Now You Can Spy Via Satellite
By Anne Pawsey
If Google Earth wasn’t addictive enough now ESA (the European Space Agency) has developed an application to allow the public to view data from the world’s largest Earth observation satellite Envisat. The program will enable users to view images in virtual real-time, allowing you can track the progress of events such as forest fires and volcanic eruptions.
The program will capture and process data from Envisat and make them available on the web within two hours. It takes three days for the satellite to cover the entire surface of the earth in a polar orbit so any events you might want to track will have to occur quite slowly - you won’t be able to use the system to spy on your neighbours!
There is another small catch; the satellite needs the part of the earth it is observing to be illuminated, so no images of the North Pole are currently available. This will change in March when the South Pole will begin to plunge into darkness.
The application doesn’t allow visitors to zoom in as close to the Earth’s surface as Google Earth, but the images are updated much more rapidly.
To access the site go here.
To find out more about Anne or read more of here articles click here.
The program will capture and process data from Envisat and make them available on the web within two hours. It takes three days for the satellite to cover the entire surface of the earth in a polar orbit so any events you might want to track will have to occur quite slowly - you won’t be able to use the system to spy on your neighbours!
There is another small catch; the satellite needs the part of the earth it is observing to be illuminated, so no images of the North Pole are currently available. This will change in March when the South Pole will begin to plunge into darkness.
The application doesn’t allow visitors to zoom in as close to the Earth’s surface as Google Earth, but the images are updated much more rapidly.
To access the site go here.
To find out more about Anne or read more of here articles click here.
Image: NASA
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