NextView program and progress in optical remote sensing satellites

The NextView program initiated by the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency(NGA) was put forward in the background of the failure of Future Imagery Archtecture(FIA) plan. The NextView program contained two commercial optical remote satellites, namely, WorldView-1 and GeoEye-1. With the GSD resolutions of 0.5 m and 0.41 m, respectively, both of them are the first two commercial optical remote satellites with the highest resolution in the world. This paper introduces the working objects of the NextView program and describes the technical specifications and characteristics of the WorldView-1 and GeoEye-1. It also gives the working modes of two satellites. Finally, it predicts the developing tends of remote sensing satellites, and points out that the future optical remote satellites will be higher, faster, smaller, higher precision and more colorful.