14 DAY TRIAL // Technology has evolved so mush lately and I must admit that being able to see nearly real-time images of most places on Earth is almost unbelievable for me. However, these days anything is possible.
Skybox’s constellation of micro-satellites has just made public the world’s first commercial, HD video of Earth viewed from space.
SkySat-1, Skybox’s first commercial Earth observation satellite of the planned 24-satellite constellation, was successfully launched on November 21, 2013, and has already begun to show what it is capable of doing.
The satellite is licensed to collect high-resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth, as well as high-resolution, full motion videos. It operates in a polar inclined, circular orbit at approximately 600 km (372 miles) above the Earth.
The short video embedded below shows multiple planes landing at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) on December 30, 2013. If you watch closely, you will notice a large plane landing on the runway to the right.
Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño, chief scientist at Mapbox, did a little digging and found out that the plane was an Air China Limited flight 1310, which was traveling from Guangzhou to Beijing.
This new technology capable of filming video from space is very new, but I'm sure many will be fascinated by it.
Skybox also plans to launch SkySat-2 and SkySat-3 in mid-2014 and early 2015, respectively.