Posted: Thu, Sep 30, 2004, 9:05 PM ET (0105 GMT)
The National Geospatial-Intelligence agency (NGA) announced Thursday that it has selected ORBIMAGE to build a next-generation commercial remote sensing satellite to serve government and private customers. ORBIMAGE's proposal for OrbView-5 won the second of two $500-million NextView contracts from NGA to cover the cost of developing and launching the spacecraft. The spacecraft, scheduled for launch by early 2007, will be able to take images with resolutions as sharp as 0.41 meters per pixel. Included on the ORBIMAGE team are General Dynamics (formerly Spectrum Astro), Kodak/ITT Industries, and Boeing Launch Services. The decision is a blow to Space Imaging, another commercial remote sensing company that also bid on the NextView contract. Space Imaging had been in direct negotiations with NGA earlier this year for a NextView contract but those efforts fell through, leading NGA to compete the contract. DigitalGlobe won the first NextView contract last year.
