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The increasing development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies has allowed greater use of UAVs as remote sensing platforms to enhance satellite and manned aerial vehicle remote sensing surveillance and environmental management systems. Particularly, the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research - INPE has an Environmental Data Collection System (SCD) since 1993. Recently, the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) opened the National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN). Both may need additional resources for their expansions in the near future as offered by UAV technologies. These needs illustrate the potential of UAV technologies as complement to existing or future systems. This paper presents an overview of data transmission used in UAVs for remote sensing surveillance and environmental management systems.

The supply of electrical power is one of the most important functions required by the diverse payloads of satellites. A fault in the corresponding subsystem might lead to mission or even vehicle loss. Among the causes of such faults, we highlight the phenomenon of thermal avalanche in batteries. It can be explained as an energetic unbalance where the rate of heat generated in the interior of the system exceeds its capacity to dissipate it. This occurred to the OAO1 of NASA just after its launch on April 8, 1966; and with the CBERS2 of CAST and INPE already in orbit in 2007 and 2009. This work presents a discussion on the causes and effects of thermal avalanches in artificial satellite battery charging and discharging systems.