The Untold Story of Space

The satellite business is booming, with ever more data becoming available that used to be exclusive to governments and big corporations.

In this DLD Munich session, former NASA engineer Will Marshall explains in conversation with Kara Swisher (ReCode) why he founded Planet Labs and how high-resolution satellite images can help efforts to create a more sustainable and secure world.

“We image the entire Earth landmass once per day with a line scanner, essentially”, Marshall explains in a brief introduction, “and then another 20 also that can zoom in at 50 centimeter resolution, at any particular location, up to 10 times per day.”

This has allowed Planet to provide media organizations and NGOs with detailed images of the Ukraine war, for example. “We’re trying to help get the data into people’s hands to give situational awareness”, Marshall says. Another goal: “helping to bring accountability”.

The session is full of details illustrating the space boom in general and also touches on political and privacy implications of increasingly accurate satellite imagery.