The imagery from Ikonos has been useful for urban planning, environmental monitoring, mapping, assessing the scope of natural disasters, oil and gas exploration, monitoring farmland, and planning communication networks.
Now, however, Ikonos is not the only game in town. Last Thursday DigitalGlobe, of Longmont, Colorado, launched a new commercial satellite, QuickBird, with imaging capabilities rivaling that of its competitor Space Imaging.
QuickBird has a resolution of about 6o centimeters (2 feet) and is expected to begin producing pictures beginning in February. A spokesman for the company acknowledged that "the government will definitely be a customer," but to what extent is not known.
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