Colorado-Based Company Tracks Satellite Images From Space That Show Impacts Of War In Ukraine

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4)- What goes on inside the office is often privileged information. Maxar is based in Westminster and operates several satellites which beam photos back down to Earth.

Adrian White is a senior at MSU Denver, "Now it is getting images of all of the cities in Ukraine."

For his final project, he is studying how Maxar collects its pictures. Like one that showed a 40-mile-long Russian line of tanks and other armored vehicles.

"Some of these pictures when they are taken, if they show a convoy coming towards Ukraine, they can see the Russians getting closer and where they are setting up."

The satellites circle the Earth and can focus where information is most needed. One shows Mariupol, the city under siege by Russian Forces with Ukrainian troops and civilians holed up in a steel factory.

Jose Lopez now teaches the students after years in space command and with government contractors.

"I try to bring that experience from my Air Force career and working with the aerospace companies to my students."

It is modern high-tech intelligence gathering with satellites gathering the hidden, like a suspected mass grave.

"They are moving with the Earth about 16,000 mph which sounds really fast, in real-time they are still able to get a clear shot. These are very high-tech cameras."

It is a war fought close up and tracked from space.