A few weeks in the past, satellite tv for pc imaging firm Planet launched a flock of 48 ‘Doves’, their low value imaging satellites. They managed to seize imagery of the launch from one of many Doves already in orbit:
So far as we all know, this can be a satellite tv for pc imaging first. The important thing to the achievement was already having a lot of satellites in orbit which enabled them to job an appropriate satellite tv for pc to seize the launch. Even so, they needed to tilt it with the intention to get the pictures.
Google Earth options many planes in flight in its imagery. Merely look by means of historic imagery close to any busy airport and you'll seemingly discover a number of. So why is it so onerous to seize satellite tv for pc launches? Put merely, as a result of they're so uncommon and really quick (the above YouTube video is simply 11 seconds lengthy). The probabilities of a satellite tv for pc being overhead and capturing a picture at simply the best time are near zero until it's deliberate prematurely as was the case with the Dove satellite tv for pc.
In case you are fascinated about launch statistics, the web site Spaceflight Now has a launch schedule which exhibits deliberate launches and we discovered Gunter’s Space Page which summarizes and categorizes launches. It's attainable that there are additionally categorized launches not listed on the above websites.
Satellite tv for pc launches are unlikely to ever be captured in aerial imagery as plane will probably be excluded from the launch space throughout launches for security causes. Video of launches captured by drones is changing into fairly widespread, however this isn't the kind of imagery that's appropriate for Google Earth.
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