Can Satellites in the Sky Help Prevent Atrocities on Earth?
Currently, about a dozen government and commercial Earth-imaging satellites circle the Earth daily. They take thousands of pictures that governments, private companies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use for purposes as varied as monitoring wheat production, looking for point sources of pollution, and displaying images on Google Earth.
Long before the launch of the first Earth-imaging satellites, some envisioned using them to help prevent wars and atrocities by detecting, proving, and publicizing acts of military aggression and large-scale violations of human rights. Now that these imaging capabilities are well established and the quantity and quality of the available satellite imagery is steadily increasing, we are better able to understand its benefits and limitations for these purposes.
This is a test.