Russia's Kometa remote sensing satellite, launched as Cosmos 2349 aboard a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 17 February, is producing 2m and 10m resolution panchromatic images - such as this view of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt - which are commercially available from Sovinformsputnik, Moscow. The company has formed a marketing partnership with Aerial Images, Raleigh, North Carolina, called Spin-2. Images can be accessed and purchased on the Internet at www.TerraServer.com. Applications of Spin-2 image products include geographical information system digital mapping, environmental assessments and transportation system management. Images of 2m resolution covering an area of 400 x 160km are obtained by the KVR 1000 camera system, while the TK350 camera returns images covering an area of 200 x 300km images with a 10m resolution.

Source: Flight International