SpaceFromSpace is free, independent, and built by one person. Your support keeps it that way.
I created SpaceFromSpace to make historical and modern satellite imagery easier to discover and interact with. What began as a side project has grown into an archive of over 1000 satellite images spanning the entire Cold War period as well as modern spaceport monitoring.
The images on this site have been sourced, processed, georeferenced, and published by me and supported by the community. That means searching the archives, purchasing, downloading, manually processing them, and writing up the context behind what you're looking at.
It's a labour of love.
Georeferencing a single satellite frame can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on how degraded the original scan is. Finding a usable scene in the first place can take just as long.
Not every frame in the USGS archive has been digitised. When a requested image hasn't been scanned yet, there's a real cost to get it online. Support helps cover those fees directly.
The most direct impact of any contribution is time. More time means more images, more context, better tools, and a more complete picture of the world as it was during the Cold War.
Every level of support makes a difference. Here's an honest breakdown of what changes as the project gains more backing.
The archive grows steadily alongside a full-time job. Around 10 new images are added each week on average, with requests handled as time allows.
One guaranteed day per week focused entirely on the archive. Faster request turnaround, more consistent publishing, and scanning costs covered.
Multiple dedicated days per week. Systematic coverage of underrepresented regions, deeper historical context, and new public features.
The scale at which bringing on part-time help becomes possible, expanding what one person can realistically do and accelerating the archive significantly.
Whether it's a one-off donation, a monthly pledge, or buying a print it all goes toward making the archive better and more complete.
Patreon members get updates on new imagery and early access to features. No commitment required.
All tiers help directly fund new imagery, scanning costs, and running costs. Higher tiers unlock community access and the ability to suggest new regions.
My sincere thanks for helping keep the project alive.
Everything above, plus help funding ongoing imagery processing, site costs, and the continued growth of the archive.
Everything above, plus Discord access with automated new image alerts and discussion, and support for increased imagery processing and new region coverage.
Everything above, plus the ability to suggest locations for future processing and help prioritise new regions and datasets.
Everything above, plus helping fund large-scale archive processing work.