SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — SF Gate reports that a recent, massive glacial avalanche in Tibet was predicted by scientists who studied images created by a constellation of small satellites, each no bigger than a shoe box. <br /><br />Operated by a company called Planet, these satellites weigh just over 5 kilograms each and fly in "flocks" of around 175 satellites. <br /><br />If one fails, the company replaces it, and as better batteries, solar arrays and cameras become available, the company simply updates its satellites. <br /><br />Thus, a quiet and often overlooked revolution has taken place in the way satellites are manufactured and operated. <br /><br />The result is an explosion of data and imagery from orbit. <br /><br />Like computers, satellites have also shrunk drastically. Instead of being the size of a truck, costing as much as 400 million dollars, satellites now are often no larger than a microwave. <br /><br />They now cost as little as a 1 million dollars or less, and can be mass-produced in factories. <br /><br />Their numbers have also grown significantly. The number of satellites in operation almost tripled from 2015 to about 3,371 by the end of 2020.
