>They can task commercial satellites and get as good or better imagery.
Is that true? Just from quickly poking around, LEO satellites seem to orbit at about triple the height, moving far faster than a balloon lazily floating along the jetstream. Probably can use a larger variety of instruments as well.
I'm mildly embarrassed to say I didn't even notice the discrepancy in units. Obviously, 200,000 ft (or 300k, but 200 was the figure I saw first) isn't really plausibly high enough to constitute orbit.
Is that true? Just from quickly poking around, LEO satellites seem to orbit at about triple the height, moving far faster than a balloon lazily floating along the jetstream. Probably can use a larger variety of instruments as well.