If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?

Pleiades, of course–at least according to this news release from Astrium. An island appeared off of Pakistan’s coast a few days ago right after an earthquake, according to this ABC posting. There were all sorts of strange things associated with it, which are detailed in the article. Not quite strange in a Jules Verne kind […]

Documenting that sinking feeling

Just like the Italian economy, since it’s very founding Venice has always sort of headed in the wrong direction–underwater. Not that the inhabitants needed any more proof of sinking. But, according to this article on BusinessInsider, a polar low earth orbiting satellite zipping 319 miles around the Earth called TerraSAR-X, is documenting Venice’s neighborhoods downward trends. […]

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 […]

Space matters, but other options help, too

This story has been going around the net for the past few days. And probably for many of you smart people out there, it’s probably an inevitable outcome of our government’s (the USA) infatuation with drones. But, just like my aside “The Poor Man’s LEO satellite” about the North Dakota balloons being used for imagery, […]