EYE IN THE SKY
Help Came High From The Sky
Humans have always found ways to extend and improve the land but the scale and design of a date palm tree-shaped man-made island at 5.6km long and 5.2km wide, meant there was no template for construction. Such a mega engineering feat required a new approach.
The solution was found far out in the darkness of space where satellite ikonos baited the Earth. Launched in 1999, Ikonos was the world’s first commercially available high-resolution satellite.
Weighing 817 kilos and measuring 1.83 m by 1.57 m, it was the first satellite collecting 0.82 m resolution black-and-white imagery and 3.28 m resolution multispectral data.
Commercial Satellite Imagery
The Spacecraft Operations Of Ikonos Were Unique Among The Commercial Imaging Satellites In That They Allowed Each International Affiliate To Operate Its Own Ground Stations.
Ground Control Stations
These Ground Stations Were Assigned Blocks Of Time On The Satellite During Which They Could Directly Task Ikonos, And Immediately Receive The Downlinked Imagery For Which They Tasked, In Addition To Virtually Instant Data Receipt.
6 Year Span Evolution
Its Applications Included Urban And Rural Mapping Of Natural Resources, Agriculture, And Construction By Capturing Aerial Views And Satellite Photos As It Orbited The Earth Every 98 Minutes At A Height Of 681 To 709 Km.
Urban And Rural Mapping
Its Advanced Capabilities Ensured That Engineers Had A Completely New Tool In Their Armor To Calculate And Measure The Placement Of All The Components Of Palm Jumeirah: All Marine And Land-Based Equipment Used For Placing The Sand And Rocks Were Equipped With A Global Positioning System (GPS) Connected To A Special Software That Was Developed For The Construction Of The Palm Jumeirah.
Three Times The Surface Of Earth
Ikonos collected 240,000 Km² per day and took 597,802 public images during its 15 years in orbit. It covered more than 400 million Km — about three times the size of Earth's land surface area – and most certainly played a key role in contributing towards the development of Palm Jumeirah.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also played a critical role in the development of the island, regularly visiting the site throughout its development.