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GeoEye Gains $24 Million Contracts For Satellite Photos

By Staff Writer | May 7, 2007

      GeoEye received almost $24 million in new government contracts, the space photography company announced.

      The space imagery would go to agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

      USDA could use the photos to improve global commodity estimates and crop forecasts. Such estimates aid farmers in knowing which crops to plant, and forecasts also affect prices in commodity markets.

      Included in the government contracts is a deal to build several hundred airport mapping databases to enhance flight safety and reduce terrain challenges to flight operations.

      Those databases provide detailed pictures of airport runways, taxiways and aprons that pilots use to increase on-the-ground safety.

      In one recent incident, the flight crew of an airliner turned onto the wrong runway by mistake. The runway was too short for the plane to take off, and the resultant crash caused fatalities.