Next calendar month , a commercial satellite key out the GeoEye-1 will go into the Earth ’s orbit . Its high resolution photos - shots that will spy a 16 - inch beachball - will be reserved for military use . However , slightly lower resolution imagination will be made available in the commercial-grade sector , like Google Earth .
Military imagery can resolve images as small as .17 solid meters . Commercial limitations are about double that size at .36 straight meters . The new satellite will be able to enamour 700,000 square kilometer a day ( which Technology Review points out is more or less the size of Texas ) .
But the good news program is that GeoEye already sells shots to Yahoo , Google and Microsoft that we get to see through their various mapping vena portae . In other words , we ’ll presently be getting a gratuitous upgrade to our pet satellite imagination services . Good hooey . So watch the cleavage , ladies , lest you be an unwilling accomplice to the rapidly growing satellite Peeping Tom movement . ( mark : if such sites really exist , please netmail tips … for research use . )
Google EarthSatellite
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