The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) says it has concluded plans to release high-resolution satellite images to relevant stakeholders.

NASRDA spokesman Felix Ale disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, this is in line with the provisions outlined in NASRDA’s Act of 2010.

It said NASRDA was irrevocably committed to its mandate to utilise space science and technology for the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

“NASRDA is committed to playing its part in the global community as a member of the disaster monitoring constellation. This initiative aims to foster accessibility to valuable geospatial data for diverse applications and research endeavours, which comprises satellite images,” said the statement.

According to the agency, the images have a range of resolution on both panchromatic and multispectral and spectral bands of 2.1 metres.

On the multispectral, the resolution of the images included five metres, eight metres, 10 metres, 16 metres, and 30 metres, with the spectral bands in the blue, green, red, and near-infrared, added the statement.

It highlighted that the satellite images are not for commercial purposes, and recipients are not allowed to request satellite images exceeding a spatial extent of 50km² at a time.

Students are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to request satellite images for their research and projects, said NASRDA.

However, the agency urged individuals seeking satellite imagery to include a summary of their project in their request, consisting of a brief detailing the project’s title, state, local government and town.

It said the application type could be in environmental studies, climate, urban planning, natural resource management, etc., sent to geodata@nasrda.gov.ng.

“Request submissions must also include a shapefile for the area of interest, utilising the Geographic Coordinate System with WGS84 Datum,” the statement added.

Over the years, NASRDA has collaborated with security and emergency management agencies to provide imagery to address national issues.

Panchromatic digital imaging is an image sensitive to a wide range of wavelengths of light, typically most of the visible spectrum. Multispectral imaging captures image data within a specific wavelength, which ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. 

(NAN)