduct technical advisory missions to Central American countries, and is a partner in…

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service was activated by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection on October 23, because of Hurricane Patricia. This is the strongest hurricane ever that hit the eastern north Pacific region.

Very strong winds and storm surge affected the west Mexican coast. Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Province are the areas being covered by Copernicus service. Both, delineation maps and grading maps are being provided to show the extent of the areas affected and the damages caused by the event. The aim of the initiative is to supply the necessary information for the Civil Protection Authorities to support adequately on the field.

The hurricane hit Mexico’s coast…

On 17-18 September 2015 heads of space agencies gathered for the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Heads of Space Agencies Summit in Mexico City to discuss the role of satellite applications in climate change and disaster management. Space agency leaders confirmed their commitment to strengthen the role of space in the field of climate change and disaster management by formulating the Summit Declaration: 

“Combining measurements derived from operational programmes and research and development, Earth observation satellites contribute considerably to developing an in-depth understanding of the physical processes involved in climate change and efforts to model those processes. Numerical climate models depend on in-situ and space-based observations to reproduce the complexity of the various components of the climate system (atmosphere, oceans, ice, land surfaces etc) and to project future climate scenarios that depend on various socioeconomic factors, including the…

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and its Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) to take part in the IAA Climate Change and Disaster Management Conference, being held today (September 17, 2015) and tomorrow, in Mexico City. The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) hosts the event with the participation of Heads of Space Agencies all over the world. The Summit addresses all aspects of the contributions of the space community to the understanding and solving of the challenges of climate change and disaster management.

Today at 10.30 local time in Mexico, the UNOOSA director will hold a keynote on "The United Nations on Climate Change and Disaster Management: UNOOSA bringing space-based tools and applications at the heart of the post-2015 development agenda". This…

The Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) has announced the launch of the Morelos 3 satellite as part of a series of Mexican communication satellites. This one will support disaster relief activities and provide emergency services, among others.

The launch will take place on 02 October 2015 from the Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. Morelos 3 will be part of the Mexican Satellite System (Mexsat), which comprises three telecommunication satellites that belong to SCT but are operated by Telecomm.

The satellite has been manufactured by Boeing Satellite Systems International and will be used to provide different mobile satellite services such as disaster relief, emergency services and telemedicine.

Five radar scans from ESA's Sentinel-1A have been been combined to create an image showing ground deformation in Mexico City. The image demonstrates that some areas of the city are subsiding at up to 2.5 cm/month.

The radar scans were acquired between 3 October and 2 December 2014 and presented at the InSARap Workshop at ESA’s ESRIN center for Earth observation, in December 2014.

According to the USGS Water Science School, the instability is caused by long-term groundwater extraction. This has damaged colonial-era buildings, buckled highways, and disrupted water supply and waste-water drainage.

On 22 October 2014, India and Mexico formally agreed on a cooperation in areas related to the peaceful use of the outer space, such as remote sensing and satellite communication. The pact was signed in New Delhi during the Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) presided by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena of India and Mexico, respectively.

The Ministries chaired the sixth meeting of the India-Mexico JCM, established in 1984 and formulated a Memorandum of Understanding committing the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO and the Mexican Space Agency on space cooperation for peaceful purposes.

Besides space technologies, the meeting concerned wider bilateral relations between the two countries including political, economic, trade, and energy issues.

The International Space Station-Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScatt) was installed on 1 October 2014 as a means to improve the global monitoring of ocean winds.

NASA's latest Earth observing enterprise was activated to provide rapid response to weather and marine hazards. ISS-RapidScatt produces high-quality data that can be utilized to monitor wind speeds and directions. Within its very first days of operation, ISS-RapidScatt has gathered valuable data to effectively detect the development of the tropical cyclone Simon, which has been affecting the west coast of Mexico.

The ISS-RapidScatt will provide significant, cost-effective and fast data for systematic hurricane observation.

The low pressure area System 90L located by NASA’s AIRs in the southern Bay of Campeche on 5 June 2014 fizzled out by 9  June and did not develop into a tropical cyclone. It still dropped heavy rainfall causing flash floods, accompanied by stormy winds on eastern and south-eastern Mexico before the end of its lifetime.

According to the Mexican Weather Service, Veracruz and Huixtepec recorded respectively 7.1 inches and 2.9 inches of rain. NOAA’s GOES-East satellite captured imagery of the System's movement over land during the end of its lifetime.

The Mexican National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Bioiversity (CONABIO) contracted a provider of satellite data EOMAP to deliver high resolution environmental information of the Maya Coast, Yucatan peninsula, the Mexican Caribbean sea coast.

