DigitalGlobe will launch the WorldView Legion constellation of satellites from 2020 to 2021. Called Scout, they snap a photo of a high-demand spot (say the Port of Shanghai) 40 times a day. They will be 30-centimeter- and 50-centimeter-class, meaning they could resolve a laptop or a TV.
The satellites will belong to Space Systems Loral (SSL) of California, which builds its satellites in Palo Alto. DigitalGlobe is in the final stages of a merger with a communications company called MDA, which also bought SSL back in 2012. With DigitalGlobe and MDA under a single umbrella, they control 54 percent of the market. And with SSL, they can in-house legions of satellites, big and small, for themselves and others.
Image analysis software can count cars in WalMart parking lots to know how many people shop. Prospectors can learn whether someone just started drilling into an oil supply. Relief organizations can look at a flood zone and figure out how best to help. High resolution satellites will help self driving cars with better maps