Low earth orbits are defined as orbits with altitude below 2000km, these orbits provide superior advantages for earth observations missions. The distinction between VLEO and LEO is the altitude of the former is below 500km. VLEO missions possess great advantages such as, in maritime surveillance, illegal immigration and piracy this is due to the fact that the imagery capabilities are enhanced significantly and identification of small objects in the order of 1 meter is feasible, in addition to higher frequency of intraday location inspection visits. These are some of the great benefits for home land security and national security of any country.

Inspec keywords: artificial satellites; inspection; national security; surveillance; remote sensing

Other keywords: size 1.0 inch; size 2000.0 km; illegal immigration; size 500.0 km; VLEO satellites-a new earth observation space systems commercial; piracy; VLEO missions; earth observations missions; low earth orbits; business model; superior advantages

Subjects: Inspection and quality control; Aerospace industry; Geophysical techniques and equipment; Instrumentation and techniques for geophysical, hydrospheric and lower atmosphere research; Satellite communication systems; Optical, image and video signal processing; Radar equipment, systems and applications