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Palmyra temple’s destruction confirmed by Vancouver firm

Palmyra temple’s destruction confirmed by Vancouver firm

The satellite images confirming the destruction of an ancient Syrian temple in Palmyra earlier this week were taken by a Vancouver company, hours after being asked by the United Nations.

Urthecast provides satellite imagery to government and private sectors for a multitude of purposes — from tracking animal migration to predicting revenue forecasts based on the number of cars in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

The company, which was launched in December 2014, also has a partnership with the United Nations.

On Monday the agency reached out to Urthercast to see if it was possible to get a shot of the ancient Temple of Bel in Palmyra, after there was speculation that it was destroyed.

The 2,000-year-old temple was considered to be archeological jewel of the Middle East. UNESCO lists it as containing “monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.”

“They said, ‘There’s been rumours of this,. We don’t have confirmation so if you can take a picture, let us know,’” CEO Scott Larson told Yahoo Canada News. “We took a picture and within three hours delivered it to them and then they had proof that this temple had been destroyed. “

The camera happened to be in the right location and the weather patterns were clear. This helped Urthercast successfully capture the images the UN was after.

The company has four cameras in space — two on the International Space Station and two others on independent satellites, which were purchased from a company in Spain. They can capture images things that are three metres or bigger. Cars, for example, but not licence plates.

Larson says it’s rewarding to be able to help in a process of changing the world.

“It’s a little bit like journalism,” he says. “There are things you can see that are incredibly unfortunate. Our mandate is to put a bit of a spotlight on it, highlight it and work with people who are more capable than us to solve it or have an impact. Whether it’s deforestation, agriculture issue, we have imagery that most people don’t have access to and it can provide some benefit.”

The name “Urthercast” is a play on words – while it’s pronounced “earthcast,” it can also be read a few different way.

“It’s Earth, it’s ‘you are the cast,’ because we’re all being imagined from above,” Larson says.