Satellite images gathered over the tsunami-ravaged coastlines of the Indian Ocean are supporting what promises to be a years-long inter-national rebuilding effort, just as they helped target future rescue efforts even before the waters receded. Commercial remote-sensing spacecraft have given relief personnel high-resolution color views of coastal plains scoured by the waves, while wide-field civil spacecraft like the U.S. Landsat 7 have started mapping areas literally reshaped by the massive Dec. 26 earthquake off Sumatra. "Commercial imagery is unclassified, it's color, and it's easily shared with allies, NGOs, relief workers," says Mark Brender of Space Imaging, which generated images with its Ikonos satellite covering some 10,500 sq. mi. around the Indian Ocean in the first 10 days after the disaster. "You cannot do that with imagery from [secret] national systems."
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