Axelspace to launch 50 satellites to take daily photos of the entire world

Japanese micro-satellite maker Axelspace, which raised 15 million last year, to build satellites that are the size of your air conditioner, now has another ambitious dream.

In an interview with The Next Web, company founder and CEO Yuya Nakamura shared his vision for building a geo-mapping API, anyone can use. To explain in layman words, the company will provide paid access to an API that any developer can be a part of.

Even though this might sound scary, Nakamura says privacy won’t be an issue. It is because, the company has deliberately chosen to use lower resolution cameras than the high-tech ones present today, so that people cannot be identified, but the data will still be usable for things such as counting objects on Earth, detecting changes in specific areas and tracking crop growth and other endless possibilities.

The end results will be highly beneficial. Reportedly, these satellites could the world with advances such as: mapping apps could have daily imagery updates, weather organizations would have more detailed, recent data, and parking lots could keep track of the number of cars on the lot.

All 50 satellites should be orbiting the earth by 2022, but data from select places will already be available from 2018. Nakamura also pointed out that these satellites aren’t so high up, that they can keep orbiting the Earth forever. After roughly 25 to 30 years, they will automatically return to Earth and continue to be on the ground respectively.