Sun-Synchronous Orbit
The clever trick that lets a satellite pass over the same spot on Earth at the same local time every day, giving remote sensing missions the one thing cameras love most: consistent lighting.
The clever trick that lets a satellite pass over the same spot on Earth at the same local time every day, giving remote sensing missions the one thing cameras love most: consistent lighting.
Landsat 7 launched on April 15, 1999, designed to last five years. It operated for twenty-five, survived a failure that destroyed a fifth of every image it took, and became part of the longest continuous record of Earth's surface ever assembled. Then they made the data free.
Planet Labs institutes 14-day delay on imagery covering Iran and Gulf States. Commercial remote sensing faces new operational security pressures as conflict escalates.
Today's highlights include SpaceX's 300th Starlink launch, NASA re-establishing contact with a TRACERS satellite, and budget concerns impacting the commercial remote sensing industry.