Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
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UK-DMC2 satellite imagery
Just over one week after the launch of the UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 satellites on 29th July 2009, both DMC satellites are successfully acquiring full resolution commercial grade images or Earth from space.
This first UK-DMC2 image below shows the states of Texas and Oklahoma, USA. The DMC satellites are specifically designed to image very large areas with rapid response and at regular intervals, as shown in this first multi-state image. The new satellites can image much larger areas in a single pass than the previous DMC satellites due to advances in on-board storage and high speed satellite downlinks to the Earth.
The quality of images acquired by the two new DMC satellites (UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1) is a significant improvement over those possible using the previous DMC satellites. The increased detail can be seen in a small section taken from the main wide area image, showing the runways and taxiways of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. This is made possible by new sensors that detect twice the number of pixels per hectare to give a pixel size of 22 metres compared to 32m in the earlier satellites. Advances in optics and sensor technology have also made the images sharper and increased the depth of information.
For more great images visit the satellite image gallery of Deimos Imaging. Their Earth observation satellite Deimos-1 was launced into space at the same time and is also acquiring its first images.
