System and architecture for space-based and mobile terrestrial sensor vehicles, and end-to-end network for aggregation and processing of sensor data

An apparatus comprising:

• a mobile vehicle platform, configured to travel around the Earth;
• a sensor module, mounted on the mobile vehicle platform, configured to monitor one or more of certain conditions, circumstances, environments and situations occurring on or around, or associated with, the Earth, and to generate sensor data resulting from the monitoring;
• a relay satellite terminal, mounted on the mobile vehicle platform, configured to execute data communications with a first of a plurality of satellites while the relay terminal is in a first area within a communications range of the first satellite, and, upon moving to a second area within a communications range of a second of the plurality of satellites, the relay satellite terminal is configured to switch the data communications to the second satellite;
• wherein the data communications are configured to relay the sensor data, via the satellites with which it executes the data communications, to a central processing facility for one or more of aggregation, processing, analysis and dissemination of the data.