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GeoEye

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GeoEye
Company typePublic (Nasdaq: GEOY)
Founded1992 Orbital Imaging Corporation
2006 GeoEye
FounderOrbital Sciences Corporation
Headquarters
Dulles, Virginia
,
United States
Key people
James Alan Abrahamson (chairman), Matthew O'Connell, (CEO)[1]
RevenueUSD$183.76 million (2007-12-31)[2]
USD$80.33 million (2007-12-31)[3]
USD$42.39 million (2007-12-31)[4]
Total assetsUSD$789.95 million (2007-12-31)[5]
Total equityUSD$216.92 million (2007-12-31)[6]
Number of employees
410 (2008-06-30)[7]
WebsiteGeoEye.com

GeoEye (Nasdaq: GEOY) (formerly Orbital Imaging Corporation or ORBIMAGE) is a commercial satellite imagery company based in Dulles, Virginia.[8]. that is the world's largest space imaging corporation.[9].

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 companies to enter the satellite imaging business. The division was spun off in 1997. It changed its name to GeoEye in 2006 after acquiring Denver, Colorado-based Space Imaging for $58 million.[10] Space Imaging was founded and controlled by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Its principal asset was the IKONOS satellite.

Although ORBIMAGE's first chairman was Orbital chairman David W. Thompson and Orbital at the time owned more than 60 percent of the stock, it no longer has a substantial interest in the new company.[11]

GeoEye provides 253 million square kilometers of satellite map images to Microsoft and Yahoo! search engines. Google has exclusive online mapping use of the GeoEye-1 satellite.[12] It is a major client of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

GeoEye's headquarters are in Dulles, Virginia. Satellite Operations are conducted in Dulles, Virginia and in Thornton, Colorado. Locations in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Norman, Oklahoma provide additional image processing. There are multiple ground stations located worldwide.

GeoEye's primary competitors are DigitalGlobe and Spot Image.

Since 2001 its chairman has been former astronaut and 3-star general James A. Abrahamson.[13]

Satellites

GeoEye operates its own fleet of Earth observation satellites, which provide visible and near-infrared images of land and sea at resolutions below 1 meter.

IKONOS

Main article: IKONOS

Launched in 1999 by Space Imaging, IKONOS collects 82 cm (32 in) panchromatic and 3.2 m (10 ft) multispectral data at a rate of over 2,000 square kilometers per minute. IKONOS orbits the Earth every 98 minutes at an altitude of approximately 680 kilometers or 423 miles. It travels a sun-synchronous orbit, passing a given longitude at 10:30 AM local time. IKONOS is operated out of Thornton, Colorado. It derived its name from the Greek term eikōn for image.[14]

ORBVIEW-3

Launched in 2003 by ORBIMAGE, OrbView-3 acquired 1 m (3 ft 3 in) panchromatic and 4 m (13 ft) multispectral imagery in an 8-kilometer-wide swath. The satellite collected up to 210,000 square kilometers of imagery each day. It revisited each location 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 remains in control of the satellite, it no longer produces usable imagery.[15][16]

ORBVIEW-2

The satellite also called SeaStar was launched in 1997 by ORBIMAGE, OrbView-2 collects color imagery of the Earth's entire land and ocean surfaces on a daily basis. Commercial fishing vessels use OrbView-2 data for detecting oceanographic conditions used to create fishing maps. The satellite also provides broad-area coverage in 2,800 kilometer-wide swaths, which are routinely used in naval operations, environmental monitoring, and global crop assessment applications. OrbView-2 carries NASA's SeaWiFS sensor. OrbView-2 is operated out of Dulles, Virginia.[17]

GeoEye-1

On 2004-12-01 General Dynamics C4 Systems announced it had been awarded a contract worth approximately $209 million to build the OrbView-5 satellite.[18] Its sensor is designed by the ITT Corporation.

