Geoeye-1 has been successfully launched on board the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch rocket, which bears a Geoeye logo on its side.

Geoeye is believed to be the highest resolution commercial Earth imaging satellite, and will be ready to start full commercial operations for Geoeye-1 imaging products a few months after launch. Around 45-60 days will be spent in calibration and engineering immediately after the launch.

The satellite was launched on Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
It will be used for shooting 41cm black and white images and 1.65m colour images - the smallest-sized objects it can see frm 681km above the Earth's surface. Customers can also receive imagery updates with the help of Geoeye-1.

Various industries are expected to use the images, including national defence and intelligence, online mapping, state and local governments, environmental monitoring and land use management, oil and gas, mining, utilities, disaster management and insurance.

In view of the support needed by the commercial satellite imaging industry, Geoeye was built under the US National Geospatial Agency's Next View programme. The agency shared the engineering and construction costs. The estimated cost was $502 million, of which the agency funded $237. Commercial viability is partly secured, with the agency making a commitment to buy imaging data from the satellite for at least the first year and a half of operations. Search engine giant Google will also buy images from the satellite to supplement those which appear in Google Earth and Google Maps services. X