SkySat-4 - 7 (SkySat-2 2 - 5)

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• SkySat-3 to 21 are commercial Earth observation satellites operated by Skybox Imaging, licensed to collect high resolution panchromatic and multispectral images of the earth. The satellites operate in a polar inclined, circular orbit at approximately 450 km above the earth.
• Skybox becomes only the fifth organization licensed to provide high resolution space-based imagery of Earth.
• The first two prototype satellites were built by Skybox Imaging in house. The first satellite was launched in 2013 on a cluster launch on a Dnepr rocket. The second identical satellite was launched as a secondary payload on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M launch in 2014.
• Each SkySat satellite is equipped with a Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain telescope with a focal length of 3.6 m, and a focal plane consisting of three 5.5 Mpixel CMOS imaging detectors. SkySat-1 and -2 use 3 CMOS frame detectors with a size of 2560 × 2160 pixels and a pixel size of 6.5 µm. The operational satellites have a higher resolution detector. The upper half of the detector is used for panchromatic capture, the lower half is divided into 4 stripes covered with blue, green, red and near infra-red color filters. The native resolution at nadir of the SkySat-1 and SkySat-2 is around 1.1 m. Further satellites will be placed in lower orbits, leading to increased image resolution.