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Geography

How Satellite Technology Revolutionizes Modern Cartography

Quick fact

The first satellite designed for Earth observation, Landsat 1 (1972), collected images with 80-meter resolution—today, commercial satellites deliver details as small as 30 centimeters per pixel.

Why this is interesting

Every time you open a map app and see your exact location, a satellite hundreds of kilometers above Earth is sending data that makes that possible. How does a machine in space create a precise picture of our world?