Once it’s situated, up, and working, the Worldview-3 satellite will provide clearer than ever images of what’s happening on planet Earth.

Once it’s operational, the Worldview-3 satellite will provide images that are clearer than ever of what’s happening on planet Earth.

Despite the August 13th launch date, it will be several months before the pictures taken by the orbiter will be made available to the public.

The technology is already advanced enough to take clear photos of objects as small as 10 inches, but revised U.S. laws surrounding making such detailed images commercially available aren’t yet in effect.

Come 2015, however, Worldview-3’s makers, DigitalGlobe, will have the green light to supply its private business clients with the higher resolution content.

Among the company’s customers are Google and Microsoft, which means street views and Bing maps will soon be a whole lot more detailed.

The new 30 centimeter resolution satellite isn’t sharp enough to pick up license plates from space, but it can differentiate between “a truck, or an SUV or a regular car."

NASA and several government agencies also utilize DigitalGlobe’s services.

They use them in a wide variety of ways, from matters of national security to assessing agricultural and mining resources.

It’s estimated that the upgrade and lifting of resolution restrictions will bring DigitalGlobe an additional 400 million dollars in revenue.