----- Forwarded message from Frank Forman -----
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 21:19:39 +0000 (GMT)
From: Frank Forman
To: Transhuman Tech
Subject: [tt] NYT: Microsatellites: What Big Eyes They Have
Microsatellites: What Big Eyes They Have
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/business/microsatellites-what-big-eyes-the...
By ANNE EISENBERG
PEOPLE already worried about the candid cameras on Google Glass and
low-flying drones can add a new potential snooper to the list:
cameras on inexpensive, low-orbiting microsatellites that will soon
be sending back frequent, low-cost snapshots of most of Earth's
populated regions from space.
They won't be the first cameras out there, of course. Earth-imaging
satellites the size of vans have long circled the globe, but those
cost millions of dollars each to build and launch, in part because
of their weight and specialized hardware. The new satellites, with
some of the same off-the-shelf miniaturized technology that has made
smartphones and laptops so powerful, will be far less expensive.
The view from high up is rich in untapped data, said Paul Saffo, a
forecaster and essayist. He expects the new satellite services to
find many customers.
Insurance companies, for example, could use the satellites' "before"
and "after" views to monitor insured property and validate claims
after a disaster. Businesses that update online maps for geologists,
city planners or disaster relief officials could be customers, too.
The images could also be used to monitor problems like
deforestation, melting icecaps and overfishing.
And food companies and commodities traders could use the images to
keep track of crops and agricultural yields all over the planet, Mr.
Saffo predicted.
But the images are also likely to be viewed as the latest mixed
blessing by people already apprehensive of Big Brother-like
surveillance in their lives.
First into space in the microsatellite business will be the San
Francisco company Planet Labs, which plans to launch a fleet of 28
small satellites at the end of the year that will photograph the
planet around the clock, with frequent updates. The company has
already sent up two trial satellites for test runs, and will
dispatch the entire set, called Flock-1, in December, said Will
Marshall, a co-founder of the company and a former NASA scientist.
The Planet Labs' satellites won't be able to distinguish your face
or read your license plate--the cameras don't have that level of
resolution. But the frequency with which images can be updated could
raise privacy questions, said Timothy Edgar, a visiting fellow at
the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University
and a former director of privacy and civil liberties in the Obama
administration.
Mr. Edgar contrasted the satellite images with those provided by
Google Earth--the ones that people zoom in on to see, for example,
an aerial view of their homes."That's just an image of your house
that was probably taken a few years ago," he said. "It may feel like
you are being watched, but you aren't. It's just a static picture
that's most likely several years old."
But a satellite that regularly passes over your cabin deep in the
woods and photographs a car that is sometimes parked there--and
sometimes not--has different ramifications. "It can show a
pattern, for example, when you appear to be at home and when you're
away," he said.
Planet Labs' technology, like that at other microsatellite companies
such as Skybox Imaging, are benefiting from the progressive
miniaturization of consumer electronic components, along with a
federal effort to commercialize space. "What we are seeing are
smaller satellites that have similar capabilities to much larger,
traditional satellites," said Glenn Lightsey, a professor at the
University of Texas who founded and directs the Texas Spacecraft Lab
there. "Since putting a satellite in orbit is a function of its
size, these new satellites are able to get into orbit at a much
lower cost," he said.
The lightweight satellites have another advantage: the companies
don't have to spend millions of dollars for a rocket to get them
into space. Instead, they can hitch a ride as a secondary payload on
a rocket already making the trip. Planet Labs will send its
satellites on an Antares rocket when it heads out on a cargo
transportation flight to the International Space Station.
Investors have flocked to the new satellite companies, though
neither Planet Labs nor Skybox Imaging has disclosed what it will
charge customers. Planet Labs has obtained $13.1 million in funding,
led by Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher
Jurvetson. Other backers include O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Data
Collective and First Round Capital.
Five ground stations will receive the Planet Labs imagery as the
satellites pass overhead. Dr. Marshall would not disclose how often
the satellites would pass the same spot. "The point is that by
putting up lots of satellites, we can image the whole Earth on a
much more frequent basis," he said.
Skybox Imaging, in Mountain View, Calif., aims to provide sharply
detailed images as well as high-definition video with its
satellites. The company, which has raised about $91 million, expects
to put its SkySat-1 and SkySat-2 satellites into orbit later this
year, said Dan Berkenstock, a co-founder, and then follow with a
group totaling 24 satellites. Customers will be able to buy images
or an appliance to download information directly from the satellite.
"They can log onto our satellite and ask it to take pictures," he
said.
Japan Space Imaging, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Corporation,
recently signed a contract with Skybox allowing it to directly
downlink imagery for agricultural and maritime monitoring as well as
for disaster response.
Microsatellite services promise a new, accessible way to monitor
global changes such as crop growth, said Anthony Janetos, director
of Boston University's Pardee Center for the Study of the
Longer-Range Future. "You can't understand these forces if you can't
measure them," he said. "These services will be useful in gathering
those measurements."
The new satellites are yet another stage in the expansion of the
human view aided by powerful cameras and digital communication, said
Mitchell Stephens, a journalism professor at New York University and
author of "The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word."
This change has pluses and minuses, he observed. People who try to
build a private hideaway in the woods might come to realize that it
isn't so private. But such images could also spot illegal logging in
remote spots.
"Now we can have a Godlike view, looking down from the heavens," he
said. "I can understand why people would be nervous. But the cameras
can make the world more transparent and open. I'm for that."
E-mail: novelties@nytimes.com.
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