World's Highest-Resolution Satellite Imagery

>> "The GeoEye-1 makes just under 15 orbits per day (it has a 98-minute period), can revisit virtually any location in less than three days, and because of its sun-synchronous orbit, it is always about 10:30 am local time below the satellite."

It must be powered by an infinite improbability engine.

I mean, how else could you photograph a location where it's 10:30am local time, then 1.63 hours later be on the opposite side of the planet where it is now... 10:30am local time.

Hmmmm... An Excellent point... I think I will cut that line from the story.

Think you're all forgetting about something here.. MAGIC.

From http://launch.geoeye.com/LaunchSite/about/:

"GeoEye-1 makes 15 orbits per day flying at an altitude of 681 kilometers or 423 miles with an orbital velocity of about 7.5 km/sec or 16,800 mi/hr. Its sun-synchronous orbit allows it to pass over a given area at about 10:30 a.m. local time every day. Given its altitude and sun-synchronous orbit, field of view and superior resolution GeoEye-1 can “revisit” any point on the globe every three days or sooner, depending upon the required look angle."

And lot's not forget that the satellite has a polar orbit (pole-to-pole). From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit):

"A sun-synchronous orbit (sometimes incorrectly called a heliosynchronous orbit) is a geocentric orbit which combines altitude and inclination in such a way that an object on that orbit passes over any given point of the Earth's surface at the same local solar time. The surface illumination angle will be nearly the same every time. This consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the earth's surface in visible or infrared wavelengths (e.g. weather, spy and remote sensing satellites). For example, a satellite in sun-synchronous orbit might cross the equator twelve times a day each time at approximately 15:00 local time. This is achieved by having the orbital plane of the orbit precess (rotate) approximately one degree each day, eastward, to keep pace with the Earth's revolution around the sun."

News:

"Half-meter resolution image of Khalifa Sports City, Doha,
Qatar, was collected by the GeoEye-1 satellite on January
 10, 2009"

Since the maximum color ground resolution is 1.65 meters, it is impossible that the image in the article was taken at half-meter resolution.

Minor discrepencies aside, I would be amazed if this is truly the best satellite that the government has at their disposal. At least I am sure that it is not the only one of its kind. I would think that imformation pertaining to spy satellites would be highly classified, and I doubt the government is going to readily show their hand, so to speak.

How do the images from google earth compare? What resolution where those taken in?

>> How do the images from google earth compare.

Some of the Google images are much, much, much, higher resolution. Zoom in on the men in this village, for instance: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=13.5950644515539,20.0065048096995&t=h&z=19

Of course, that's the benefit of using aerial photography in addition to satellite images. :)

Yes, the men in that village realized that the satellite was taking a picture, and decided to look up.

You didn't read the last line of my message, did you? :)

Get real! It's common knowledge inside the beltway that satellite color imagery with resolution to 0.25cm exists on VIDEO, For static color photos resolution can go down to 3mm. For black/white static photos you are talking of resolution down to .05mm - a crystal sharp image of a face, a licence plate, serial numbers on weapons, etc.

nutty.