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Small Satellites Begin to Offer Unrivaled Detail in Radar Images of Earth

posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 12 2019, @12:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the picture-this dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for AnonymousCoward

Small satellites begin to offer unrivaled detail in radar images of Earth

A Finnish company named ICEYE that is building a constellation of satellites to create synthetic images of the Earth's surface says it has taken the first sub-1 meter resolution photos of the planet with a small satellite. The images show significant detail of crude oil being loaded onto and off of tankers.

According to ICEYE co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Pekka Laurila, since its founding in 2015 ICEYE has raised about $65 million, expanded to 120 employees, and most recently has launched three of its mini-refrigerator-sized satellites into low-Earth orbit.

For the first three years ICEYE focused on technology development, and its first payload launch occurred in January 2018 on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Since then ICEYE has launched two more satellites and plans to add another two by the end of this year. "It is fair to say that we are moving into commercial operations, and the scope of those commercial services are rapidly increasing," Laurila said in an interview with Ars.

In contrast to the optical instruments used by most of the existing Earth-focused imaging satellites, ICEYE uses synthetic-aperture radar technology. Its 100kg satellites use the motion of a radar antenna, combined with the time the device travels over a target, to create multi-dimensional images of the surface even through clouds, during day or night. The "synthetic" part of the antenna is due to the fact that a small antenna moving over a large distance can effectively mimic the resolution of a much larger antenna.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:02AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:02AM (#879010)

    First the electric car, then the rocket ship, and now radar. Is there no technology beyond the entrepreneurial grasp of this titan?

    • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:13AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:13AM (#879015)

      Elon Musk is the Zapp Brannigan of our times: giant ego, good publicity, zero ability.

    • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by legont on Monday August 12 2019, @02:52AM

      by legont (4179) on Monday August 12 2019, @02:52AM (#879037)

      Nah, it is measured in mini refrigerators; must be liberal arts thing.

      --
      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.

    • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Monday August 12 2019, @09:10AM (3 children)

      by pvanhoof (4638) on Monday August 12 2019, @09:10AM (#879132) Homepage

      Am I missing something? What has Elon Musk to do with ICEYE [iceye.com]?

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday August 12 2019, @09:45AM (2 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 12 2019, @09:45AM (#879135) Journal

        Am I missing something?

        Yes, you are missing the sarcasm. Feel free to blame Nathan Poe, he doesn't care. (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

        • (Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Monday August 12 2019, @03:10PM (1 child)

          by pvanhoof (4638) on Monday August 12 2019, @03:10PM (#879228) Homepage

          Ah, but I thought the members of the holy church of Elon Musk were on the green site. Is there anybody here to be sarcastic to?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @09:28PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @09:28PM (#879384)

            You could say that, but I don't want to spoil your discovery.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:22AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:22AM (#879017)

    Elon Musk stands like a spoiled child on the shoulders of real inventors before him, because Musk innovated nothing.

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday August 13 2019, @10:35PM

      by anubi (2828) on Tuesday August 13 2019, @10:35PM (#879856) Journal

      Say what you may, but Elon stands almost alone as a man with the vision to see what can be done and work the greedy capitalistic system to not only tolerate somebody doing things that few people even dream of, and actually finance it.

      Elon is on the top of my list of visionaries, along with people like Gene Roddenberry. Through the generations, we occasionally have people of uncommon insight and organizational skills to implement their vision. Elon is ours.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:24AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:24AM (#879018)

    Musk.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 12 2019, @01:29AM (#879019)

    Musk, charlatan and scoundrel. Where is Stella when we need her?

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