Planet's View From Above Just Got Clearer (qz.com) 22
An anonymous reader shares a report: The remote-sensing firm Planet operates more than one hundred satellites that constantly orbit the earth, collecting imagery of the world's entire landmass each day. Now, to offer more clarity to its customers, it has flown a handful of its satellites 50 km closer to the Earth. This literal zoom-in effort will allow the firm to offer imagery with a resolution of 50 cm of earth per pixel, an increase from 80 cm. In one example, that means that as well as seeing the shape of a car, analysts will also be able to clearly discern the position of its windshield.
By the end of the summer, the company plans to add six new satellites to its constellation, allowing it to take those higher resolution pictures of the same area twelve times a day. "We felt like 50 centimeters was an important threshold, but where we are really pushing the envelope is on that revisit," Jim Thomason, a Planet vice president, told Quartz. The ability to view the same area repeatedly means customers will get their imagery sooner after they request it, and they may be able to see what is changing on the ground. That also means a higher chance of dodging the bane of optical space imagery: clouds.
By the end of the summer, the company plans to add six new satellites to its constellation, allowing it to take those higher resolution pictures of the same area twelve times a day. "We felt like 50 centimeters was an important threshold, but where we are really pushing the envelope is on that revisit," Jim Thomason, a Planet vice president, told Quartz. The ability to view the same area repeatedly means customers will get their imagery sooner after they request it, and they may be able to see what is changing on the ground. That also means a higher chance of dodging the bane of optical space imagery: clouds.
"End" of an era (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe it's time to end my nude sunbathing hobby
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I figure I'm safe until they get down to 1cm per pixel or so.
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until Natalie Wood walks by
1 pixel equals 1 standard beachball in size. (Score:5, Funny)
And to that nude sunbather post above, you don't have to worry unless you are really well endowed.
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or
A Canadian football field would be 274 pixels X 118 pixels.
Similar to the "hi res" apple II plus monitor I used in grade 4 when I learned to play 'turtle'...
4th amendment (Score:2)
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Well, don't be outside then. If they can see you from a low flying airplane then it's a reasonable discovery.
Re:4th amendment (Score:5, Informative)
I am a bit unsure about what you are getting at with this comment. Planet is a private company, not a government. The 4th amendment generally has jurisdiction only in the U.S., and the world is a big place. It cannot take pictures inside a building, or inside a car. An individual human would only take up a few pixels at most. What it can take pictures of are out in the open, where a reasonable expectation of privacy is limited. There are limitation in what Planet takes pictures of and when (orbital mechanics and all). Lastly, Planet's capabilities, today, have been already been exceeded by the U.S. intelligence agencies for decades.
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It cannot take pictures inside a building, or inside a car.
I drive a convertible, you insensitive clod!
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We have skylights, you insensitive clod! :-)
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1) The US Constitution does not apply to the entire planet
2) The Supreme Court has decided that anything in open view is not protected, even if it can be viewed through a closed window.
3) If you're growing weed in the backyard you're already setting yourself up to be raided by every neighborhood kid with a drone.
I do the same (Score:2)
When I can't see my wife in the viewfinder I just go 50km nearer.
IOW it's another AD.
Pixel Averaging (Score:3)
Doesn't the ability to revisit regularly with multiple shadow angles give the ability to improve resolution even further by averaging the changes out? I admittedly might misunderstand the tech, but I think that's possible although it might eat a lot of GPU cycles for a large image.
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Yes but only if the object doesn't move. It works really well for satellites pointing the other way: i.e. to space.
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A lot of things that don't move aren't identifiable at half a meter resolution but would be valuable knowledge for an attacker or competitor, things like utility boxes, gas lines, weapons emplacements, various types of equipment. Even stuff which only moves occasionally could be of interest when the satellite passes every 12 hours, for instance is that thing with the long hood a tractor or a 1920s Bugatti?
Not impressed (Score:2)
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It wasn't the Landsat, which were very low res even compared to Planet. It was one of the spy satellites, possibly Keyhole.
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Yeah about that....
How do you read a license plate if you are getting the image from a satellite? If the photo is taken at a time near the closest possible approach, then the satellite is looking straight down. The satellite would not be able to see a license plate which is (normally) vertically mounted on the bumper of the car. The view straight down would show the roof, hood and windows...
Was the license plate in his car just thrown up on the dashboard or perhaps thrown under the rear window so that it w
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Jerry never said, but I get the impression that it mounted on the car in the regular fashion. I'd suggest that you ask him for more details, but it's a tad late for that.
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Yeah, even if it was fastened to the roof of his car it is not possible to read a number plate from 1970's spy satellites.
We know the size of the primary mirror in the Key Hole satellites; it's the same as Hubble... You can now work back with some standard physics and well the height of the number plate is going to be about two pixels assuming no atmospheric blurring. Obligatory Wikipedia article on Key Hole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Newer satellites are reputed to have larger mirrors (2.9-3.1m) whic