GeoEye Satellite Captures First Images

GeoEye-1, the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite has sent back it’s first images since launching in early September.

GeoEye spent the first month in the skies calibrating and finally sent back pictures at noon on Tuesday. Captured while the satellite was in a 423-mile-high orbit over the East Coast of the United States (making it’s way from the North to South Poles), the photo shows the campus, buildings, playing fields and car parks of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

"This image captures what is in fact the very first location the satellite saw when we opened the camera door and started imaging," said GeoEye vice president of operations Brad Peterson.

While the high def pictures from Geo-Eye-1 are, in themselves, news, what most people are talking about is that Google plans to supplement Google Maps and Google Earth with images from the satellite. However, even though the GeoEye was launched attached a rocket with a Google logo emblazoned on the side, GeoEye-1’s main client and the agency it received a large portion of it’s funding from, is the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

The government client will receive images at a higher resolution than the search giant. Google will have access to images at resolution of 0.5 meters while the government agency will be provided with images at .41 metres.

Check out the first images from the GeoEye here.