San Francisco-based Planet Labs Inc. is internationally known for providing high-resolution imaging solutions via its sophisticated SkySat satellite constellation.
Planet Labs Inc. has announced plans to use a cloud-based dashboard and accompanying application programming interface (API), which will allow users “to task the firm’s growing SkySat constellation”, SpaceNews reports.
Planet Labs Inc. a private San Francisco-based Earth imaging company that daily monitors our planet for changes and pinpoint trends with the help of miniature satellites.
Jim Thomason, Planet vice president of imagery products, told SpaceNews on Tuesday that the new project’s goal is to provide government and commercial customers with easier access to high-resolution imagery of locations at different times throughout the day and “a better sense of activity on the ground”.
This will enable “visibility into the end-to-end experience, from order to fulfillment, so expectations can be managed with analysts and teams”, the statement pointed out.
Instead of redesigning its satellites, Planet Labs lowered SkySats from an altitude of 500 kilometres to 450 kilometres, also improving the resolution of orthorectified imagery from 80 centimetres to 50 centimetres per pixel.
Bloomberg, for its part, touted Planet’s new project by reporting that the company “has built what amounts to a real-time accounting system of the earth that just about anyone can access by paying a fee”.
In this vein, the news outlet referred to a Planet-made image of the “Black Lives Matter” mural which was painted on two blocks of asphalt near the White House amid the ongoing protests across the US, which were sparked by the 25 May death of African American man George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