More than 5000 sq km of the marine environment, including ecosystems such as corals were mapped in water depths to 25m. The CEO of EOMAP, Dr. Thomas Heege, hopes that the gathered imagery will serve the authorities as a first baseline dataset for preservation of the vulnerable ecosystems. Traditional surveys of the coastline were too expensive and time consuming, while the new highest spatial multi-spectral resolution satellite data used for the Bathymetry and Seafloor EOMAP survey was easier to access by CONABIO. The scientists of the Mexican Agency assert the high value of the satellite data for the short and long term assessment of the climate, disaster and human-made impacts to the ecosystems.

Researchers from the Center of Environmental Geography Research (CIGA) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico designed a software to organize, store and operate geo-referenced data from climate elements: Moclic. The software can calculate bio and agroclimatic indicators, such as humidity, aridity, rain erosion and rainfall concentration thus allowing users to relate them to local crops production figures or disasters.

Moclic feeds on data from weather stations in any state or country, unlike current software that use global information. Local information allow for more accurate input and foresees the maximum, minimum and average records for a certain area.

Francisco Bautista Zúñiga, researcher at CIGA and head of Moclic project, is quoted by …

The Bicentenario satellite, the state-run Mexsat system's first launch into space, is ready for lift-off next month and will begin operating in orbit in late January 2013, the Mexican government announced. The Communications and Transportation Department said in a communique that Deputy Secretary Hector Olavarria visited the facilities of the US firm manufacturing the satellite, Orbital Sciences Corporation, to check up on the final preparations.

Bicentenario is Mexsat's first satellite and is designed to be part of a state-run satellite network to guarantee coverage throughout Mexican territory. The spacecraft will be launched by Arianespace Dec 19 from its Space Center in French Guiana. Mexsat will offer "connectivity across the length and breadth of the national territory through the provision of fixed and mobile communications services to marginal and difficult-to-access communities", said the communique. Bicentenario is designed to have a useful life of 22…

Geologists have a new tool to study how earthquakes change the landscape, and it's giving them insight into how earthquake faults behave. In the Feb. 10 issue of the journal Science, a team of scientists from the United States, Mexico and China, including geophysicist Eric Fielding of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., reports the most comprehensive before-and-after picture yet of an earthquake zone, using data from the magnitude 7.2 event that struck near Mexicali, northern Mexico in April 2010.

"This study provides new information on how rocks in and around fault zones are deformed during earthquakes," said Fielding. "It helps scientists understand past events and assess the likelihood of future earthquakes in other complex systems of faults." The team, working with the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, flew over the area with lidar (light detection and ranging), which bounces laser pulses off the ground and measures their…

The Sixth Space Conference of the Americas took place from 15 to 19 November in Pachuca City, in the State of Hidalgo in Mexico. Organized by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the support of the Office of the Governor of the State of Hidalgo, the Conference congregated official delegations from countries in North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America, as well as representatives from the space community, the academic community, regional and international agencies, non-governmental organizations, and experts from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Officially inaugurated by the Secretary of Communications and Transport of Mexico and other high-ranking authorities of Mexican institutions and the representative from UNOOSA, the Conference set the stage for a wide range of discussions. Delegations deliberated on how best to join efforts to take advantage of existing opportunities for the use of space technologies in the context of peaceful uses of outer space. Experts,…

As a way to continue promoting the use of space-based technologies in disaster risk reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, through its UN-SPIDER progamme, and the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) are joining forces to conduct the upcoming Regional Expert Meeting entitled Enhancing the use of Space based information in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems.   The Regional Expert Meeting is conducted with the support of Mexico’s National Centre for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED) and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC).  It will be held in the premises of CENAPRED from 11 to 13 July 2017 and will bring together experts from Latin America to address ways in which space-based technologies can be used to improve multi-hazard early warning systems in this region.

Furthermore, the Regional Expert Meeting will also contribute to…

As the world is moving towards digital transformation while experiencing unique environmental, social and political challenges, the need for greater collaborative mechanism for geospatial is felt at political, technological and user levels. With the purpose to provide a global platform to share their experiences, expertise and opportunities with one another, Latin America Geospatial Forum is expanded in scope and purpose to include the different regions in America (North America, Central America, The Caribbean and South America) and is now known as Americas Geospatial Forum. Keeping above facts in mind the innovations taking place in different parts of the region in technology adoption, use case and applicability can be easily exchanged giving rise to B2B, B2G and B2C opportunities. Americas Geospatial Forum (AGF) aims to connect the dots for geospatial technologies in the Americas with communities, business enterprises, government, research & academia through strategic…