When the Orbital -1 mission lifts off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on January 8, 2014, it will be carrying with it the largest constellation of satellites ever deployed. After the Cygnus spacecraft docks at the International Space Station (ISS), the flock of 28 Dove cube satellites designed and built by Planet Labs will be released using the NanoRacks Smallsat Deployment Program. Mission: Detailed observation of the Earth for humanitarian, disaster and environmental purposes. More below:
(The Telegraph, January 3, 2014)
(NASA News Release, January 6, 2014)
Comment: As noted in the NASA News Release: "The data collected by Planet Labs' CubeSats will be freely available for anyone to use." Wow! Emergency Services Sector and geospatial community - are you ready for this?
Photo credit: Planet Labs
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