UK-DMC2 Delivering Images
[Satellite TODAY 08-13-09] The UK-DMC2 satellite has commenced operations and is now delivering images, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) announced Aug. 12.
The satellite, launched July 29, delivered its first images showing the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States.
The DMC satellites are specifically designed to image very large areas with rapid response and at regular intervals. The new satellites can image much larger areas in a single pass than the previous DMC satellites due to advances in on-board storage and high-speed satellite downlinks to the Earth.
Image quality has been significantly improved on the DMC2 satellite, with new sensors that detect twice the number of pixels per hectare to give a pixel size of 22 meters compared to 32m in the earlier satellites. Advances in optics and sensor technology have also made the images sharper and increased the depth of information, SSTL said.
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