Satellite project to predict earthquakes will 'help save lives'
Scientists have launched a project that they hope could one day
help save thousands of lives by predicting when and where
earthquakes will happen. A group of British and Russian
scientists signed an agreement to work together on the project
earlier this week in Moscow. The TwinSat project involves the
launch of two satellites – one of which they say is about the
size of an old television set and the other smaller than a
shoebox – which will orbit the earth a few hundred miles apart.
Data from the satellites will be collated with data from the
ground as the scientists try to understand what natural warnings
are given prior to earthquakes. "As stress builds up in the
Earth prior to an earthquake, subtle electromagnetic signals are
released that can be read from the upper atmosphere," said
Professor Alan Smith, Director of the Mullard Space Science
Laboratory at University College, London, who was in Moscow this
week to launch the project. "We want