Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by xiphias2 2142 days ago
Sentinel satellite data is open, I'm not sure if the resolution is good enough though.
1 comments

At 10m resolution and ~5day revisit time, it might be possible to optimize for satellite detection. Smoke is relatively easy to spot in satellite imagery. This may be one's best bet. It's also important to note that fires (anything hot really) is also easily detectable. 30-40m high burning SOS letters would be an interesting strategy.

One of the things to keep in mind is that for Sentinel-2 the mean local solar time at the descending node is 10:30am. That may also help optimize at which time any specific attempts are made.

It would be difficult to keep text burning for days on end. You're probably better off writing SOS in high contrast, with a regular fire nearby.
Could work against you if the updated images get filtered out under the cloud cover/fog category.