Terra Bella
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Formerly called
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Skybox Imaging |
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Information Services |
| Founded | January 2009 |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Services | Satellite imagery, video, and analytics of Earth |
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Number of employees
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125 |
| Parent | Google Inc. |
| Website | terrabella |
Terra Bella (formerly Skybox Imaging) is a Google subsidiary providing commercial high-resolution Earth observation satellite imagery, high-definition video and analytics services. The Mountain View, California-based company was founded in 2009 by Dan Berkenstock, Julian Mann, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu. On February 3, 2017, Google announced that it would sell Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs and enter into a multi-year agreement to purchase SkySat imaging data.
The resolution of the SkySat satellite imagery and videos is high enough to observe objects that impact the global economy such as terrain, cars and shipping containers. Terra Bella says its satellites can capture video clips lasting up to 90 seconds at 30 frames per second. The high-definition satellite video from SkySat satellites “could help us understand our world better by analyzing movement of goods and people, providing visual data about supply chains, shipping, industrial plant activity, and even humanitarian relief efforts.”
The company's goal is to be able to provide high-resolution satellite imagery of any place on Earth multiple times a day. Skybox planned to “change the nature” of the satellite industry by building satellites with “off-the-shelf” electronics that cost under $50 million.
The SkySat satellites are based on the CubeSat concept with optimized design using inexpensive automotive grade electronics, as well as fast commercially available processors. The cameras use two-dimensional imaging sensors.
By April 2012 Skybox Imaging had raised a total of US$91 million of private capital from Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Canaan Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.
On November 21, 2013, their first satellite, SkySat-1, was launched on a Dnepr rocket from Yasny, Russia. On July 8, 2014, Skybox's second satellite, SkySat-2, launched on a Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The company plans to eventually launch a fleet of 24 satellites.
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Wikipedia