Article Impression

My Impression of “Commercial Earth Observation Satellites” by Lawrence W. Fritz
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My Impression of “Commercial Earth Observation Satellites” by Lawrence W. Fritz
Fritz (1996) provided an accurate state of earth obviation satellites in the 1990s. Therefore, the article provided insight into the commencement of earth observation satellites commercialization, which added a new type of satellites. Before 1996, there were only a set of three types of satellites which were meant for earth resources, meteorology, and reconnaissance. Commercialization of satellite images was inevitable owing to the need of such images for geospatial information systems (GIS), a technology that allows current business to capitalize and optimize their profitability using location services. The failure of Landsat 6 to orbit and the ineffectiveness of Landsat 4 meant that other companies came into play. Competition among companies led to the betterment of resolution of current satellite image systems to less a meter regarding accuracy. Fritz (1996) highlighted that the resolution of satellites in 1996 was three to fifteen meters, but the technology has advanced to capture image resolution of less than half a meter. For this reason, the critical aspect of the article was to highlight the birth of satellite imagery commercialization, which was advantageous as it led innovation and advancement of satellite imagery technology.
In addition, only a few companies were involved with observation satellites in the US, including Space Imaging, Earth Watch, Resource 21, GDE, and Orbital Sciences, but currently, many companies have entered the business.

These include Echostar, Telesat, RASCOM, Avanti Communications, Geo Eye, and AsiaSat. For this reason, the article covered useful information about the operability of earth observation satellites at the time and provided a historical perspective of the commercialization of satellite imagery data. It was critical of Fritz (1996) to cover the development of digital panchromatic images in the multispectral bands, which highlighted the need for high geometric fidelity and rapidly captured images for clients. Therefore, Fritz (1996) provided a vital justification why satellite images are essential and can have application in various fields, such as GIS, photogrammetry, and remote sensing technologies that are essential for mapping and location services today.

Reference
Fritz, L. W. (1996). Commercial Earth observation satellites. International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 31, 273-282.