Not long after Iran's missile strikes on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, a Bay Area satellite company was providing images from the ground.
Satellite images from Planet Labs, which is based in San Francisco, showed before and after images from one of the bases that was attacked.
Four buildings were damaged in the attacks, along with a section of runway that runs through the base. There have been no reports of anyone on the ground being injured or killed.
Analysts from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey examined the images and said it was lucky nobody was hurt. They also called the technology a way to get the truth out to a wide audience in quick fashion.
"So the idea that something could happen all the way around the world and I could have a picture taken just a few hours later and have it in my hands basically instantaneously," Professor Jeffrey Lewis from the Middlebury Institute said.
There have been no further reports of any additional attacks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
