BRICS satellites protecting environment: how member countries are saving Earth from space

Remote sensing of the Earth

The world and the environment around us are changing faster than it may seem. City residents often complain about landfills and air pollution, but there are also global processes that are causing rapid changes in the environment. Rising temperatures, melting glaciers, droughts, storms, floods, desertification, and deforestation. Remote sensing systems help study the wide range of constantly changing factors and objects from a distance and assess their scale. Data from space imagery, continuously transmitted by satellites, is used to address practical and scientific tasks related to the environment and global changes on the planet.

The first attempts to assess processes on Earth from space, obtain images of atmospheric layers for monitoring purposes, and collect meteorological information were made in the 1960s. Meteorological satellites were the first in the history of science to provide a picture of the planet's cloud cover and geological structure.

Today, technology has advanced significantly. Modern Earth remote sensing satellites are spacecraft that do more than simply observe or photograph the planet's surface from orbit. They are equipped with scanners that detect electromagnetic radiation reflected or emitted by objects on Earth.

Spacecraft in different orbits take images in the visible, infrared, or microwave spectra. Some satellites use radar to see through clouds and in darkness. There are satellites that operate in the ultraviolet and gamma-ray ranges. New types of sensors are also emerging. Thus, modern Earth remote sensing technologies make it possible to see what is invisible to the human eye. Infrared light detects heat, revealing fires and volcanoes. Microwaves can penetrate clouds and show moisture, ocean temperatures, and ice thickness. The more information channels available, the more complex the tasks environmental specialists can address.

Photo: Negro Elkha / iStock

BRICS Earth remote sensing satellite system

In August 2021, the heads of the space agencies of the BRICS countries signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of an orbital constellation of Earth remote sensing satellites. The agreement provided for data exchange to monitor the climate, environment, and agriculture, as well as to respond to the consequences of emergencies. Today, the BRICS countries exchange images from their operational spacecraft, including Russia's Kanopus-V and Resurs-P, as well as Chinese, Indian and South African Earth remote sensing satellites.

The project involves the Gaofen 6 and ZiYuan-3 02 satellites (China), CBERS-4 (Brazil and China), Kanopus-V (Russia), and Resourcesat-2 and 2a (India), with ground stations in Sanya, Cuiaba, Moscow Region, Shadnagar, Hyderabad, and Hartebeesthoek.

"The ground station in Cuiaba is the Brazilian component: it tracks the satellite during its pass, then receives, processes and formats the data before sending it to the Satellite Control Centre," explains Gabriela de Fatima Cia, an expert in sustainable development, international environmental cooperation, water resource management and forest ecosystems, member of the BRICS Student Commission and coordinator of the Youth Secretariat of the Centre for Integration and Cooperation of Russia and Latin America (CICRAL), in an interview with TV BRICS.

At the same time, the economic rationale for such cooperation is clearly outlined in a statement by CRESDA (China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application): network-based operations reduce each country's investment in satellites and ground stations while expanding the opportunities to obtain images from each individual satellite in the BRICS Earth remote sensing constellation.

In 2022, the BRICS Joint Committee on Space Cooperation was established. At the summit in Rio de Janeiro, it was announced that the BRICS Space Council would be established. The initiative is promising for the further peaceful exploration of space, given that the combined BRICS constellation numbers around 1,500 spacecraft, while 21 spaceports and launch complexes operate across the participating countries.

Environmental challenges

BRICS satellites orbit the planet at different altitudes, study the Earth across a wide range of spectra and help countries address numerous environmental challenges.

"Without Earth remote sensing satellites, it is currently impossible to address environmental challenges. And it is not only because many BRICS countries have vast territories where comprehensive environmental monitoring by inspectors is simply impossible. It is also about the volume of diverse information provided by such satellites," Aleksandra Kudzagova, an expert in environmental legislation and a public and political figure specialising in environmental issues, said in an interview with TV BRICS.

First and foremost, Earth remote sensing satellites help environmental specialists work proactively. Observing the Earth from space makes it possible to identify threats in advance, assess the scale of an environmental incident, draw up a plan to combat the disaster and subsequently monitor the progress of response efforts.

Satellites make it possible to monitor desertification and permafrost degradation, measure the area of landfills and flooded territories, assess the area affected by forest fires and, based on the data obtained, select appropriate measures to combat them. Most importantly, however, satellites can become an integral part of national systems for dealing with environmental violations, Aleksandra Kudzagova believes. According to the expert, in Russia, Earth remote sensing satellites have already helped prevent violations involving fixed fishing nets on Sakhalin and detect illegal vessel discharges in the Caspian Sea.

"The most important effect of such continuous monitoring is a reduction in the number of violations: when a natural resource user knows that any violation will be detected and punishment is inevitable, it is more beneficial to modernise operations and comply with the law," she stated.

