Satnews Daily
December 16th, 2013

Skybox Imaging—First Captures Are Available (Satellite—Imagery)


[SatNews] Skybox Imaging has released the first images from SkySat-1, the company's first satellite for their planned constellation of 24 satellites.

The following images were taken over Perth, Australia, on December 4, 2013, at 10:25AM (local time) and are untuned and not yet calibrated. As you can see below, features are clearly discernible that validate the company's goal of providing high-quality, sub-meter imagery: car windshields, varying car colors, road markings, and so on. These images exceed early expectations for quality.


Beaton Park in Perth, Australia.
Image courtesy of Skybox Imaging.

SkySat-1 is a high-performance satellite producing sub-meter resolution imagery and high-definition video that was designed and built at at the firm's HQ in Mountain View, California. To the best of Skybox Imaging's knowledge, SkySat-1 is the smallest satellite ever flown that is capable of capturing imagery at better than 1 meter resolution.

SkySat-1 was launched on November 21, 2013, from Yasny, Russia aboard a Dnepr rocket. Contact was made with the spacecraft on the first pass and bus commissioning was completed within days. Once the payload door was opened, initial images were captured within hours.The system is being tuned and calibrated and additional delivery is expected to be delivered soon. To watch video footage of the rocket launch, go to this direct link.

For additional images, check out the imagery gallery.