Commercial Satellite Imaging Technologies Demand To Surge in Future
Satellite imagery is used in conservation and research, construction and infrastructure development, defense and intelligence, disaster management, geospatial data acquisition and mapping, media and entertainment, natural resource management, and surveillance and security. In contemporary years, homeland security agencies, defense organizations, emergency service organizations, and environmental protection agencies are shifting toward high-resolution satellite imagery for data evaluation, crime mapping, and crop forecasting, owing to which commercial satellite imaging technologies will be adopted on a large scale.
Additionally, the surging use of location-based service (LBS) technology for business intelligence (BI), consumer tracking, enterprise services, local search, location-specific health information, mobile advertisements, navigation, and tourism will strengthen the commercial satellite imaging market in coming years. Nowadays, governments of developing countries, such as India, Mexico, and China, are taking several initiatives to encourage startups to venture into LBS technology and facilitate its use, on account of which end-use sectors of such nations are opting for commercial satellite imagery.
In the coming years, disaster management agencies will increase their reliance on satellite imagery, due to the surging use of this technology in various Earth observation programs in the Asian and European regions, to assess damages caused by natural disasters. Additionally, the defense sector will also observe a notable use of satellite imagery, owing to the soaring terrorism threats and mounting focus of governments on improving defense capabilities. Moreover, the mounting investments being made in the defense sector will also augment the use of this technology in military organizations.
At present, Airbus Defence and Space, DigitalGlobe Inc., Environmental Systems Research Institute, Galileo Group Inc., and Spaceknow Inc. provide optical and radar technology-based imaging solutions for commercial satellite manufacturers. In recent years, these companies have engaged in service launches, partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions to offer their imaging technologies. For instance, in April 2018, Environmental Systems Research Institute partnered with Alibaba Cloud to help both organizations address the needs of customers regarding location intelligence in cloud infrastructure.
According to P&S Intelligence, the North American region led the commercial satellite imaging market in the preceding years, wherein the U.S. emerged as the dominant user of commercial satellite imaging technologies. The dominance of the U.S. can be primarily attributed to the increasing requirement for terror tracking activities in the defense sector of the country. Additionally, the surging expenditure on the natural resources sector and the rising geospatial research activities will propel the use of commercial satellite imaging in the region.