Photo: aapsky / iStock

The Amazon, the Gobi and Russia's forests

Today, Earth remote sensing satellites already play a key role in studying and protecting unique natural regions of the BRICS countries, such as the Amazon. Tropical forests in the Amazon River basin are monitored from space around the clock. This helps detect forest fires in a timely manner, monitor the condition of ecosystems, river levels and climate change, and, most importantly, track the scale of tree felling.

"According to data from the official satellite monitoring programme for deforestation in the Amazon biome, ProDes, deforestation in the Amazon decreased from 13,000 square kilometres (13,038 km²) in 2021 to less than 6,000 square kilometres (5,796 km²) in 2024–2025 – a decrease of more than 55 per cent over four years and the lowest figure in 11 years. From 2024 to 2025 alone, the decrease amounted to 11.08 per cent," Aleksandra Kudzagova stated.

The Amazon rainforest is monitored by satellites operated by different countries and organisations, including Brazilian spacecraft under the national INPE programme and the joint Brazilian-Chinese CBERS satellites.

The advantage of the Chinese-Brazilian satellites is their wide-angle camera, which captures a swath 890 kilometres wide at a resolution of 260 metres, providing complete coverage of the Earth approximately every five days in two spectral bands – green and near-infrared.

At the same time, the Chinese CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) camera provides much higher resolution (20 metres, with a swath of 113 kilometres), but requires 26 days to cover the entire Earth.

It is precisely this combination – low resolution with rapid revisits on the one hand, and high resolution with slower revisits on the other – that underpins Brazil's monitoring system, explains Gabriela de Fatima Cia.

Earth satellites also play a key role in monitoring the Gobi Desert. They record the expansion of sands encroaching on fertile soils and pastures, as well as deforestation and large-scale tree planting under the Great Green Wall project. The project is intended to protect three northern regions of China from further desert encroachment. By 2050, the Great Green Wall is expected to extend for approximately 4,500 kilometres. Earth remote sensing instruments and multispectral satellites are already showing noticeable changes in the ecosystem.

Earth remote sensing satellites also help monitor the condition of Russian forests, which cover more than 790 million hectares. Space monitoring makes it possible to observe forest fires, assess damage and monitor the restoration of green areas using data from Roscosmos and Rosleskhoz. Artificial intelligence is also actively used in this work to analyse terabytes of information and identify changes that are imperceptible to the human eye using algorithms.

Monitoring covers all Russian forests where timber is actively harvested. This makes it possible to detect and prevent illegal logging much more quickly. As a result, in 2023, the volume of illegally harvested timber in the country decreased by more than 1.6 times compared with 2022 – from 343,500 to 212,200 cubic metres. The largest areas of the Russian Federation under space surveillance are Siberia, the Urals, the Far East and the Northwestern Federal District. In 2026, the area covered by Rosleskhoz's continuous remote monitoring of forest use reached 99 million hectares, increasing by 10 per cent over the year.

In addition, Earth remote sensing satellites actively monitor fields and crops in India. In South Africa, space-based monitoring is used to track water reserves, measure soil moisture, the area of rivers and lakes, the volume and filling levels of reservoirs, as well as the Earth's gravitational fields to assess underground aquifers.

In the UAE, the Arab Satellite 813 satellite with a hyperspectral scanner is used. The project is being implemented by the National Space Science and Technology Centre (NSSTC) with financial support from the UAE Space Agency. The satellite is equipped with a hyperspectral imager (HSI) covering 205 spectral channels in the range from 400 to 1,700 nm and providing a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR ≥ 150). This makes it possible to obtain detailed spectral data for monitoring coastal waters, assessing soil and vegetation conditions, and detecting pollution. The satellite also includes a panchromatic camera for obtaining high-resolution images and an atmospheric polarimeter for data correction, which improves the overall accuracy of observations. It is the UAE's first satellite with hyperspectral technology, providing unique capabilities for analysing the Earth's surface.

Photo: Alones Creative / iStock

At the end of 2025, Egypt successfully launched the SPNeX Earth remote sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China. It is designed to collect high-resolution images for monitoring agricultural land and water resources and for urban planning. Egyptian engineers participated in the development and integration of SPNeX, indicating the country's efforts to develop its own capabilities. In April 2026, Egypt also sent the ClimCam multispectral camera, equipped with artificial intelligence algorithms, to the International Space Station. Its main task is to monitor climate change, vegetation and water resources.

According to the experts interviewed, BRICS space cooperation will continue to develop. Achieving a multipolar world is impossible without the success of space programmes in the countries of the group, both individually and collectively.

Experts expect further steps towards developing BRICS cooperation in remote sensing and environmental protection. These could include moving from repurposed Earth remote sensing satellites to the creation of a jointly developed and launched constellation of spacecraft. According to Gabriela de Fatima Cia, this will require technical, budgetary and political coordination. However, it is precisely at this point that it will be decided whether BRICS space cooperation is a successful diplomatic gesture or permanent infrastructure for responding to the climate crisis in the countries of the Global South.

Article prepared by Svetlana Khristoforova.