Country-based analysis of the investment dimension of the airborne and spaceborne imagery

Imagery is the basic input element of the photogrammetric map production. For decades, aerial photography has been the dominant option to fulfill the imagery request of the photogrammetry and the other disciplines. Due to the significant development in the field of remote sensing spacecraft and the on-board sensors, space imagery has become a serious alternative to the aerial photography. High-resolution remote sensing satellite imagery is competitive with the airborne imagery by means of accuracy, availability, up-to-dateness and the cost. This trend had stimulated some countries to focus on having their own remote sensing satellite. Until recent years only few countries like USA, Russia, France was launching and operating big multi-purpose satellites but today situation is changing such that the old space imagery customers are becoming the new owners of task oriented small satellites. In this paper, approximate investment and operational costs of both space and airborne platforms has been discussed.