Posted: Thu, Oct 23, 2008, 8:55 AM ET (1255 GMT)
Congress quietly removed funding from a defense appropriations bill for a controversial satellite imagery programs that critics alleged duplicated capabilities available commercially. The Broad Area Space-Based Imagery Collection (BASIC) program was spent over $1 billion developing a pair of satellites that would provide moderately-high resolution imagery, similar to what is provided commercially from satellites operated by DigitalGlobe and GeoEye. However, funding for BASIC was stripped from the final version of the classified portion of a defense appropriations bill, the AP reported this week. The reason for removing funding wasn't reported, but BASIC had encountered some opposition from those who argued the money would be better spent buying commercial imagery instead, a move that would be more in line with current national space policy.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  Space News article (subscription required)