An astronaut's eye view

Depending on the wavelength, a 40mm telescope-camera at 300 miles
altitude will have a resolution of about fifteen feet per pixel, and on
an HD tv will cover an area about three miles across, when looking
straight down. The circle of its horizon will be about 1500 miles
across. The resolution will drop by half near the horizon but the area
will more than double. To cover the entire area visible to the
satellite would take over a thousand such cameras.
A cluster of say fifty sat-cams on a single platform could be
controlled induvidually by operators using a joy stick or a VR headset
and paying perhaps two or three dollars a minute, or a point on the
earth could tracked, selected by a pointer or GPS coordinates. The
time a position could be tracked before it dissappeared over the
horizon could be as long as five minutes.
The appearance of a place on earth can vary by season, time of day,
angle of observation and cloud cover. Real time reception of a very
low power signal could be possible with a tracking dish that would cost
within the hundred dollar range, but would only work when the satellite
is above the horizon. If used at only two percent of capacity it could
still generate more than a million dollars a year. The service could
also have subscribers who want to see past over flights, or views of
other parts of the world. Advertising might also become a source of
revenue.
The entire assembly, including stabilizers, satcams and broadcast
elements might weigh less than a hundred pounds and cost less than a
million to build and launch. If successful, a constellation of
satellites could offer 24/7 coverage of the earth's enchanting,
changeing, beauty.
It would certainly offer a more dramatic view of our home planet than
keyhole or the other services presently provided. It would give the
earthbound the chance to see the world as the astronaut sees it.