A method of providing Earth observation data comprises: acquiring Earth observation echo data on a first satellite in a low Earth orbit, determining a time required to downlink predetermined data to a ground station on Earth from the first satellite at the current position of the first satellite. If the time required exceeds a predetermined threshold, the predetermined data may be transmitted to another satellite in orbit above Earth using space-to-space radio communication. Alternatively, the first satellite may receive data relating to the current position of another satellite in orbit above Earth, determine a time required to the predetermined data to a ground station via the other satellite at the current position of the at least one other satellite, and if the determined time for the other satellite is less than the time determined for the first satellite, transmit the predetermined data to the other satellite in orbit above Earth using space-to-space radio communication.In some possible implementations, the echo data may be processed on-board the first satellite to generate an image and analysed to determine a portion of interest. Then the predetermined data may comprise a data structure comprising a location of the portion of interest which may be transmitted using the space-to-space link.
Satellite operations
2024-10-23
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
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