Orbimage finalized its acquisition of rival Space Imaging, creating an imagery satellite operator dubbed Geoeye that will operate a pair of spacecraft capable of producing high-resolution images with a third satellite with even better resolution planned for launch in early 2007.

Geoeye will be the world’s largest commercial satellite imagery company in terms of revenue, as the companies posted combined sales of about $160 million in 2005.

Digitalglobe, which operates the Orbview-2 and Orbview-3 imagery satellites, paid about $58.5 million for Space Imaging’s assets, which include the Ikonos imagery satellite, a vast archive of images, facilities in Thornton, Colo., and a network of international ground stations that can download imagery directly from the spacecraft. Orbview-3 and Ikonos both collect black-and-white images with a resolution of 1 meter. Orbimage also is developing the Orbview-5 satellite, scheduled for launch in early 2007, that will be capable of producing imagery with a resolution of 0,41-meters.

Space Imaging operations will account for about two-thirds of Geoeye’s revenue going forward, said Matt O’Connell, Geoeye’s president and CEO said. He would not speculate on potential revenue totals for 2006.