This is the first crude picture obtained from Explorer 6 Earth satellite. It shows a sun-lighted area of the Central Pacific ocean and its cloud cover. The picture was made when the satellite was about 17,000 mi (27,000 km) above the surface of the earth on August 14, 1959. At the time, the satellite was crossing Mexico.

Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites. Explorer 6 was a US satellite launched on August 7, 1959. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... For other uses, please see Satellite (disambiguation) A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ...

History

First television image of Earth from space transmitted by the TIROS-1 weather satellite.

The first satellite photographs of Earth were made August 14, 1959 by the US satellite Explorer 6.^[1] The first satellite photographs of the Moon might have been made on October 6, 1959 by the Soviet satellite Luna 3, on a mission to photograph the far side of the Moon. The Blue Marble photograph was taken from space in 1972, and has become very popular in the media and among the public. Also in 1972 the United States started the Landsat program, the largest program for acquisition of imagery of Earth from space. Landsat 7, the most recent Landsat satellite, was launched in 1999. In 1977, the first real time satellite imagery was acquired by the USA's KH-11 satellite system. Download high resolution version (590x658, 236 KB)First TV image of Earth from space. ... Download high resolution version (590x658, 236 KB)First TV image of Earth from space. ... is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Explorer 6 was a US satellite launched on August 7, 1959. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Luna 3 (E-3 series) was the third spacecraft sent successfully to the moon and was an early triumph in the human exploration of outer space. ... The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of Earth taken on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of about 45,000 km. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Landsat 7, launched in 1999, is the most recent addition to the Landsat program. ... Landsat 7 is the latest satellite of the Landsat program. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... A leaked KH-11 photo showing the Nikolaiev 444 shipyard in the Black Sea taken in 1984 The KH-11, also referenced by the codenames 1010[1], Crystal and Kennan[2], also commonly known as Key Hole, was a type of reconnaissance satellite launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office...

All satellite images produced by NASA are published by Earth Observatory and are freely available to the public. Several other countries have satellite imaging programs, and a collaborative European effort launched the ERS and Envisat satellites carrying various sensors. There are also private companies that provide commercial satellite imagery. In the early 21st century satellite imagery became widely available when affordable, easy to use software with access to satellite imagery databases became offered by several companies and organizations. For other uses, see NASA (disambiguation). ... The Earth Observatory is a publishing organization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. ... European Remote-Sensing satellite (ERS) was the European Space Agencys first Earth-observing satellite. ... Model of Envisat The Envisat (Environmental Satellite) satellite is an Earth-observing satellite built by the European Space Agency. ...

Uses

Satellite photography can be used to produce composite images of an entire hemisphere...

...or to map a small area of the Earth, such as this photo of the countryside of Haskell County, Kansas, United States.

Satellite images have many applications in agriculture, geology, forestry, biodiversity conservation, regional planning, education, intelligence and warfare. Images can be in visible colours and in other spectra. There are also elevation maps, usually made by radar imaging. Interpretation and analysis of satellite imagery is conducted using software packages like ERDAS Imagine or ENVI. Some of the first image enhancement of satellite photos was conducted by the U.S. Government and its contractors. For example ESL Incorporated developed some of the earliest two dimensional Fourier transforms applied to digital image processing to address NASA photos as well as national security applications. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2589x2481, 1365 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Agriculture Crop rotation Center pivot irrigation Haskell County, Kansas Ogallala Aquifer Agriculture in the United States Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Crops Kansas... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2589x2481, 1365 KB) Summary Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Agriculture Crop rotation Center pivot irrigation Haskell County, Kansas Ogallala Aquifer Agriculture in the United States Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Crops Kansas... Haskell County (county code HS) is a county located in Southwest Kansas, in the Central United States. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... Regional planning is a branch of land use planning and deals with the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure and settlement growth across a significantly larger area of land than an individual city or town. ... Intelligence (abbreviated or ) is the process and the result of gathering information and analyzing it to answer questions or obtain advance warnings needed to plan for the future. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... Although some radiations are marked as N for no in the diagram, some waves do in fact penetrate the atmosphere, although extremely minimally compared to the other radiations The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation. ... ERDAS IMAGINE is a raster graphics editor and remote sensing application designed by Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging. ... The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) is a committee within the European Parliament. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized... ESL Incorporated is a high technology U.S. firm engaged in software design, systems analysis and hardware development for the strategic reconnaissance marketplace. ... Fourier (SAMPA: [fVri:eI]) can mean: Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician and physicist. ... Digital image processing is the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images. ... For other uses, see NASA (disambiguation). ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ...

Resolution and data

The resolution of satellite images varies depending on the instrument used and the altitude of the satellite's orbit. For example, the Landsat archive offers repeated imagery at 30 meter resolution for the planet, but most of it has not been processed from the raw data. Landsat 7 has an average return period of 16 days. For many smaller areas, images with resolution as high as 10 cm can be available.^{[citation needed]} DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite provides the world's highest resolution commercial satellite imagery[1]. The 50 cm resolution of WorldView-1's panchromatic images allows the satellite to distinguish between objects on the ground that are at least 50 cm apart. Similarly DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite provides 2.4 meter resolution multispectral images. Image resolution describes the detail an image holds. ... The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for acqusition of imagery of Earth from space. ... Landsat 7 is the latest satellite of the Landsat program. ... WorldView-1 is a commercial earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlobe. ... Panchromatic is a term describing a type of photographic film that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. ... QuickBird is a high-resolution commercial earth observation satellite, owned by DigitalGlobe, that was launched in 2001. ... Is the ability of a remote sensing device to detect electromagnetic energy in at least two or more individual wavelength intervals ...

