Experts at the Russian center for on-line earth monitoring can draw maps of natural resources and control their rational use, forecast violent weather events, as well as estimate the scale of natural disasters. They receive  the necessary information from a group of satellites. The dual purpose satellite Resurs-DK helps examine an object of one meter or less at high resolution. Russian scientists say that it is more effective than the satellites of other countries.

Resurs-DK has been transmitting tens of thousands of images of the Earth in the past three years. All information is received at the scientific center for on-line monitoring, where it is processed and stored in an electronic database. Both Russian and foreign customers*speak highly about the information received from the center, said its senior official Alexander Semerikov.

The center gets a large number of orders, and sometimes they exceed its capacity. About 90 percent of clients place orders for information from the Resurs-DK satellite. The center monitors over 1 100 locations.

Images received from outer space help in forecasting harvests, detecting forest fires, and discovering poppy and cannabis plantations. Logging activities can be determined up to a single tree. These images are very important evidence for the prosecutors in cases involving illegal logging.

The satellite has proved to be quite important as Russia prepares for the Sochi Olympics in 2014. The center regularly receives information about the ongoing preparations for the Olympic games. Experts have created a 3-D model of the hills and ski-run in the Krasnaya Poliana preserve, where the main sport facilities will be built.