Featured Product – BlackSky’s Global SmallSats For Monitoring

An 85-cm color BlackSky Global sample collected over the Orapa Diamond Mine in Botswana. This image has been processed by Apollo Mapping for improved image clarity and colors. (Image Credit: BlackSky)

We’ve partnered with BlackSky to bring more high-frequency satellite imagery to our customers. With multiple Global series satellite launches since 2018, and plans to launch more in 2022 and beyond, BlackSky is establishing itself as a major player in the high-resolution smallsat market. 

With resolutions varying from 83-centimeters (cm) to 1.3-meters (m), each smallsat offers both panchromatic and natural color capabilities. As a Global smallsat orbit degrades, the resolution increases over the satellite’s 3-year lifespan. These small, identical satellites are fast to manufacture, so we expect the BlackSky Global constellation to grow rapidly, making it an excellent choice for high-resolution monitoring projects. With so many satellites and the ability to collect multiple images in a single day, BlackSky is becoming the best solution for fast turnaround times and sub-weekly collections. No other satellite constellation compares to BlackSky’s resolution and revisit time. 

Now it’s time to explore some of the features that differentiate BlackSky’s Global constellation:

• Spectral Bands:
  • Panchromatic
  • 3-band multispectral (blue, green and red)

• Sensor Resolution:
  • Global 1–1-m
  • Global 2–1.3-m
  • Global 3–97-cm
  • Global 4–1.1-m
  • Global 7/8–83-cm
  • Global 9–94-cm
  • Subsequent Global Generation 2 Satellites–83-cm

• Spectral Band Wavelength Range: (minimum, center, maximum edge; in nm)
  • Panchromatic–450 to 700
  • Blue–450 to 520
  • Green–500 to 590
  • Red–590 to 700

• Image Footprint:
  • Global 1–40 km²
  • Global 2–59 km²
  • Global 3–26 km²
  • Global 4–46 km²
  • Global 7/8–26 km² (3.8-km x 5.6-km at minimum)
  • Global 9–33 km² (4.1-km x 6.2-km at minimum)
  • Subsequent Global Generation 2 Satellites–26 km² (3.8-km x 5.6-km at minimum)

• Daily Collection Capacity: 3 images per minute per satellite (depends on competition, order priority and regional importance)

As an added bonus, you can search for BlackSky Global coverage 24-hours a day by using Image Hunter–it’s the only search engine on the Internet where you can do this!

If you have any pricing requests, additional questions or would like a new price list with BlackSky imagery added in, send us an email at sales@apollomapping.com!