Glex Summit 2024 - Banner

Satellite communications for those in greatest need – a message from the Publisher of SpaceWatch Middle East

Anyone watching the news over the past few years cannot help but be moved by the desperate plight of millions of people – including many vulnerable children – fleeing to Europe from war and poverty in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond.

Helping refugees; Credits: Disaster Tech Lab
Helping refugees; Credits: Disaster Tech Lab

Many do not even make it to the European shores of the Mediterranean Sea, as their flimsy boats sink in heavy seas, or they fall foul of the many gangs of human smugglers who take cruel advantage of their plight.

For those who do make it to Europe the most dangerous part of their journey may be over, but they face many more challenges to come. The same goes for the humanitarian and aid agencies there to help refugees as they arrive in Europe. It is here that satellite communications can be of vital importance since they allow newly-arrived refugees to call friends and families in Europe, or even back home, to report that they are safe and well, alleviating great stress and uncertainty among families and communities.

For humanitarian and aid agencies, satellite communications are important since they allow for greater agility and coordination in bringing much-needed aid and eve rescue to newly arrived refugees, whose vessels often arrive unexpectedly at different points on a shoreline every day.

In other words, in these circumstances satellite communications save lives.

Yet satellite communications are very expensive as much as they are vital.

Throughout the month of December 2016, SpaceWatch Middle East and his partners undertaking a fundraising drive for two very special organisations that we have featured over the past few weeks. These organisations are Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) and Disaster Tech Labs (DTL), and as publisher of SpaceWatch Middle East, I should like to urge our readers to donate as much as they can afford to them at the special page we have set up here.

One hundred percent of all money raised will be donated to TSF and DTL in January 2017, and we will update our readers every week about our fundraising campaign as well as the final amounts raised and the handover of the funds to TSF and DTL.

Thank you for reading SpaceWatch Middle East over the past several months and making 2016 a special year for us. In return, I wish to ask you, our dear readers, to help us make 2017 just a little bit easier for those among us in need of help and those aiding them.

Thank you.

Dr. John B. Sheldon
Chairman and President of ThorGroup GmbH,
Publisher of
SpaceWatch Middle East.

 

Original published at: http://spacewatchme.com/2016/12/satellite-communications-greatest-need-message-publisher-spacewatch-middle-east/

Check Also

Switzerland and Poland Secure the Podium in ERC Competition

Switzerland representatives place second and third at the 9th edition of the prestigious European Rover Challenge space robotics competition. After intense competition on the world’s largest artificial Marsyard, team AGH Space Systems from Poland emerged as the best robotic team, meeting the rigorous demands of the jury. In addition, participants underwent a certification process confirming their knowledge and skills for the first time in competition history.