[Satellite Today 02-06-09] GeoEye Inc. initiated commercial operations for the GeoEye-1 Earth-imaging satellite and submitted imagery from the satellite to the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for certification, GeoEye announced Feb. 5.
    The satellite, placed in orbit in September by Boeing, will provide black-and-white imagery with a ground resolution of 0.41 meters and multi-spectral imagery at 1.65-meter resolution. The spacecraft was developed under a $500 million contract awarded under the NGA’s NextView program.
     “We are now selling imagery from GeoEye-1 to commercial customers around the world and to our government customers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,” Matthew O’Connell, GeoEye’s CEO, said in a statement. “We are submitting imagery to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for certification and look forward to beginning to serve NGA under our new service level agreement with them.”