DULLES, Va., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GeoEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY), a premier provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, announced today the successful launch and deployment of GeoEye-1, the world's highest resolution, commercial Earth-imaging satellite.

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GeoEye's ground station in Norway relayed the downlink signal it received from GeoEye-1 confirming that the satellite successfully separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle and began automatically initializing its onboard systems.

Bill Schuster, GeoEye chief operating officer, said, 'Based upon the data we saw, the satellite is performing properly and ready to begin the next phase towards meeting its mission requirements.' GeoEye-1 will now undergo a calibration and check-out period before imagery products will be available for sale.

Matthew O'Connell, GeoEye chief executive officer, said, 'Later this fall, we will start providing high-resolution color imagery of the Earth from our newest satellite to customers around the globe. The imagery from GeoEye-1 adds to the quantity and quality of that currently provided by our IKONOS satellite, and together this magnificent constellation will enable us to meet world-wide customer demand.'

O'Connell added, 'This launch, and our important relationship with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), shows how public-private partnerships can be successful for the collection of broad areas of the Earth. And all our customers can be assured of continued access to quality products and first-class customer service.'

GeoEye-1 is part of the NGA NextView program. The NextView program is designed to ensure that the NGA has access to commercial imagery in support of its mission to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security. GeoEye won its $500-million NextView contract in September 2004 and was able to build and launch GeoEye-1 without any contract cost overruns in less than four years after contract award.

GeoEye-1 will simultaneously collect 0.41-meter ground resolution black-and-white (panchromatic) images and 1.65-meter color (multispectral) images. Designed to take digital images of the Earth from 423 miles (681 kilometers) and moving at a speed of about four-and-a-half miles (seven kilometers) per second, the satellite camera can distinguish objects on the Earth's surface as small as 0.41-meter or 16 inches in size.