Satellite Imaging Startups Skybox, Planet Labs Race to Cover Earth

Commercial satellite imaging is dominated by two big players, DigitalGlobe and Airbus Defence & Space (ADS). Each uses a handful of orbiting satellites to build photo archives and charges such customers as Google, Microsoft, and government agencies for the pictures. Clients can also pay extra for newer images of specific locales. These setups are impressive but don’t quite operate at Internet speed. Most satellite images on Google Maps and Google Earth are one to three years old.

The next step is something more like a Google for Earth: a search engine where people can find satellite photos taken in real or near-real time that answer questions like “How many ships are in the Port of Houston today?” or “How much corn is currently growing in Iowa?” That would be of real value to oil exploration companies, day traders, and others with the tools to analyze the data. To pull this off, a company would need to build a network of satellites dense enough to capture a picture of the whole earth, sort of like a scanner encircling the planet. Skybox Imaging and Planet Labs are the two startups closing in on that business, capitalizing on improvements in electronics and computing that allow them to make their compact, powerful satellites reliable and relatively cheap.