Pretty much. However the biggest change is the capability per kilogram that can be packed into a satellite now. Today a 3U cubesat weighing roughly 20kg can tak

Pretty much. However the biggest change is the capability per kilogram that can be packed into a satellite now. Today a 3U cubesat weighing roughly 20kg can take thousands of images, process them locally to manage for weather effects and orbital skew, and then transmit them to a single ground station several times a day. The first spy satellites weighed tons and literally dropped film canisters back into space to re-enter and be recovered by aircraft or helicopters which would then take the film to a laboratory to be developed[1]. Typically, a satellite would take a few weeks to both stabilize in the environment in space, calibrate its optics, take some test photos for analysis, re-calibrate based on those results, and then be ready to go. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)