U.S. Gov Drops Advanced DOD Satellite Imagery Plans

The Department of Defense had planned to launch a program to produce advanced detailed satellite images for an estimated 1.8 billion. Private consumer companies GeoEye and DigitalGlobe have already commidted to produciting the same results for a much cheaper price. The DOD has arranged an agreement with these companies. The images will support the DOD for an undetermined amount of time, the US might advance it's capabilities in the near future. Making it more self sufficient.

Eyes in the Sky

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California was the site of a Delta II rocket launch that a variety of companies were involved with, including: ULA (a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin), GeoEye, Google, NASA, and General Dynamics (the builders of the satellite). This satellite named GeoEye-1 (GeoEye-2 is scheduled to be launched in 2011). This satellite will travel at 4.5 mps in space taking much higher resolution pictures than that available today. Although Google Earth will have exclusive rights to these photographs the public will not see such clear or close images for privacy reasons. The government will have access to these pictures and be able to see objects as small as sixteen inches in width from above.

You can visit geoeye.com for media and more information.