Cameras on space station can provide Earth surveillance

New York Times : Built as a space-based laboratory and observatory, the International Space Station (ISS) could serve another purpose: border patrol. Several years ago a Canadian company called UrtheCast partnered with the Russian space agency Roscosmos to place two cameras—Theia and Iris—on the ISS to capture high-resolution still and video images of Earth. Although Roscosmos retains all images captured of Russia, UrtheCast has access to the rest. The company says it has pitched its images to a number of entities for such purposes as tracking environmental changes, natural disasters, and human conflicts. In 2013 it offered its services to the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, to help it monitor the ever-increasing flow of people across national lines. Although Frontex did not accept the offer, UrtheCast continues to promote its capability for “space-based video surveillance.”