Remote medical examinations, getting an education without having to attend class and obtaining satellite images of the community where you live is now possible in Venezuela thanks to the launch of the satellites Simon Bolivar and Miranda.
According to the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activity (Abae) these satellite tools have allowed for the development of telemedicine to extend the range of healthcare in rural areas and indigenous villages, providing medical services such as x-rays, ultrasounds, MRI scans, and mammograms remotely, among other benefits.
In the case of tele-education, the tool connects remote areas to public centers such as infocenters, and also offers digital libraries and interaction by videoconference.
The Abae researcher and President of the Zuliano Institute of Technological Research (Insit), located in La Cañada de Urdaneta, Reinaldo Atencio, says that since the satellites reached space, the country has been enjoying a new vision of interaction, communications and information.
“Now we are a kind of digital government, with teleconferences, infogovernment and a whole set of tools that make it possible to get closer to communities, students and researchers.
At the institute we have commenced on a planning process making use of images we have obtained from the Miranda satellite, as we no longer have to purchase the service,” Atencio said.
The president of Inzit noted that the Simon Bolivar satellite had made an impact on televisual communications, the creation of a system of digital libraries and allowed for entry into new areas of research such as ways of manufacturing satellites. Atencio emphasized that the institute is training groups of research students so that a satellite factory can be built in the interior of the country and it is hoped that it will be opened in the first trimester of next year.
Professor Giovanny Royero, Director of the Geodesy Division at the LUZ Faculty of Engineering and adjunct to the laboratory of satellite and geodesic physics, says that the images coming from Miranda are providing researchers and academics with very valuable information.
“Currently two students are writing their theses using the images provided by the satellite. They are high resolution, and sent in DVD format for free. I think that we have taken a step toward technological independence because the country is saving millions of dollars. We can monitor the borders, crops, the behavior of the seas and rivers and have satellite monitoring of our space,” Royero explained.
The expert said that it is now possible to update the rural cadastre, aid exploration for oil and its production and assist other areas such as education, the country’s geography and the environment.
Daniel Flores, a professor in the department of circuits and communications at the electrical engineering school at LUZ, says that the Miranda and Simon Bolivar have opened up a wide range of opportunities in communication, observation, control, sovereignty, development, education and technological independence.
Flores noted that the platform in orbit has increased Venezuela’s ability to expand telemedicine and tele-education, as its fiber optics allow for communications with the most remote areas of the country.
“With Miranda we can scan the earth’s crust. We can study the sea levels, detect when droughts are coming, look for illegal crops, plan for flooding and verify our borders (…) We now have the ability to make satellites,” said Flores.
In October 2008, the national Government launched the satellite Simon Bolivar for the first time in the country’s history. The satellite will perform functions in the areas of telephone communications and transmission of information, and provide internet access and transmissions. Four years later it put the satellite Francisco Miranda in orbit, in cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
On the 28th of September, 2012 equipment was launched to get a more precise idea of the behavior of Lake Maracaibo. On the border, the satellite can detect illicit crops, monitor general surface production and will also benefit the oil industry.
Source: panorama.com.ve
