GeoEye, Inc. [GEOY]is starting commercial operations for its new GeoEye-1 Earth-imaging satellite.
The firm also is submitting imagery from the satellite to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for their certification under the terms of the NextView contract.
The NextView program is designed to ensure that the NGA has access to commercial imagery in support of its mission to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.
GeoEye won its $500-million NextView contract in September 2004. In October 2004, GeoEye selected General Dynamics Corp. [GD] Advanced Information Systems as the GeoEye-1 prime contractor. The satellite’s sensor was built by ITT Corp. [ITT].
GeoEye-1 imagery products and solutions are now commercially available in half-, one-, two- and four-meter ground resolutions. Imagery products are available in color and black & white. Color imagery comprises four bands: blue, green, red and near-infrared. There are several ways commercial customers can purchase GeoEye-1 imagery.