A decade on earth captured from space

The biggest news events of the past decade have been chronicled from space.

The last 10 years have seen a boom in the use of satellite imagery for reporting, led by a growth in commercial satellites that has slashed the cost of such images, and advances in technology that have made high-resolution images from many parts of the world accessible, almost instantly, even on a phone.

NASA's Mars 2020 rover completes first driving test

US satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies has released satellite images from some of the biggest news events of the past decade – from natural disasters to war to the construction of Apple’s “Spaceship” headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Scientists have observed increasing glacial melt in the years between 2010 and 2019 due to climate change. Petermann Glacier in Greenland (seen above on July 19, 2012, by WorldView-2) made headlines in 2012 when a huge iceberg broke off and floated out to sea. PHOTO: Maxar Technologies

 

A May 15, 2016 satellite view of the Viedma Glacier in Argentina. PHOTO: Maxar Technologies

 

A March 12, 2011 satellite view of Sendai, Japan after the tsunami hit. PHOTO: Maxar Technologies

The images range from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the launch of China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier, the Shandong, from a base on the shore of the disputed South China Sea last month.

India loses contact with spacecraft on mission to the moon

Headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, Maxar specialises in satellites for Earth imagery, geospatial data, and analytics.