Final Launch Preparations GeoEye-1

GeoEye-1 will have the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system -- 0.41-meters or 16 inches for panchromatic (black and white) imagery and multispectral (color) imagery at 1.65-meter resolution. However, due to U.S. Government licensing restrictions, commercial customers will have access to imagery at half-meter ground resolution. The satellite is designed to offer three-meter accuracy. GeoEye-1 was financed in part by GeoEye's approximate $500-million contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

The main command and control facility for GeoEye-1 is at the company's headquarters in Dulles, Virginia. A back-up command and control site is located at the company's operations site in Thornton, Colorado near Denver. Three other ground stations will be operated or leased by GeoEye in Alaska, Norway and Antarctica. GeoEye will need multiple sources for primary data reception since the combined daily collection capacity for both the IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites will be nearly one million square kilometers. This also allows GeoEye-1 to be in contact with a station about 40 times each day to receive commands and offload the imagery collected on previous orbits.

Caption: Rendering of the GeoEye-1 satellite in orbit