Israel: Satellite pics of Shimon Peres Negev nuclear facility available after US decision

The satellites can now release high-resolution imagery of Israel’s Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona, and all other places of Israel. The images can be now be accessed online for free after former US President Donald Trump's administration made changes in the satellite imagery regulations, reported The Jerusalem Post. People can view the imagery on the Mapbox application that provides online maps for websites. 

Satellite images of Dimona nuclear facility 

Mapbox on Tuesday, October 29, in a blog post, informed that they worked with imagery partner Maxar to provide the imagery of Israel and Palestine. The latest imagery was collected in the summer of 2021 and the imagery can be used with GL JS v2 to have a 3D perspective in great detail.

In a Twitter post, Mapbox said, "We can finally provide over 50 cm imagery over Israel and Palestine." In the blog post, Mapbox revealed that they now have quadrupled the resolution for Israel and Palestine. Furthermore, Mapbox mentioned that people can see the high-resolution imagery to plan a hike, check a delivery or navigate between cities.

The imagery posted on the website of Mapbox shows Mount Tabor, Lower Galilee, "The Small Crater" in the Negev Desert, Jerusalem, new construction in a suburb of Beit Shemesh. As per the blog post, the imagery could not be accessed previously as, under the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, the US companies were not allowed to provide imagery of the region at resolutions greater than 2 meters per pixel.

The law was, however, changed in July 2020, when the US Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs under the Trump administration changed the limit of 2 meters per pixel to 0.4 meters of Ground Sample Distance, reported The Jerusalem Post. 

Earlier in February, the satellite images of the Israeli nuclear facility were shared by the Associated Press, which were provided by Planet Labs Inc. The satellite image showed construction at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona, Israel.

As per the AP report, the Israeli nuclear facility consists of decades-old underground laboratories. The report mentioned that the Israeli authorities have neither accepted possessing atomic weapons nor have they denied the claims. 

Inputs from AP

Image: AP