Developers have united in a joint effort to put a newly developed high-tech camera on the International Space Station that will have the ability to view and monitor natural disasters on Earth, according to the Daily Mail.
The DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer, or DESIS, will be integrated with the ISS in an effort to not only watch and monitor natural disasters like floods, wildfires and droughts, but also provide assistance in disaster response.
The camera utilizes technology developed by La Trobe University in Australia. It works by taking light, not visible to the naked eye, and using it to spot environmental changes- a process called "hyper-spectral imaging." With help from the German space agency, the DESIS is expected to be in space by November of next year.
The cameras in the DESIS are considered to be more advanced than the ones currently on board the ISS, according to Mashable.
"There are new optics in this camera that will allow us to take unique images that haven't been done to date, and that will contain new information," said research fellow Peter Moar with La Trobe.
The innovative device will be sent up in 2016 but will probably be activated in 2017, according to Just News.
