Project TWINSAT: Development of Integrated Aerospace and Ground-Based Early Warning and Monitoring Technologies for Precursors to Large-Scale Natural Disasters

Abstract

The paper substantiates and briefly describes an innovative project aimed at creating and using in practice effective space-, aviation, and ground-based early warning and monitoring technologies for precursors to large-scale earthquakes in order to increase the accuracy and reliability in the short-term forecasting of times and places of disasters. The innovative scheme, which envisages the use of paired satellite equipment with controlled distance and information exchange between them, will make it possible to obtain data on the spatial structure and dynamic characteristics of studied phenomena, substantially increasing the reliability in detecting earthquake-related signals from a set of other natural phenomena. A distinctive feature of the project is a three-tiered system and multiparameter analysis of a wide set of precursor signals simultaneously revealed by different methods in different media, which significantly increases the accuracy and reliability in short-term earthquake forecasts. We present a stage-by-stage practical implementation scheme and a business model that will guarantee a swift return on investments and the economic viability of the project as a whole.