I think it’s funny that people are surprised by this. It’s not new technology really, the defence sector has had taskable satellite imagery for decades, it’s just a matter of the cost coming down to the point where it’s feasible commercially. That is super cool though. There are a lot of applications for space based real-time imagery that could be tremendously more useful to the majority of society than tracking bad guys.
It's not about how fast you can task a satellite and get data back that the article is talking about.
It's taking about between when the satellite was launched, and when it was able to send images back down was 58 hours. That is impressive. In the past it would normally take a week or more to get a satellite into a stable orbit and do all the checkout tests. After that, sure, task away and get all the images you want.
A random example of a useful application: realtime forest fire detection. In e.g. Sweden during the summer months people are still paid (well, compensated for their expenses) to fly around in Cessnas looking for smoke plumes.
Imagine being able to dispatch a helicopter to drown out a typical forest fire within 10 minutes of the fire starting while it's still small. That's a game changer.
> Imagine being able to dispatch a helicopter to drown out a typical forest fire within 10 minutes of the fire starting while it's still small. That's a game changer.
And not necessarily a good one. Many forest ecosystems depend on somewhat regular fires to "clean out" debris. The problem however is that "thanks" to climate change leading to drier forests, what once used to be a fire that only consumed fallen off leaves etc. while leaving the big trees unharmed now burns intense and long enough to actually damage the big trees.
Sounds like you need to wait for the big trees to still be wet enough, but the leaves dried up, and then light a fire to have it burn while you're keeping an eye on it and know it won't burn down your nice forest.
I knew this was true when google earth launched. Every conflict area (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) has very up-to-date images. I assumed these were military image-requests making their way into the commercial imagery catalogue.
Getting a satellite into the planned orbit is often takes quite a while, because every bit of onboard fuel either adds cost or reduces available instrument weight.
That is is becoming more commercially viable to begin operation immediately is exciting!
I saw an insurance company claiming that it uses satellite imagery (among other things) to “provide cheaper insurance” to homeowners.
Not sure if what they really mean is that they are trying to more accurately price it; who knows what unknown behavior might increase your premium since it’s associated with more claims... e.g. friends come over too often making too many cars parked? Higher premium.
I know that underwriters will use google maps (and other services) to check for things like fire risks (overflowing bins).
I also know that some try to automate aspects of this, for example using image libraries to detect large trees that are close to property, that would cause significant damage if they were to fall..
