Press Release

Space Imaging Awarded License to Provide Half-Meter Resolution Commercial Satellite Imagery

By SpaceRef Editor
January 19, 2001
Filed under ,

Leading Provider of Visual Earth Information Poised to be the World’s Only
Source of Half-Meter Resolution Commercial Satellite Imagery

Space Imaging announced today that it has been
awarded a license by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) to operate a commercial remote sensing spacecraft capable of
providing half-meter resolution imagery of the Earth. The license, dated
Dec. 6, 2000, enables Space Imaging to offer customers the world’s highest
resolution commercial satellite imagery. Customers across government and
industry will be able to capitalize on the value of this new source of
visual information.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the license process. There are many
people who have contributed to advancing this remote sensing policy. The
policy of granting a half-meter license enables U.S. companies such as Space
Imaging to retain the worldwide leadership in providing customers highly
accurate Earth imagery and mapping products to use in decision making.” said
John Copple, Space Imaging’s CEO. “Space Imaging has already established a
worldwide leadership position selling high-resolution satellite and aerial
imagery, and now we will be able to keep pace with the rapid changes in
technology for our next generation systems.”

Space Imaging’s next-generation satellite imaging system will provide
half-meter resolution black-and-white (panchromatic) and two-meter
resolution color (multispectral) imagery. Half-meter resolution means
objects on the ground larger than one-half meter in size – or 19 inches –
can be seen. One would be able to see such objects as a line of utility
poles, a picnic table, large farm animals, small pipelines, individual trees
and bushes, and agriculture fields for precision farming. This higher
resolution imagery is ideal for precisely mapping utility and
telecommunications networks, planning roads and highways, facilities
management, national security and other applications requiring a high level
of visual and positional detail and accuracy. It is not accurate enough to
recognize or identify people.

Space Imaging is in the process of defining technical specifications for the
new satellite. Launch is anticipated in 2004.

In 1992 the Congress passed the Landsat Act that enables U.S. companies to
build and launch commercial imaging satellites in order to compete with
foreign companies planning similar ventures. In 1994 the president signed a
Presidential Decisions Directive that further defined the government’s
remote sensing policies. Last fall NOAA finalized the actual regulations
that govern this industry.

In April 1994, Space Imaging was issued a license to offer one-meter
resolution satellite imagery. Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (then
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company) built and launched the IKONOS satellite
under contract to Space Imaging. Since the IKONOS launch in September 1999,
Space Imaging has been selling one-meter resolution black-and-white and
four-meter resolution color imagery.

About Space Imaging

Space Imaging is a leading supplier of visual information products derived
from space imagery and aerial photography. The company launched the world’s
first and only one-meter resolution, commercial Earth imaging satellite,
IKONOS, on Sept. 24, 1999. Other CARTERRA(tm) products are produced from the
Indian Remote Sensing satellites, the U.S. Landsat, Canada’s RADARSAT and
the European Space Agency’s ERS satellites. Space Imaging also delivers
aerial-derived imagery products collected by its own Digital Airborne
Imaging System (DAIS-1(tm)). For detailed information about Space Imaging,
visit http://www.spaceimaging.com.

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NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: An image of Coors Field, in downtown Denver, taken
from an airplane to illustrate half-meter resolution imagery, and a
one-meter resolution image of Coors Field taken by IKONOS is available on
the Web for illustration and publishing purposes at
http://newswire.spaceimaging.com.

SpaceRef staff editor.