The satellite, now known as GeoEye-1, was originally scheduled for April 2008 but lost its 30-day launch slot to a U.S. government mission which had been delayed. It was rescheduled for launch August 22, 2008 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta II launch vehicle.[19] The launch was postponed to September 4, 2008, due to unavailability of the Big Crow telemetry-relay aircraft.[20][21] It was delayed again to September 6 because Hurricane Hanna interfered with its launch crews.

The launch took place successfully on September 6 at 11:50:57 a.m. PDT (1850:57 UTC). The GeoEye-1 satellite separated successfully from its Delta II launch vehicle at 12:49 p.m. PDT (1949 UTC), 58 minutes and 56 seconds after launch.[22]

GeoEye-1 will provide 41 centimetres (16 in) panchromatic and 1.65 meter multispectral imagery in 15.2km swaths. The spacecraft is intended for a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 425 miles (684 km) and an inclination of 98 degrees, with a 10:30 a.m. equator crossing time. GeoEye-1 will be able to image up to 60 degrees off nadir. It will be operated out of Dulles, Virginia.

At the time of its launch, GeoEye-1 was the world’s highest resolution commercial earth-imaging satellite.[23] GeoEye-1 was manufactured in Gilbert, Arizona and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Google, which has its logo on the side of the rocket, has exclusive online mapping use of its data. While GeoEye-1 is capable of imagery with details the size of 41 centimetres (16 in), Google will have access to details of 50 centimetres (20 in). Prior maximum commercial imagery was 60 centimetres (24 in).[24]

GeoEye-2

GeoEye-2, which has a contract with ITT Corporation for the imaging is scheduled launch in 2011 or 2012 and has a planned resolution of 25 cm (9.8 in)[25]

Aerial imagery

GeoEye expanded into aerial imagery in March 2007, with the purchase of MJ Harden from General Electric Company.[26] MJ Harden, based in Mission, KS, is now a wholly owned subsidiary that operates two aircraft that carry a digital mapping camera (DMC) and a sophisticated LiDAR imaging system. MJ Harden was founded by Milton J. Harden in 1956 to provide Photogrammetry services.[27] GE Power Systems bought the company in 2003.[28]

Regional affiliates

References

  1. ^ "(Interview with Matt O'Connell)". Future Tense. American Public Media. 2008-06-26.
  2. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  3. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  4. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  5. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  6. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  7. ^ http://finance.google.com/finance?q=geoy
  8. ^ http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?rpc=66&symbol=GEOY.O
  9. ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2006/intell-060112-geoeye.htm
  10. ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2006/intell-060112-geoeye.htm
  11. ^ http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?Symbol=GEOY
  12. ^ Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery -cnet.com - August 29, 2008
  13. ^ http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=GEOY.O&officerId=842914
  14. ^ http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/products/imagery-sources/Default.aspx?keywords=ikonos&creative=1350458344&gclid=COS9staay5UCFQxxHgodvCAIiQ
  15. ^ OrbView 3 Satellite Malfunctions
  16. ^ SEC Form 8-K Regarding Orbview-3 Technical Problem
  17. ^ http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_homepage/mission_profiles/docs/Orbview-2_SeaWiFS.pdf
  18. ^ "General Dynamics to Build Satellite to Improve U.S. Government Access to High-Resolution Earth Imagery". GD.
  19. ^ "GeoEye-1 Launch Details". GeoEye.
  20. ^ Restatement Pulls GeoEye's Goals Back Down to Earth
  21. ^ Justin Ray. "Delta 2 rocket launch of GeoEye craft postponed". Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  22. ^ Justin Ray. "Delta 2-335 Mission Status Center". Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  23. ^ "GeoEye-1 Launch Continues On Track". Seeking Alpha. 2008-07-11.
  24. ^ Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery -cnet.com - August 29, 2008
  25. ^ Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery -cnet.com - August 29, 2008
  26. ^ GeoEye Acquires MJ Harden Aerial Business From GE Oil & Gas
  27. ^ Geospacial Services - geoeye.com
  28. ^ [http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2003/08/18/daily44.html Power Systems buys M.J. Harden Associates in Kansas City - bizjournals.com - August 21, 2003.
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