• Question: Can you see me right now as you are a satellite person?

    Asked by Morgan to Brian on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Brian Weaver

      Brian Weaver answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      The satellites I work with are for positioning they aren’t meant for earth observation. Satellites that capture imagery of earth orbit much lower to get better resolution. Even with low orbits and expensive cameras, the “ground sampling distance” GSD of earth observation satellites is only around 15 meters! That means you could tell the difference between a beach full of people and an empty beach but you can’t see individual people on the beach.
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      Everyone has access to these images online! The USA satellites that capture imagery are called “LandSAT”, the European versions (slightly more modern) are called “Sentinel”.
      LANDSAT: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.
      SENTINEL: https://scihub.copernicus.eu/dhus/#/home
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      Let me know if you have more questions or find something interesting. I’ve heard the government “fuzzes out” secret training facilities on the images 😀

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