"The mere expectation that the amendment to the Forest Law and its consequent weakening would be approved set off a disturbing wave of renewed deforestation in the Amazon region, as has been unequivocally demonstrated by data recently released by the Brazilian Space Research Institute (INPE), " they write.

BBC: Brazil passes 'retrograde' forest code

Dr James E Hansen has been the head of the Goddard Institute for Space Research since 1981.

BBC: Nasa's James Hansen retires to pursue climate fight

The National Institute for Space Research has two programmes that measure deforestation.

ECONOMIST: What the numbers do and don't say about deforestation

The latest data from the National Institute of Space Research relates to a period before a change in the code which environmentalists say eases the protection designed to prevent deforestation - a claim the government disputes.

BBC: Amazon deforestation 'at record low'

From the scientific perspective, for the story to close for science, flight rates have to be high, said Alan Stern, chair of the scientific organizing committee for the conference and associate vice president of the Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Division in Boulder.

MSN: Suborbital spaceships spark scientific frenzy

Hansen directs research at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and is a longtime environmental activist.

CNN: NASA scientist links climate change, extreme weather

"There is a high possibility that the object spotted this morning... on social media, is an object from outer space, " Saran Poshyachinda, Deputy Director of National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, told CNN.

CNN: Fireball lights up sky over Bangkok