IKONOS satellite, which has been launched from Vandenberg Air Base in California, on September 24th 1999,is the first and only satellite having the highest ground resolution.

IKONOS flies with a velocity of 26,000 km / hour at an elevation of 680 km and rotates in a sunsynchronous orbit once in every 98 minutes and makes 14 revolutions. The satellite is expected to have an operational life in life around 7 years.

IKONOS is capable of taking imagery with 1-meter resolution in a swath of 700 km around its ground track. Minimum collection area for an images is 100 km2 with a maximum of 10.000 km2/per pass