How difficult would it be to sell a bunch of grapes if nearly half of it is inedible?

That's precisely the problem with photos taken by satellites for Earth Observation.
On average, about 65% of Earth's surface is covered by clouds. As a consequence, 30% to 40% of the pictures acquired by satellites are so affected by clouds that cannot be used to extract information. However, they still get downloaded by the ground station to be discarded after, leading to a downlink problem that makes the mission less effective and more expensive.

“We talked about the problem, let's talk about the solution!”
This is how Paolo Madonia, our Product Manager, started the introduction to the demo of cloudy_CHARLES, our onboard software application for cloud detection. We want to thank satsearch for allowing us to show how cloudy_CHARLES identifies the valuable frames directly onboard the spacecraft and how this can improve the overall efficiency of the mission.

If you didn't get the chance to participate, the link to the registration is down below.
See with your own eyes and contact us with any questions!

Watch the video

Credits

• satsearch