216 Megapixel supercamera soon in operation.

October 2nd, Slagboom and Peeters Aerial Survey signed a contract with Vexcel Corporation Austria for the delivery of an Ultracam-X digital camera. With 216 megapixels this is the most advanced digital camera for aerial survey on the market today. Vexcel has recently been acquired by Microsoft Corporation.

The technical details are impressive:

• 15 parallel computers in 1 compact storage unit.
• Three 'memory sticks' of 1,7 terrabyte each holding 4000 raw images.
• Four color bands, red ; green ; blue ; near-infrared.
• Colordepth and sharpness have been greatly improved .

"We expect the amount of detail in our imagery to be greatly enhanced using this new camera system" says a Slagboom and Peeters spokesperson.

In the coming spring this camera will be deployed for the first time over the Netherlands. The old Ultracam-D camera, a design of 3 years and 'only' 90 megapixels, will remain in service for less demanding missions.