2013 Additions to Satellite Archives – 2 : India

DigitalGlobe’s(previously GeoEye’s) satellites GeoEye-1 and Ikonos are two stalwarts of International Remote Sensing arena. Ikonos satellite was the first one to acquire imagery at sub-meter resolution. This made satellite imagery more attractive general public. People were really able to identify cultural features or even their houses in the satellite image. This was not possible until then. Indian Remote Sensing satellite IRS 1D was the best satellite providing images at 6m resolution.

GeoEye-1 launched in 2008 provides data at 50cm resolution. Although sensor is capable of acquiring data at 41cm, US regulation do not allow data better than 50cm to be sold commercially.

Both GeoEye-1 and Ikonos are going strong. Below are the snapshots of their acquisitions in 2013:

GeoEye-1 Archive over India in 2013.

Ikonos archive in 2013 over India (Click to enlarge)
Ikonos has been acquiring data since 1999. Above is a snapshot of data acquired in 2013