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I hope this question fits this community!

While browsing r/AWS today I read about someone who was able to make a "space selfie" with AWS Groundstation: source: https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/147qfl1/comment/jnxaac2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

The progress is detailed further down the thread. I absolutely love this idea!

Unfortunately, my question about which satellite was used could not be answered: https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/147qfl1/comment/jnzb84r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Now, I'm wondering: Do companies offer something like "satellite as a service"? Could you help me further to achieve this goal? I would need a satellite I could use!

reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/147qfl1/comment/jnwjlob/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

aws groundstation: https://aws.amazon.com/ground-station/?nc1=h_ls

RAD6000
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    I am not terribly fond of pictures of text. You should put a text summary of what you're asking into the body of your question. I don't care to read the reddit post. – Wyck Jun 14 '23 at 02:02

1 Answers1

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Well... They technically took a space selfie with a satellite, they just happened to access the satellite through a AWS GS service which a lot of commercial satellites do.

As they mention, accessing a satellite is the tricky part. There are companies with Earth Observation satellites that offer a wide variety of services, however those are not really cheap and companies usually offer very specific services associated to their imaging capabilities, for example, air quality monitoring, flood analysis, or national security, as part of a bigger package that includes data processing and analysis.

Also, they usually look for big contracts over extended periods of time. (You can browse some here: EO) And normally they will also provide all the infrastructure, you will only receive the final product.

Maybe someone who launched a cubesat or small sat for a short mission, or as an academic project, and don't really know what to do with it anymore might be able to offer the service, I honestly don't see an Earth Observation company offering an on-demand service any time soon, but I could be wrong.

In my opinion, whoever posted that probably operates a satellite using AWS as part of their job, and just scheduled an image of their office location and downlinked later, which sounds way less exciting.

Gabriel Sanchez
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