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 operate 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 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
www.spaceimaging.com.