Recent earth imaging commercial satellites with high resolutions

This paper introduces the developing trends of QuickBird, WorldView-1, WorldView-2 satellites from DigitaleGlobe Inc(USA) and the IKONOS, GeoEye-1, GeoEye-2 satellites from GeoEye Inc(USA), and then analyzes and reviews the specifications and characteristics of these high resolution earth imaging commercial satellites and their space cameras at different launch schedules. It points out that the development of earth imaging commercial satellites will trend towards small volumes and smart performance. Therefore, the next research should focus on the attitude control of satellites precisely, exploration of TDICCD with small pixel sizes and high integrated orders, design of optical systems in small related apertures and digital image processing technology for image enhancement.