Satellite Imaging

Every time we use Google Maps, switch on our satnavs, or look at a picture of the earth, we take for
granted that the images presented to us have been taken by a machine hundreds of kilometres above
our heads, precisely balanced in an orbit determined by a few simple equations. These satellites
contain optical equipment so powerful that they can resolve an individual person or observe vast areas
of our planet. Truly, satellites imaging processes are some of the most impressive in the world, and
here I will hopefully explain the processes behind how they work.
Images of the earth from space are as old as the space age itself. Years before Sputnik, the first object
in space in 1957, the first images taken were launched from a sub orbital borrowed German V2 rocket
in 1946, carrying a simple video camera. Capturing a new photo every second and a half, this camera
showed us the first views of the earth from above our atmosphere. In the next 4 years, over a
thousand photos of the American southwest were recovered using V2 rockets. The image quality was
low, and recovering the camera films was challenging, as the wreckage of the rocket itself had to be
tracked down. The camera would often have been smashed by the crash landing, but the films
themselves were protected by a specially designed steel case. In the same way, a few years later, the
American Corona, and early imaging satellite series, actually contained a physical film, which was
returned to the earth via a specialised re-entry capsule1.
Nowadays, the technology used for recovering the data from a satellite is far more sophisticated. The
communication payloads of modern satellites contains a transponder; in a communications satellite,
this device would gather radio signals over a range of uplinked frequencies and retransmit them. In an
imaging satellite, the transponder would be listening at a specific frequency for commands; where to
point its camera, the quality of the image to be produced, etc. It would achieve this through a band
pass filter, blocking out all but certain frequencies which would send commands to the satellite. These
signals are also typically very weak by the time that they reach the transponder from earth, so some
sort of amplification system would be also be necessary. On-board the satellite, an on-board computer
interprets the signals and converts them into actions; it goes without saying that the computer would
only recognise commands that were digitally signed, to prevent anyone (intentionally or not)
controlling the satellite without permission. Once authenticated, these commands could be used to
move actuators to control a camera, or perhaps fire boosters to alter the satellites orientation, pointing
it at the object to be viewed. In the same way, images can be converted to radio signals and beamed
back to earth, in a process dramatically easier than collecting a physical tape2.
The quality of the cameras used in satellite imaging has changed dramatically with time. Since
mankinds first forays into outer space, traditional stutter based devices were discarded over
continuous strip cameras and panoramic lenses, before spectrometry and CCD devices were developed.
Generalising the imaging systems of every imaging satellite would be an impossible task, so Ill focus
on a few examples.
Envisat (a contraction of Environmental Satellite) was launched in 2002 by the European Space
Agency, with the mission to survey areas of the earth for environmental research. It contained nine
observational instruments which used a variety of techniques to gather information from the earth, not
including a tenth guidance and control module. Several systems work using multi-spectral radiometers,
observing various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including MERIS, a series of five CCD
cameras that are oriented perpendicular to the motion of the satellite, observing in 15 different
spectral bands. Capable of observing the entire planet over a period of 3 days, MERISs spatial
resolution is limited to about 300 meters on the earths surface, although this is accuracy is seldom
used to save time. MERIS is used, primarily, to observe the ocean and its colour, which can be used to
derive the concentrations of Oceanic chlorophyll or sediments, as an example 3. Another instrument,
MIPAS works by Fourier transforming infrared data to produce pressure profiles of pressure and
temperature, which can also be used to determine the density profiles of different elements in the
atmosphere4. My personal favourite, GOMOS, uses a particularly ingenious method to determine the
vertical distribution of gases in the atmosphere; mounted on the side of the satellite, it watches stars
as they descend through the atmosphere before being blocked from view by the earth. Watching the
colour of these stars change can be used to determine information about the gasses in the
atmosphere; it is effective at measuring the composition at altitudes ranging from 20-80 km 5.