The Evolving Use of Commercial Satellite Imagery in Warfare

Over the last several days, you may have seen the latest examples of a growing phenomenon: satellite images of a conflict zone. This time, they were of Iranian nuclear sites, before and after American bombs struck. Images like these come from commercial satellite companies, a change from our past reliance on government-provided photographs. The shift toward commercial satellites gained steam amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Mariel Borowitz, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who specializes in space policy and the satellite industry.