Hello from The National and welcome to the View from London – your weekly guide to the big stories from our London bureau
Heat seekers
A British start-up has found a way to use heat-sensing satellites to detect damage to oil and gas pipelines, in near-real time, which could prove crucial to assessing the situation on the ground during times of conflict.
The heat from damaged or leaking pipelines is captured with infrared thermal imagery at high resolution from low-earth orbit satellites.
SatVu’s infrared cameras are 30 times more powerful than those of Nasa’s Landsat and the European Space Agency’s Copernicus programmes, which have been used for scientific research purposes. This allows SatVu to detect areas of heat from inside spaces as small as a car.
It launched its latest satellite, HotSat-3, in April and it began publishing its first images two months later. The imagery is now being distributed by Saudi Arabia's first national Earth observation data platform, Neo Space Group's UP42.
Scott Herman, chief technical officer for SatVu, said analysis of the heat signature can help to better understand what is happening with a high level of detail – enough to see inside pipes and buildings.
“It would show up as a pretty bright flare or difference in temperature than what you would expect in a pipeline,” Mr Herman told The National.
SatVu has been able to see increased activity on the East-West pipeline running from Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea, as the country tries to circumvent the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The low rate of oil tankers leaving the Gulf is also visible.
High-resolution thermal imagery can provide an accurate and “transparent” situation report, Mr Herman said. “It means you can go into an energy facility and see detail at a subcomponent or subassembly level and really identify the pattern of activity.”
This is key for economic monitoring of the energy sector in the Gulf. “If you're an energy trader you’ll want to know which facilities are on and what level of production capacity are they running at,” he said. “What's happening to their operations? That's a huge question for energy traders.”
Hate crime
Incidents of anti-Muslim hate are soaring to record levels in London, with a sixfold increase in the last five years.
Last year saw the highest number of annual reported incidents in London on record, at 1,909. The figure for the whole of this year is expected to be even higher, having already reached 1,031 by the end of June, according to the British Muslim helpline Tell Mama.
The number of such incidents more than doubled from 313 reported in 2021 to 818 in 2022 and has been rising since.
The helpline, which was the government’s reporting service for 15 years, is calling on the Metropolitan and City of London police forces to strengthen their recording and prosecution of these crimes.
Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, said the sustained increase showed that the crisis was not temporary and could continue to worsen.
She called for a “no-nonsense response” from the government and law enforcement. “Behind every one of these figures is a Londoner who was made to feel unsafe simply because of their faith,” Ms Atta said.
Strong partners
UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh met the UK’s new Middle East Minister Steve Doughty in London this week.
Mr Doughty said they discussed “how we can work together to support peace and stability in the Middle East”.
“We’re committed to keeping key trade routes open and helping deliver security and economic growth,” he said.
Supercar spotters
After 90 supercars were impounded in London in one weekend, we sent video journalist Roman Salnikov on to the streets of Mayfair to dig a little deeper and see just how many he could find and who is driving them. Many are Gulf owners who ship their cars over for the summer.
He was intrigued by the amount of supercar spotters he saw – not just car enthusiasts but an entire scene of content creators who make a living photographing the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens on parade.
He accompanied Aaron Moniz, who knows all the hotspots and is part of the community who give each other tips about which cars are on the move.
While he didn’t see any getting towed away, he did see an exceedingly rare £2.2 million (about $3 million) Pagani Utopia getting a parking ticket.
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