π°οΈ US Remote Sensing Satellites Overview
π How are US satellites grouped?
Keyhole is the classified optical-recon pioneer; Landsat 1β8 is the free, 50-year gold standard for change detection; commercial sharp-eyes (IKONOS / QuickBird / GeoEye / WorldView / Legion / SkySat) push to 0.3m; small constellations (Planet / RapidEye / OrbView) win by numbers and daily global coverage.
ποΈ US satellite table (click headers to sort)
π‘ Click Name / Launch date / Resolution to toggle sorting. Smaller = sharper.
| Name β | Launch date β | Band count | Resolution β | Main uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyhole KH-11 | 1976-12-19 | Multi | 0.15m | Military optical recon |
| Landsat-1 | 1972-07-23 | 4 bands | 80m | Land survey pioneer |
| Landsat-5 | 1984-03-01 | 7 bands | 30m | Long time-series benchmark |
| Landsat-7 | 1999-04-15 | 8 bands | 15m | ETM+ 15m pan mapping |
| Landsat-8 | 2013-02-11 | 11 bands | 15m | Free data, agro-ecology |
| IKONOS | 1999-09-24 | 5 bands | 0.82m | First 1m commercial sat |
| QuickBird | 2001-10-18 | 5 bands | 0.61m | Urban planning, sub-meter |
| OrbView-3 | 2003-06-26 | 5 bands | 1m | Commercial 1m mapping |
| WorldView-1 | 2007-09-18 | 1 band | 0.5m | 0.5m pan, stereo mapping |
| RapidEye (5 sats) | 2008-08-29 | 5 bands | 5m | Red-edge farming/forestry |
| GeoEye-1 | 2008-09-06 | 5 bands | 0.41m | Google Maps base imagery |
| WorldView-2 | 2009-10-08 | 9 bands | 0.46m | 8 multispectral bands |
| SkySat fleet | 2013-11-21 | 5 bands | 0.5m | Rapid revisit, video stare |
| WorldView-3 | 2014-08-13 | 29 bands | 0.31m | Sharpest commercial + SWIR |
| PlanetScope Dove | 2014-06-01 | 4 bands | 3m | Daily global coverage |
| WorldView-4 | 2016-11-11 | 5 bands | 0.31m | 0.3m-class commercial |
| Planet SuperDove | 2020-01-01 | 8 bands | 3m | 8-band daily crop watch |
| WorldView Legion | 2024-05-02 | 9 bands | 0.3m | New 0.3m high-revisit fleet |
π Charts: sharpness and families
πΌοΈ HD imagery showcase
Stylized previews of typical US imagery. For real HD samples, use βSamplesβ below.
WorldView-3 Β· 0.31m city, countable cars
Landsat-8 Β· 30m regional crop vigor
Planet Β· daily coastline change alerts
π°οΈ Satellite image object recognition
US imagery also powers automatic detection. Tap an icon to open each topic:
π‘ Which satellite to choose? 3 quick tips
β For maximum 0.3m sharpness β WorldView-3 / Legion; β‘ for free decades-long change β Landsat; β’ for daily global watch β Planet SuperDove / SkySat. Message us for a free recommendation.