AUGUST 23--Space Imaging (Denver, CO;www.spaceimaging.com) announced that the IKONOS satellite will celebrate its second anniversary in space on Sept. 24. IKONOS, the world's first commercial high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, on Sept. 24, 1999. Since its launch, IKONOS has logged many milestones including completing its 10,000th orbit around Earth in August 2001; collecting more than 20 million sq km of nearly cloud-free imagery; and creating more than 480,000 images, which are stored in Space Imaging's digital archive surface.
"IKONOS has been instrumental in serving customers around the world with high-resolution imagery," said Conrad Mueller, vice president 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 atwww.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ioweek/iow.htm.
