Space Imaging, which is due to launch its first Ikonos satellite in 1999, has been selected to provide images to the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and to provide the infrastructure to permit distribution of high resolution images within 22h of downlink, under a $4.4 million contract.
NIMA is already provided with images from the Lockheed Martin-led commercial remote sensing satellite company, supplied from Indian remote sensing satellites, US landsat craft, Canada's Radarsat and the European Remote Sensing Satellite. The launch of the Ikonos 1 satellite has been delayed to mid-1999 because of technical problems.
Source: Flight International