Japanese mini-satellite makes the highest quality photos of the Earth in history

A tiny Japanese satellite has shown that it can take the highest quality photos of the Earth in history. The suitcase-sized satellite sent back photos with a resolution of 2.5 meters.

The images were taken at an altitude of 410 kilometers above the Earth's surface using a CubeSat called ONGLAISAT, jointly developed by Taiwan's TASA space agency. Tokyo-based startup ArkEdge Space shared the black-and-white images, zoomed in on an area of up to one square kilometer, showing buildings and roads with some detail, TheVerge writes.

"The images are as clear as aerial photos, despite the fact that they were taken by a tiny satellite," said ArkEdge CEO Takayoshi Fukuyo.

The Japanese mini-satellite has precise attitude control, a TASA-developed Korsch off-axis optical system, a CMOS TDI (Time Delay and Integration) image sensor and image compression hardware, the developers say.

According to the scientists, the purpose of the satellite's mission, which will end in March, was to demonstrate the optical system in orbit, test the altitude control system developed jointly by the University of Tokyo, and verify the TDI and process the image. And all of this has been accomplished.

Recall that the mini-satellite was delivered to the ISS in November last year, and on December 10 it was deployed from the Japanese experimental module Kibo.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that NASA showed 10-kilometer mountains in a unique photo of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.

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