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European Commission Signs Contract With GeoEye

By Staff Writer | April 24, 2006

      GeoEye, a U.S.-based satellite imagery company, announced last week its partner European Space Imaging (EUSI) received an additional contract from the European Commission to supply OrbView-3 high-resolution map-accurate imagery.

      The contract was awarded on April 5 and is valued at $2.1 million over the next four years. The imagery will be collected by the company’s OrbView-3 high-resolution earth-imaging satellite. Together with its recently renewed three-year contract to supply imagery from GeoEye’s Ikonos satellite, EUSI continues to be one of the largest suppliers of commercial satellite imagery to the European Commission.

      The imagery will be processed and delivered to the European Commission by EUSI located in Munich, Germany. The contract requires GeoEye to begin imagery collection over 24 specific European sites to support the European Commission’s agricultural subsidy controls. The European Union is using satellite imagery as a tool to verify farmer’s declarations and claims for subsidies. In addition, the European Commission will use OrbView-3 imagery in support of national security related projects. OrbView-3 has been used by several Asian countries as well as by the U.S. Government’s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for similar purposes.

      "For the past three years the European Commission has ranked GeoEye’s IKONOS satellite with a 98-100 percent performance success rate," said Adrian Zevenbergen, general manager for European Space Imaging.

      GeoEye is currently building its next-generation commercial satellite imaging system, GeoEye-1, which will have a ground resolution of .41-meter (1.3-foot) panchromatic and 1.65-meter (5.41-foot) multispectral. GeoEye-1 is scheduled for launch in 2007.

      GeoEye was formed as a result of Orbimage’s acquisition of Space Imaging in January. The company is based in Dulles, Va.