Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 15—decrypting the world with waves of color

Finally, we get to discuss the colors used for DigitalGlobe’s imagery satellites—or satellite, as we will be focusing (no pun intended—these satellites can’t really focus, remember) on WorldView-2. According to DigitalGlobe’s Basic Imagery literature, WorldView-2’s image sensors use eight different colors to look at the Earth: Coastal, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Red Edge, Near-IR (InfraRed)1, […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 14—making it intelligible

I know—I promised to talk about the different colors on imagery birds (satellites) and in what applications in particular they’re used. But, someone pointed out to me that perhaps the past few lessons have been a little too space-nerd-tastic and maybe a little too difficult to understand. SO let me just try to make things […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 13—sweeping the Earth’s surface with pixels

Imagery satellites have come a long way since the Corona/Discovery program. Nowadays, there is so much more an imagery bird can deliver—and that’s what DigitalGlobe is giving to its customers. Before going on, I just want to clarify my reasons, again, for covering DigitalGlobe in this series. Primarily, they make it easy to find things. […]

Why space matters: Imaging satellite operations, part 12—all the colors of the rainbow—from space!!!

This lesson is not about space Skittles. Nor is it about any political parties or leanings within or without closets. The one thing I am asking you to do for this and the remainder of these imagery operations lessons, is keep in mind I am guessing. I don’t KNOW exactly how DigitalGlobe conducts their space […]

Too much Corona, a Discoverer’s tale seen through the Keyhole

I just came upon this article from the Discovery Channel, and it tickled some memory cells. Back when we just started lobbing imagery satellites up into low earth orbit, we didn’t have the comprehensive ground systems and bandwidth of today. There was no such thing as a digital camera to be used as a payload. […]