Donations come from far and wide in bid to save satellite station

A MALIAN farmer who donated a fraction of a penny is among thousands hoping to save a “vital” Dundee service collecting images from space.

Dundee Satellite Receiving Station (DSRS) was closed in April after funding was cut by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The centre, operated by Dundee University, has been recording and storing images of the planet taken from orbit since 1978.

Almost £10,000 has been raised through an online crowdfunder which hopes to raise enough funds to keep the centre, which is being decommissioned, afloat.

Donations have come in from as far as west African nation Mali, where a farmer said he uses the images to assess changes in his land.

The anonymous farmer posted “thanks for letting me see my land and my country from space” before adding “I hope my five West African Francs can help.” The amount equates to 0.0068 in GBP.

The facility is mainly used by landowners, scientists and researchers, many of whom assess images to better understand environmental changes. Many scientific studies reference images collected by DSRS.

The station’s manager Neil Lonie said the contributions have been overwhelming.

He said: “Word continues to spread about the fundraiser. Interestingly, most of the donors have come from Europe, India, Africa and US, both in numbers and amounts.

“It has always been the ethos of the station to provide free data to all. Comments such as that from Mali makes us feel good that we have been useful.”

Dundee University has said it was disappointed to shut the station but said it was “not in a position to match” the £338,000 funding loss from NERC.