This week over 300 scientists from all over the world met at a hotel in San Jose to discuss the use of Satellites to help predict natural disasters in the future, in order to limit damage and human casualties. Representatives came from a number of business' and backgrounds, including such heavy hitters as the European Space Agency (ESA), the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), along with a number of universities and independent sources.

Scientists and space technicians are already using remote satellites to; track tagged sharks and sea turtles, help predict extreme weather and even uncover tombs of the indigenous people in Siberia according to different presentations at the conference.

However it is hoped that with more developed technology that is set to be introduced in the future, scientists will be able to predict the warning signs of disasters like Hurricane Rita and the Southwest Asian Tsunami much earlier in order to reduce human casualties.

The conference also saw Costa Rica join the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). This is a system which will see all of the information collected by the member countries, about the earth and how it is changing, possible warning signs etc, shared between everyone, allowing for a much more comprehensive picture to be built up. Costa Rica have now become the 71st member country in this system which is set to change the way we react to possible natural disasters in the future.

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