Satellite imagery is sometimes supplemented with aerial photography, which has higher resolution, but is more expensive per square meter. Satellite imagery can be combined with vector or raster data in a GIS provided that the imagery has been spatially rectified so that it will properly align with other data sets. The Georgian terrace of Royal Crescent (Bath, England) from a hot air balloon Intersection of E42 and E451 from an aircraft soon after takeoff from Frankfurt International Airport Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground while not supported by a ground-based... GIS redirects here. ...

Disadvantages

Because the total area of the land on Earth is so large and because resolution is relatively high, satellite databases are huge and image processing (creating useful images from the raw data) is time-consuming. Depending on the sensor used, weather conditions can affect image quality: for example, it is difficult to obtain images for areas of frequent cloud cover such as mountain-tops. UPIICSA IPN - Binary image Image processing is any form of information processing for which the input is an image, such as photographs or frames of video; the output is not necessarily an image, but can be for instance a set of features of the image. ... Not to be confused with censure, censer, or censor. ...

Commercial satellite companies do not place their imagery into the public domain and do not sell their imagery; instead, one must be licensed to use their imagery. Thus, the ability to legally make derivative products from commercial satellite imagery is minimized.

Privacy concerns have been brought up by some who wish not to have their property shown from above. Google Maps responds to such concerns in their FAQ with the following statement: "We understand your privacy concerns... The images that Google Maps displays are no different from what can be seen by anyone who flies over or drives by a specific geographic location." Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to control the flow of information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. ... FAQ is an abbreviation for Frequently Asked Question(s). The term refers to listed questions and answers, all supposed to be frequently asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. ...

Moving images

In 2005 the Australian company Astrovision (ASX: HZG) announced plans to launch the first commercial geostationary satellite in the Asia-Pacific. It intended to provide true color, real-time live satellite feeds, with down to 250 metres resolution over the entire Asia-Pacific region, from India to Hawaii and Japan to Australia. They were going to provide this content to users of 3G mobile phones, over Pay TV as a weather channel, and to corporate and government users. Geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit (GEO) is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earths equator (0° latitude), with orbital eccentricity of zero. ...

Unfortunately, the market response to the AstroVision concept fell into the classic chicken-egg problem: potential customers were excited by the possibilities offered, but they were unwilling (or, in government cases, generally unable) to sign contracts for a service that would not be delivered for 3-4 years (the length of time required to build and launch the satellite). AstroVision ran low on funds and was forced to shut down the program in 2006.

See also

Composite image of Earth at night

• Remote sensing
• SRTM
• MODIS
• Virtual globe
  • NASA World Wind
  • Google Earth
• TerraServer-USA
• Terraserver.com
• Google Maps
• Virtual Earth
• Stratellite
• Pictometry
• Spy satellite
• Earth observation satellite

This article is about Earth as a planet. ... For the purported psychic ability to sense remotely, see Remote viewing right Synthetic aperture radar image of Death Valley colored using polarimetry In the broadest sense, remote sensing is the short or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by the use of either recording or real... The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is a research effort that obtained elevation data on a near-global scale to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth to date. ... Ash plumes on Kamchatka Peninsula, eastern Russia MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA in 1999 on board the Terra (EOS AM) Satellite, and in 2002 on board the Aqua (EOS PM) satellite. ... NASA World Wind, an open source virtual globe with stars and advanced atmosphere & sunlight effects Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D within Windows Live Local site Earthsim, real-time Earth render with atmosphere modeling 3D Weather Globe & Atlas, Earth render with satellite cloud coverage and atmosphere A virtual globe is a 3D... Animation showing atmosphere and shading effects in v1. ... Google Earth is a virtual globe program that was originally called Earth Viewer and was created by Keyhole, Inc. ... TerraServer-USA web site For other uses, see TerraServer. ... TerraServer is a commercial website specializing in aerial and satellite imagery which was originally launched in 1997. ... Google Maps (for a time named Google Local) is a free web mapping service application and technology provided by Google that powers many map-based services including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder and embedded maps on third-party websites via the Google Maps API. It offers street maps... MSN Virtual Earth is a free online virtual globe map service by Microsoft. ... Image of Sanswire One, a prototype Stratellite. ... Pictometry International is a Rochester, New York-based company that provides detailed aerial photography. ... KH-4B Corona satellite Lacrosse radar spy satellite under construction A spy satellite (officially referred to as a reconnaissance satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. ... Earth observation satellites are satellites specifically designed to observe Earth from orbit, similar to reconnaissance satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc. ...

External links

• Blue Marble: Next Generation - the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date.
• World Wind - an open source 3D Earth-viewing software developed by NASA that accesses NASA JPL database
• Google Earth - Google's commercial 3D Earth-viewing software- Free.
• Google Maps satellite imagery
• TerraServer-USA - formerly Microsoft TerraServer, a repository of free satellite images of the United States
• Satellite Images of China - Images of Taklamakan desert, salt lakes, wind parks, infrastructure, cities.