The same company responsible for the hardware behind Google Maps
and Google Earth images, Ball Aerospace, will soon launch a new space
telescope capable of seeing objects on Earth’s surface as small as 10
inches across, though those without government clearance will only have access to images at half that resolution. Traveling at roughly 18,000 miles per hour, the giant telescope, dubbed Worldwide-3, can even see things in the infrared spectrum and will eschew snapshots in favor of a continuous ribbon-like image of the world below, which is will traverse in its entirety every few days.
Worldwide-3 Space Telescope