A glimpse to future commercial spy satellite systems

Over the past decade the commercial remote sensing industry has experienced significant technological change and improved market penetration. New sensor Technologies in space systems offer new information capabilities.The development of high-resolution commercial satellites which is better than 1 meter black and white and 2.5 meter multispectral has opened new data and new collection methodologies to the ultimate information customer. Future commercial spy satellite programs are linked, connected to military systems. The objective is to show how goverments mix and harmonize the capabilities inside the country to supply the national demands in the frame of security and intelligence as well as commercial use. According to the reports published to public the usage of satellite imagery as commercial or military applications are approximately equal. Influencing the development and construction of the next generation of commercial remote sensing satellites is the purpose of the NextView procurement of U.S. The national space program in United States along with the President´s directive created a new era in space industry and market. The high resolution imaging industry was born in 1994, when president Clinton issued a national policy granting companies licenses to build and launch the satellites. The new directive presumably will go a long way toward supporting two U.S. companies. There was a tremendous hunger for high resolution satellite imagery and the US firms were ready to fullfill the needs. In early Spring 1999 Director of Central Intelligence and Deputy Defense Secretary approved the commercial imagery initiative proposed by NRO. The goal of the plan was to satisfy general imagery requirements through commercial vendors, while keeping more advanced imagery systems under government control. In July 1999 the CIA and DOD approved the $1 billion muti-year budget for the initiative, which is part of the Future Imagery Architecture. Half of this amount had already been included in the NRO and NIMA budgets for 2001 through 2005. What new capabilities will arise during the next decade? A substantial thrust is doing things faster and cheaper rather than bigger and better. The military is developing new techniques for building reconnaissance satellites that can be launched on short notice as needs arise. The industry will expand the use of non-visible portions of the spectrum that are particularly infrared and microwave, increase the number of active sensors such as lidar and radar, and improve our spatial and temporal sampling. Particularly important will be new technologies for linking sensors through wireless and traditional means into sensor networks. This will allow the information to be combined so as to support rapid decisions in complex situations. In addition, the output of one or several sensors can be used to trigger observations from others, or even to rapidly reconfigure the other sensors so as to optimize observations of an event. What will remote sensing be like a decade from now? The competing forces of increased business demand, limited government resources, and advancing technological capability will play out over this time period. The rapidly growing consumer needs will introduce a new and somewhat unpredictable factor. The future promises to be bright, but it won´t happen on its own. The full paper will discuss the details of future needs and plans of commercial remote sensing satellites and their sensors. Albeit the future demands are not only key factor for intelligence the manufacturers around the world will show the countries´ capabilities to build up future space programs under the national defence. The next few years will prove interesting as the business potential of constellations for remote sensing is fully realized.