Tags: India, ISRO, Satellite Imagery, GeoEye, DigitalGlobe, Earth Observation
Publication: TheHindu.com
Publication Date: 03/06/2013

Half-meter resolution GeoEye-1 satellite image of Port-au-Prince, Haiti after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the area on Jan. 12, 2010. GeoEye-1produces the highest resolution Earth images taken by a commercial satellite. Image credit: GeoEye

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning its next remote sensing satellite. The Cartosat-3 is expected to dethrone GeoEye-1 and take the highest resolution images of our planet.

Currently, the GeoEye-1 satellite produces the highest resolution Earth images taken by a commercial satellite. It is capable of taking panchromatic images with a resolution of 0.41 meters. However, under U.S. regulations, commercially released images are degraded to 0.5 meters.

DigitalGlobe, which merged with GeoEye at the beginning of the year, plans to launch the WorldView-3 satellite next year, which is expected to provide images with a resolution of 0.31 meters. But according to the ISRO, Cartosat-3’s camera would better that performance with a resolution of 0.25 meters.

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