Space Imaging, the world’s leader in providing Earth imagery and related services to commercial and government markets, announced today that the IKONOS satellite will celebrate its second anniversary in space Sept. 24. IKONOS, the world’s first commercial high-resolution Earth imaging satellite, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Sept. 24, 1999.

Since its launch IKONOS has logged many milestones:

  • Completed its 10,000th orbit around Earth in August 2001
  • Collected more than 20 million square kilometers of nearly cloud-free imagery
  • Created more than 480,000 images, which are stored in Space Imaging’s digital archive
  • On average collects about 900 images per day
  • Flown 450 million kilometers around the Earth
  • Collected images over every continent on the Earth’s surface

    “The IKONOS satellite continues to operating beyond our expectations,” said John Copple, chairman and chief executive officer of Space Imaging. “Lockheed Martin’s legacy in building superior satellites is very evident in IKONOS. All satellite systems are fully functional and the system indicators show the satellite will still be operational in 2006 and beyond.”

    “IKONOS has been instrumental in serving customers around the world with high-resolution imagery,” said Conrad Mueller, vice president Global Alliances. “The unique IKONOS system is the only satellite that allows a customer with a ground station to directly task the satellite, receive the imagery in real time, and process and store the imagery locally. This autonomous operation has proved to be a great benefit for many of our customers.”

    In advance of the second anniversary of the launch, Space Imaging has released the first high-resolution image of Venice, Italy. The image is available at http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/iow.htm. Other dramatic images, which IKONOS has acquired will be released in the next month.

    About Space Imaging 

    Space Imaging is a leading supplier of visual information products and services derived from space imagery and aerial photography. Other products are produced from the Indian Remote Sensing satellites, Canada’s RADARSAT and the European Space Agency’s ERS satellites. Space Imaging also delivers aerial-derived imagery products collected by its own Digital Airborne Imaging System. For detailed information about Space Imaging, visit http://www.spaceimaging.com. 

     

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    NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS:  
    A high-resolution image of Venice, Italy is available on the Web to the media only for illustration and publishing purposes at http://newswire.spaceimaging.com.

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