Using Satellites To Monitor Bridge Safety

__roo writes: In an effort to detect crumbling infrastructure before it causes damage and costs lives, the European Space Agency is working with the UK's University of Nottingham to monitor the movements of large structures as they happen using satellite navigation sensors. The team uses highly sensitive satnav receivers that transmit real-time data to detect movements as small as 1 cm combined with historical Earth observation satellite data. By placing sensors at key locations on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland, they detected stressed structural members and unexpected deformations.

Comments

Looking at a bridge from space is somehow better?

[sdguero]

This makes no sense to me. Shouldn't we be able to measure them from much closer up with much greater accuracy than 1 cm?

Can it assign blame from up there?

[damn_registrars]

We've learned from other bridge collapses in the past that it is more important to place - or relieve - blame after the collapse than it is to actually do something about it. Will the satellites speed up that process as well?