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UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal
Hazard map depicting exposed elements
UN-SPIDER has released a new Recommended Practice that improves flood mapping by integrating Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery with Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), offering a more accurate and reliable method for post-disaster assessment.
Effective flood mapping and modeling are crucial for disaster risk management, enabling authorities and communities to better prepare for and respond to extreme weather events. The SPEAR Project, by the Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces (ZFL) at the University of Bonn and UN-SPIDER, works to support disaster risk management activities through innovative Earth Observation methods, with a regional focus on the African continent.
European Space Agency
Session hosts: The Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces (Zentrum für Fernerkundung der Landoberfläche - ZFL), UN-SPIDER
On 22 April, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through the UN-SPIDER programme, officially established a new Regional Support Office (RSO) at Wuhan University in China. This milestone was marked by the signing of a cooperation memorandum between UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini and the President of Wuhan University, Zhang Pingwen.
The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched its flagship Biomass satellite on 29 April 2025 at 06:15 local time (11:15 CEST) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard a Vega-C rocket. Developed by Airbus Defence and Space, the satellite separated from the launch vehicle under an hour after liftoff. Shortly thereafter, ESA's operations center in Germany received the first signal from Biomass, transmitted via a ground station in Antarctica, confirming its healthy status in orbit.
Africa achieved a historic breakthrough in its space ambitions on April 20, 2025, with the formal launch of the African Space Agency (AfSA) at its new permanent headquarters in Cairo’s Space City, Egypt. This milestone event concludes nearly ten years of careful planning and collaboration, which began in January 2016 when the African Union Assembly endorsed the African Space Policy and Strategy at its Twenty-Sixth Ordinary Session, creating the foundation for a continent-wide space initiative.
The March 28, 2025, M7.7 earthquake near Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar), occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting between the India and Eurasia plates. Focal mechanism solutions indicate that slip occurred on either a north-striking, steeply-dipping, right-lateral fault or a west-striking, steeply-dipping, left-lateral fault. The finite fault solution indicates a north-striking right-lateral fault.
Held every three years, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Living Planet Symposia are among the world’s leading events on Earth observation. The upcoming Living Planet Symposium 2025 (LPS25) will focus on the urgent need to transition from observation to climate action and sustainability in light of the growing climate crisis.
European Space Agency