Peru launched its first satellite into space this month, to monitor illegal mining, logging and other extractive activities in the country's vast stretch of the Amazon rainforest. The Peru SAT-1, developed with French aid and the most sophisticated in Latin America, was launched Sept. 15 from Kourou Spaceport [10] in French Guiana [11] and monitored from the Satellite Images National Operations Center (CNOIS [12]) in Pucusana, south of Lima. The satellite bears the logo of Peru's space agency, CONIDA [13], with the words "Kausachun Peru" (Viva Peru in Quechua). (Peru This Week [14], Nature [15], Sept. 15)
