Satellites passing over us take photos of our planet using high-resolution cameras with large lenses and then send them back to Earth. Apart from tracking human activity, satellite images help in meteorology, weather forecasting, and monitoring our physical environments such as air, water, and vegetation.
While the current satellite imagery provides a 2D view of the planet, a space research and technology company based out of Florida announced that it will soon be able to capture and map the entire surface of the Earth in 3D.
The company, NUVIEW, is building a constellation of satellites, using LiDAR technology, which will collect data ‘more than 100 times faster than current commercial aerial solutions.’
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The company made the announcement during the Geospatial World Forum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. NUVIEW has amassed $1.2 billion in contracts, although it remains unclear when the company will be launching its LiDAR constellation.
"NUVIEW is thrilled to be leading a new era in geospatial technology to provide the first, most complete, high-resolution 3D point cloud of the Earth's surface," said Clint Graumann, CEO & Co-Founder of NUVIEW, in an official press release. "Our LiDAR satellite constellation will offer a wealth of information that has never before been available at scale, driving innovation and progress throughout numerous industries and revolutionizing the way we understand and interact with our planet.”
