Imagery intelligence (IMINT) is an intelligence gathering discipline which collects information via satellite and aerial photography. As a means of collecting intelligence, IMINT is a subset of intelligence collection management, which, in turn, is a subset of intelligence cycle management. IMINT is especially complemented by non-imaging MASINT electro-optical and radar sensors.
The High Energy Transient Explorer was an American astronomical satellite with international participation. The prime objective of HETE was to carry out the first multiwavelength study of gamma-ray bursts with UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray instruments mounted on a single, compact spacecraft. A unique feature of the HETE mission was its capability to localize GRBs with ~10 arc second accuracy in near real time aboard the spacecraft, and to transmit these positions directly to a network of receivers at existing ground-based observatories enabling rapid, sensitive follow-up studies in the radio, IR, and optical bands. The satellite bus for the first HETE-1 was designed and built by AeroAstro, Inc. of Herndon, VA; the replacement satellite, HETE-2, was built by MIT based on the original HETE design.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the Japanese national aerospace and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in many more advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible manned exploration of the Moon. Its motto is One JAXA and its corporate slogan is Explore to Realize.
Vanguard 2 or Vanguard II is an Earth-orbiting satellite launched February 17, 1959, aboard a Vanguard SLV 4 rocket as part of the United States Navy's Project Vanguard. The success of this launch was an important part of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Vanguard 2 was the first weather satellite. The satellite was designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit, for a period of 19 days, and to provide information on the density of the atmosphere for the lifetime of its orbit.
Satellite imagery are images of Earth or other planets collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell images by licensing them to governments and businesses such as Apple Maps and Google Maps.
Satellite geodesy is geodesy by means of artificial satellites — the measurement of the form and dimensions of Earth, the location of objects on its surface and the figure of the Earth's gravity field by means of artificial satellite techniques. It belongs to the broader field of space geodesy. Traditional astronomical geodesy is not commonly considered a part of satellite geodesy, although there is considerable overlap between the techniques.
Information Gathering Satellite is a satellite in a Japanese spy satellite program. It was started as a response to the 1998 North Korean missile test over Japan. The satellite program's main mission is to provide early warning of impending hostile launches in the region. This program is under direct control of the cabinet. All of the Information Gathering Satellites were launched by an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. However, Earth observation is a rather new field for Japan. The first Japanese mission in this field MOS-1 was launched only in 1987.
The Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (OICETS), also called Kirari, is an experimental satellite launched by JAXA to demonstrate interorbital communication between satellites through optical (laser) means. OICETS was originally slated for a launch on the second J-I launcher. Due to problems with this launcher, the launch had to be put on hold. Using the H-IIA was out of question: it would be overkill to use this model to send a 570 kilograms (1,260 lb) satellite into low Earth orbit, and there was no budget for another H-IIA launch. Finally, in order to be able to perform the tests during the lifetime of the European Artemis satellite, OICETS was successfully launched on a Dnepr rocket.
Cartosat-2 is an Earth observation satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit and the second of the Cartosat series of satellites. The satellite was built, launched and maintained by the Indian Space Research Organisation. Weighing around 680 kg at launch, its applications will mainly be towards cartography in India. It was launched by a PSLV-G rocket on 10 January 2007.
RazakSAT is a Malaysian Earth observation satellite carrying a high-resolution camera. It was launched into low Earth orbit on 14 July 2009. It was placed into a near-equatorial orbit that presents many imaging opportunities for the equatorial region. It weighs over three times a much as TiungSAT-1 and carries a high resolution Earth observation camera. Developed in conjunction with Satrec Initiative, the satellite's low inclination orbit brought it over Malaysia a dozen or more times per day. This was intended to provide greatly increased coverage of Malaysia, compared to most other Earth observation satellites. An audit report released in October 2011 revealed that the satellite had failed after only 1 year of operation.
Applications Technology Satellite 3, or ATS-3, was a long-lived American experimental geostationary weather and communications satellite, operated by NASA from 1967 to 2001. It was at one time reputed to be the oldest satellite still in operation; As of 1995, NASA referred to the ATS-3 as "The oldest active communications satellite by a wide margin."
DubaiSat-1 is a remote sensing Earth observation satellite built by the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) under an agreement with Satrec Initiative, a satellite manufacturing company in South Korea. The earth observation satellite was designed and developed by Satrec Initiative, with participation from EIAST engineers.
PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is a space telescope under development by the European Space Agency for launch in 2026. The mission goals are to search for planetary transits across up to one million stars, and to discover and characterize rocky extrasolar planets around yellow dwarf stars, subgiant stars, and red dwarf stars. The emphasis of the mission is on earth-like planets in the habitable zone around sun-like stars where water can exist in liquid state. It is the third medium-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision programme and named after the influential Greek philosopher Plato, the founding figure of Western philosophy, science and mathematics. A secondary objective of the mission is to study stellar oscillations or seismic activity in stars to measure stellar masses and evolution and enabling the precise characterization of the planet host star, including its age.
ADEOS II was an Earth observation satellite launched by NASDA, with contributions from NASA and CNES, in December 2002. Its Japanese name was Midori 2, and it was the successor to the 1996 mission ADEOS I. The mission ended in October 2003 after the satellite's solar panels failed.
The Cartosat series of satellites are a type of earth observation satellites indigenously built by India. Up till now 8 Cartosat satellites have been launched by ISRO. The Cartosat series is a part of the Indian Remote Sensing Programme. They were specifically launched for Earth’s resource management and monitoring.
Advanced Land Observing Satellite 2, also called Daichi 2, is a 2-ton Japanese satellite launched in 2014. Although the predecessor ALOS satellite had featured 2 optical cameras in addition to 1.2 GHz (L-band) radar, ALOS-2 had optical cameras removed to simplify construction and reduce costs. The PALSAR-2 radar is a significant upgrade of the PALSAR radar, allowing higher-resolution spotlight modes in addition to the 10m resolution survey mode inherited from the ALOS spacecraft. Also, the SPAISE2 automatic ship identification system and the Compact Infra Red Camera (CIRC) will provide supplementary data about sea-going ships and provide early warnings of missile launches.
KhalifaSat is a remote sensing Earth observation satellite manufactured in the United Arab Emirates at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). It was the first satellite to be built in the clean rooms of the Dubai government’s space science and research facility and the first to be developed entirely by a team of Emirati engineers. It launched into orbit on 30 October 2018 from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center.
Mikhailo Lomonosov is an astronomical satellite of Moscow State University (MSU) named after Mikhail Lomonosov.
TRICOM-1R, also known as Tasuki is a Japanese nanosatellite that was launched during the SS-520-5 sounding rocket test launch on 3 February 2018, with a mission to conduct store and forward data relay and earth observation using a set of cameras.
NOAA-1 was a weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was part of a series of satellites called ITOS, or improved TIROS. ITOS-B was released on October 21, 1971 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with a Delta rocket. It failed to achieve a successful earth orbit. A malfunction in the second stage launch vehicle caused the spacecraft to reenter the earth's atmosphere about 1 hour after lift-off.
