DigitalGlobe Reportedly Pushing the U.S. Government to Ease Limits on Satellite Imagery Resolution

No audio available for this content.

Breaking Defense is reporting that DigitalGlobe has requested that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) relax the 41-cm limit currently in place.

Walter Scott, DigitalGlobe’s founder and now executive VP and chief technical officer, tells Breaking Defense there is “significant demand” for quarter-meter resolution from the international market. And that’s why the company applied for a change to the resolution they can be licensed for from half a meter to a quarter meter.

NOAA is responsible for managing remote sensing satellite licenses in the U.S. View the Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs website here.

Current NOAA license holders (per NOAA website)  are listed below:

• Cal Poly U:
  • CP-8
• Planet Labs, Inc.:
  • Dove-2
  • Dove 3 & 4
• DigitalGlobe:
  • IKONOS
  • GeoEye-1
  • GeoEye-2&3
  • QuickBird-II follow-on
  • WorldView
• Drexel University: Dragonsat-1
• GeoMetWatch: GMW 1-6
• Kentucky Space: KySat-2
• NanoSatisfi:
  • ArduSat 1
  • ArduSat 2
• Northrop Grumman: Trinidad
• Skybox Imaging:
  • SkySat-1
  • SkySat-2
• Southern Stars: SkyCube
• Saint Louis University: Copper
• University Of California, Irvine: UCISAT-1
• University of Michigan: M-Cubed