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Domain: spaceimaging.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to spaceimaging.com.

Comments · 54

  1. Here is a High-Res Image... by Amoeba+Protozoa · · Score: 3 · on Sneaky Satellite Photos Available Online

    ...to show you what this thing is really capable of!

    http://ww w.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/archive/iow11229 9/mile1024.gif

    Enjoy!

    -AP

  2. Re:Well, ... by Lunatic · · Score: 4 · on Sneaky Satellite Photos Available Online
    So all we need to do is fly it higher and match the rotation speed of the earth, thereby making the earth seem to be still from the satellite's perspective.
    Unfortunately, this involves a HUGE tradeoff in resolution at the current state of technology.

    The Ikonos satellite data (see here) shows that it orbits at an altitude of 681 kilometers / 423 miles. Why so close? Because the closer to the earth, the higher the resolution of the picture, all things being equal.

    If you look here, you'll find a quick rundown of orbital types -- of interest is Geostationary Orbit (GEO), which is what would be necessary to accomplish what you want. However, its altitude is 35786 km / 22228 mi. So, if they were to push the satellite to a higher orbit (which is also much more expensive to do, and required a much bigger launch vehicle and other things I'm probably overlooking), the resolution would be 53^2 (2809) times poorer, again all things being equal. This would make a 1m resolution picture into a 53m resolution picture. Not likely to catch you sunbathing in the back yard.

    They would have to increase their optical system by over 3 orders of magnitude to do as you suggest.

    I'm no expert, and I have probably overlooked many things. However, this is a quick summary of why it's not as easy to do as it sounds.


    -Lunatic
  3. Damn it, I need the preview button! here it is ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Ikonos 1 lost in space


    www.spaceimaging.com

  4. I work for SpaceImaging. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Ikonos 1 lost in space

    Yes the satillite appears to be lost; even we imaging engineers won't know for sure until the PR guys filter through the reports from the launch engineers. We are all very sad.

    Conspiracy Theories? Yeah, we like to joke about 'em too: The DOD zapped it, the CIA hijacked it, the French or Israelis sabotaged it, etc. , etc.

    Is it a spy satillite? Sure; you can see airports and tanks; so what? Just about any picture from space of the earth can be used for "spy" purposes. The satillite has many purposes: agricultural, mapping, mining, environmental monitoring too. (I love it when a third world government calls up and says our images our wrong because they don't jive with their maps. "Please fix your image", they say). There is a reason there are only 5 permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.

    Anyway India, France, Russia, Israel and several US companies are entering the commercial hi-res space imaging field. Everyone's got the technology; there just trying to deploy it (it's takes a lot of things to go right to go from concept to a product on a CD-ROM in a customers hand).

    We've got a backup satillite which we can launch; but we're going to study what went wrong first. Meanwhile, you'll have to settle for our 5-meter data (you can barely see your house). www.spaceimaging.com

    Oh yeah, Terra Server sucks! The pictures are old and it's sponsored by Microsoft. We use SGI's !!!