The IKONOS satellite, designed and built in Sunnyvale by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space for Space Imaging of Denver, CO, has provided the first images of areas in San Francisco from space for the commercial market. The images are known as chips, which are subsets of larger images.
The color image with four-meter resolution shows the Marina Green, the Presidio and the Fort Mason area. The black & white image with one-meter resolution shows the Marina, the Hyde Street Pier and Pier 39. Those photos were taken Oct. 11.
In addition to the local photos, satellite imagery is available of the following cities: New York City, collected Oct. 11; Rome from Oct. 10; Santorini, Greece, from Oct. 5; Tokyo from Oct. 6; Sapporo, Japan, taken Oct. 6; Sanaa, Yemen, collected Oct. 24; Cairo, taken Oct. 21; Cairo, Egypt from Oct. 21; Taipei, Taiwan, from Oct. 21; Beijing, from Oct. 22. The black and white images are one-meter resolution and the color photos are four-meter resolution. Please credit the photos to Space Imaging.
IKONOS is the most sophisticated remote sensing spacecraft ever launched for the commercial market — capable of photographing objects on the ground as small as one meter. The LM900-series spacecraft was launched Sept. 24 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, aboard an Athena II launch vehicle supplied by Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver, CO. Since the launch, the satellite has been undergoing the in-orbit test regimen to ensure all systems are operating nominally, and to precisely calibrate the imaging sensor. The images on the website were taken during the testing period.
IKONOS represents the best in commercial remote sensing technology, providing high-resolution black-and-white and multispectral digital pictures and other imagery. Multispectral images reveal information that cannot be seen with the naked eye, such as chlorophyll content, and surface water penetration.
