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What Are Satellite Images?


🛰️ What Are Satellite Images?

Satellite images are pictures of Earth (or other planets) taken from space by satellites equipped with cameras and sensors. They are used for mapping, weather forecasting, defense, science, agriculture, and navigation.

📸 Types of Satellite Images

1. Optical (Visible Light)

Like regular photographs, captured in daylight.

Used in Google Earth, maps, urban planning, and natural resource monitoring.

2. Infrared (IR)

Detects heat and vegetation health.

Common in agriculture, forest fire monitoring, water management.

3. Radar (SAR – Synthetic Aperture Radar)

Uses radio waves instead of light.

Works at night and through clouds.

Important for military, flood monitoring, disaster mapping.

4. Multispectral / Hyperspectral

Captures many wavelengths (beyond human vision).

Identifies minerals, soil moisture, pollution, vegetation stress.

5. Thermal Imaging

Detects temperature differences.

Used for volcanoes, ocean currents, energy audits, and military surveillance.

🌍 Applications of Satellite Images

Weather & Climate → Monsoons, hurricanes, global warming studies.

Navigation & Mapping → GPS, Google Maps, urban development.

Disaster Management → Floods, wildfires, earthquakes.

Agriculture → Crop health, irrigation planning, soil study.

Military & Security → Surveillance, border monitoring, missile tracking.

Environment → Deforestation, glacier melting, pollution tracking.

Space Science → Moon, Mars, and deep-space imaging.

🛰️ Sources of Satellite Images

NASA (Landsat, Terra, Aqua, MODIS, etc.)

ESA (European Space Agency) → Sentinel satellites (Copernicus program).

ISRO (India) → Cartosat, RISAT, Resourcesat.

NOAA → Weather satellites.

Private Companies → Maxar, Planet Labs, Google Earth.

🖥️ Resolution of Satellite Images

Low Resolution (1 km – 100 m per pixel): Global weather maps.

Medium Resolution (10–30 m per pixel): Land use, agriculture (Landsat, Sentinel).

High Resolution (1 m or less per pixel): Urban planning, military (Cartosat, Maxar).

Ultra-High (25–30 cm per pixel): Commercial satellites like WorldView.

📊 Example Uses in India

ISRO’s Cartosat-3 provides 0.25 m resolution — used for city planning and defense.

During Mumbai floods, radar satellites mapped water spread.

Agriculture monitoring with Sentinel-2 helps farmers optimize irrigation.

⚡ Fun fact: The first satellite image of Earth was taken in 1946 from a captured German V-2 rocket, even before Sputnik (1957).

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