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Stephen Wood, Vice President From conservation mapping to supporting responsible infrastructure development and environmental monitoring, DigitalGlobe has long emphasized the importance of leveraging its innovative technologies to advance critical causes throughout the world. Our latest endeavor, an important collaboration with the Satellite Sentinel Project, wholly demonstrates the positive impact that satellite imagery can set into motion. DigitalGlobe applauds the efforts and ingenuity of the Satellite Sentinel Project to use commercial satellites to monitor and report on potential hotspots and threats to security along the northern and southern Sudanese border following the landmark vote on independence. The project aims to use satellites to monitor activities and prevent humanitarian disasters and human rights crimes before they occur. We are privileged to participate in this undertaking. As the breadth and depth of satellite imagery applications are constantly expanding, we are pleased to watch our unparalleled technology proactively assist some of the most paramount causes today. Because, given the capability to view our world from space in stunning detail and clarity, why shouldn’t we all be watching—ready and willing to improve it? Want to know more? Here are some interesting facts about our satellites and the Satellite Sentinel Project
  • DigitalGlobe has three satellites in our constellation. They take imagery from between 450 – 700 kilometers (280 – 435 miles) above the Earth.
  • Our satellites operate at about 17,000 MPH ground speed.
  • In the last 30 days, we have imaged nearly 750,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles) of Sudan. We concentrated on specific hotspots across the country. The total land mass of Sudan is 2.3 million square kilometers (898,500 square miles).
  • Our ImageLibrary is growing by two petabytes of data per year, roughly the same amount of data that Facebook adds every year.
  • We control the satellites from a mission control center in the United States. We “talk” to the satellites every 90 minutes, to download imagery and upload information about where they should next take pictures.
  • Each satellite has a range of innovative technologies on board that, for example, increases agility or produces higher resolution images.
  • Because we document the planet daily, we can really help people see exactly what is happening on the ground, from disasters to glacial change and composition to the health of vegetation and crops to the effects of deforestation. Today, countries around the world are using our digital imagery and the insight it provides to monitor political hotspots, better manage their natural resources, prioritize infrastructure projects, and mitigate the environmental impact of development.
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