Part 3/12:
The Journey of Satellite Data: From Request to Delivery
Akash described the conventional process: a user initiates a request for satellite images, which are then scheduled, collected, and downlinked via ground stations—a process that traditionally takes anywhere from 24 hours to several days. This latency is a bottleneck for timely decision-making during natural disasters or rapid environmental changes.
He explained how ground stations have limited contact windows—often just 4 to 8 minutes per satellite pass—and data rates typically max out at a few hundred Mbps. Consequently, large images can be partially or fully unusable if cloud cover obscures critical details, leading to inefficient data utilization.