GeoEye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GeoEye Inc. GeoEyeLogo.jpg
Founded 1992 Orbital Imaging Corporation
2006 GeoEye
Founder(s) Orbital Sciences Corporation
Defunct January 2013, merged with DigitalGlobe
Headquarters Herndon, Virginia, United States
Key people James Alan Abrahamson (chairman), Matthew O'Connell, (CEO)[1]
Revenue US$183.76 million (2007)[2]
Operating income US$80.33 million (2007)[2]
Net income US$42.39 million (2007)[2]
Total assets US$789.95 million (2007)[2]
Total equity US$216.92 million (2007)[2]
Employees 410 (2008)[2]
GeoEye Inc. (formerly Orbital Imaging Corporation or ORBIMAGE) was an American c
ommercial satellite imagery company based in Herndon, Virginia.[3] GeoEye was me
rged into the DigitalGlobe corporation January 29th, 2013.[4]
The company was founded in 1992 as a division of Orbital Sciences Corporation in
the wake of the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act which permitted private com
panies to enter the satellite imaging business. The division was spun off in 199
7. It changed its name to GeoEye in 2006 after acquiring Denver, Colorado-based
Space Imaging for $58 million.[5] Space Imaging was founded and controlled by Ra
ytheon and Lockheed Martin. Its principal asset was the IKONOS satellite.
Although ORBIMAGE's first chairman was Orbital chairman David W. Thompson, and O
rbital at the time owned more than 60 percent of the stock, it no longer has a s
ubstantial interest in the company or its successor.[6]
GeoEye provided 253,000,000 square kilometres (98,000,000 sq mi) of satellite ma
p images to Microsoft and Yahoo! search engines. In 2008 Google secured exclusiv
e online mapping use of the GeoEye-1 satellite.[7] GeoEye maintained major contr
acts with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for the provision of recon
naissance and imagery data.
In the early twenty-first century GeoEye was headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.
Satellite Operations were conducted from Herndon, Virginia and Thornton, Colora
do. The location in Saint Louis, Missouri provided additional image processing.
Multiple ground stations were located worldwide.
In 2011, GeoEye was inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall o
f Fame[8] for its role in advancing commercial Earth-imaging satellites.[9]
GeoEye was purchased by DigitalGlobe in 2013.
Contents
1 Satellites
1.1 IKONOS
1.2 OrbView-2
1.3 OrbView-3
1.4 GeoEye-1
1.5 GeoEye-2
2 Aerial imagery
3 Regional affiliates
4 References
5 External links
Satellites
IKONOS
Main article: IKONOS
Launched in 1999 by Space Imaging, IKONOS collects 82 cm (32 in) panchromatic an
d 3.2 m (10 ft) multispectral data at a rate of over 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi) per m
inute. IKONOS orbits the Earth every 98 minutes at an altitude of approximately
681 km (423 mi). It travels a sun-synchronous orbit, passing a given longitude a
t 10:30 AM local time. IKONOS is operated out of Thornton, Colorado. It derived
its name from the Greek term eikon' (pronounced eikona) for image.[10]
OrbView-2
The satellite also called SeaStar was launched in 1997 by ORBIMAGE, OrbView-2 co
llects color imagery of the Earth's entire land and ocean surfaces on a daily ba
sis. Commercial fishing vessels use OrbView-2 data for detecting oceanographic c
onditions used to create fishing maps. The satellite also provides broad-area co
verage in 2,800 kilometer-wide swaths, which are routinely used in naval operati
ons, environmental monitoring, and global crop assessment applications. OrbView-
2 carries NASA's SeaWiFS sensor. OrbView-2 was operated out of Dulles, Virginia,
but operations ceased shortly before GeoEye's HQ relocation to Herndon, Virgini
a in 2011.[11] It stopped collecting data on 11 December 2010.[12]
OrbView-3
Launched in 2003 by ORBIMAGE, OrbView-3 acquired 1 m (3.3 ft) panchromatic and 4
m (13 ft) multispectral imagery in an 8-kilometer-wide swath. The satellite col
lected up to 210,000 km2 (81,000 sq mi) of imagery each day. It revisited each l
ocation on Earth in less than three days with the ability to collect data up to
50 degrees off nadir. Similar to IKONOS, this satellite passes a given longitude
at 10:30 AM local time.
On April 23, 2007, GeoEye, Inc. filed a Form 8-K to announce that its OrbView-3
satellite is permanently out of service. Though GeoEye remained in control of th
e satellite, it no longer produced usable imagery.[13][14] The spacecraft decaye
d on March 13, 2011 via a controlled reentry into the broad area Pacific Ocean.
GeoEye-1
Main article: GeoEye-1
GeoEye-1 (Former name OrbView 5) launched on September 6, 2008 at 11:50:57 a.m.
PDT (1850:57 UTC). The satellite separated successfully from its Delta II launch
vehicle at 12:49 p.m. PDT (1949 UTC), 58 minutes and 56 seconds after launch.[1
5] The satellite provides 41 centimetres (16 in) panchromatic and 1.65 meter mul
tispectral imagery in 15.2 km swaths. The spacecraft is intended for a sun-synch
ronous orbit at an altitude of 681 km (423 mi) and an inclination of 98 degrees,
with a 10:30 a.m. equator crossing time. GeoEye-1 can image up to 60 degrees of
f nadir. It is operated out of Herndon, Virginia and was built in Arizona by Gen
eral Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.
GeoEye-2
Main article: GeoEye-2
The GeoEye-2 satellite has a planned resolution of 34 cm (13 in). ITT Corporatio
n is the contractor responsible for its imaging payload[7] Lockheed Martin was s
elected to build the satellite platform over General Dynamics.[16]
As of February 2013 and following the merger of GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, Digital
Globe announced GeoEye-2 will be completed as a ground spare to be launched if o
r when required.[17][18]
Aerial imagery
GeoEye expanded into aerial imagery in March 2007, with the purchase of MJ Harde
n from General Electric Company.[19] MJ Harden, based in Mission, KS, is now a w
holly owned subsidiary that operates two aircraft that carry a digital mapping c
amera (DMC) and a sophisticated LiDAR imaging system. MJ Harden was founded by M
ilton J. Harden in 1956 to provide Photogrammetry services.[20] GE Power Systems
bought the company in 2003.[21]