IKONOS was the first commercial sub-meter Earth-observation satellite (Space Imaging, launched Sept 1999; retired 2015).

• Altitude: ~681 km, sun-synchronous.
• Bands: 4 multispectral (Blue, Green, Red, NIR) at 4 m + 1 m panchromatic (B/G/R/NIR pan-sharpened to ~1 m).
• Swath: ~11–13 km; revisit ~1–3 days.
• Use: urban mapping, precision agriculture, disaster response, defense.