GeoEye

GeoEye Inc.
Founded1992 Orbital Imaging Corporation
2006 GeoEye
FounderOrbital Sciences Corporation
DefunctJanuary 2013, merged with DigitalGlobe
Headquarters
Herndon, Virginia
,
United States
Key people
James Alan Abrahamson (chairman), Matthew O'Connell, (CEO)[1]
RevenueUS$183.76 million (2007)[2]
US$80.33 million (2007)[2]
US$42.39 million (2007)[2]
Total assetsUS$789.95 million (2007)[2]
Total equityUS$216.92 million (2007)[2]
Number of employees
410 (2008)[2]

GeoEye Inc. (formerly Orbital Imaging Corporation, or ORBIMAGE) was an American commercial satellite imagery company based in Herndon, Virginia.[3] GeoEye was merged into the DigitalGlobe corporation on January 29, 2013.[4]

The company was founded in 1992 as a division of Orbital Sciences Corporation in the wake of the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act which permitted private companies to enter the satellite imaging business. The division was spun off in 1997. It changed its name to GeoEye in 2006 after acquiring Denver, Colorado-based Space Imaging Corporation for $58 million.[5] Space Imaging was founded and controlled by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Its principal asset was the IKONOS satellite; the company was founded in the 1990s for the purpose of managing the project that became the IKONOS satellite.

Although ORBIMAGE's first chairman was Orbital chairman David W. Thompson, and Orbital at the time owned more than 60 percent of the stock, it no longer has a substantial interest in the company or its successor.[6]

GeoEye provided 253 million km2 (98 million sq mi) of satellite map images to Microsoft and Yahoo! search engines. In 2008 Google secured exclusive online mapping use of the GeoEye-1 satellite.[7] GeoEye maintained major contracts with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for the provision of reconnaissance and imagery data.

In the early twenty-first century GeoEye was headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Satellite Operations were conducted from Herndon and Thornton, Colorado. The location in St. Louis, Missouri provided additional image processing. Multiple ground stations were located worldwide.

In 2011, GeoEye was inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame[8] for its role in advancing commercial Earth-imaging satellites.[9]

GeoEye was purchased by DigitalGlobe in 2013.

  1. ^ "(Interview with Matt O'Connell)". Future Tense. American Public Media. 2008-06-26.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "GeoEye Inc.: NASDAQ:GEOY quotes & news - Google Finance". Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  3. ^ "Company Search". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  4. ^ "DigitalGlobe Announces Final Results of Merger Consideration Elections Made by GeoEye Stockholders". Marketwire.com. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  5. ^ John Pike (2006-01-12). "ORBIMAGE Completes Acquisition of Space Imaging; Changes Brand Name to GeoEye". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  6. ^ "Orbital". Archived from the original on February 9, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2008.
  7. ^ Shankland, Stephen (2008-08-29). "Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery | Internet & Media - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  8. ^ "Space Tech Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on April 23, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  9. ^ "Space Foundation, SPACE.com and Space News unite to raise funds for France schools". Space Foundation. 2001-12-17. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2014-02-15.