spacetoday.net: DigitalGlobe wins NextView satellite contract

Posted: Wed, Oct 1, 2003, 1:57 PM ET (1757 GMT)
QuickBird satellite illustration (DigitalGlobe)

Commercial satellite remote sensing company DigitalGlobe won a Pentagon contract this week to build a next-generation imaging satellite for commercial and military use. The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) awarded the five-year NextView contract, potentially worth over $500 million, on Tuesday. The contract covers the development of one or more imaging satellites capable of taking images of higher resolution than what is commercially available. DigitalGlobe currently operates the QuickBird spacecraft, which can take images with resolutions as sharp as 61 centimeters; the company also has a license for a spacecraft capable of 25-cm resolution photos. Earlier this year DigitalGlobe won a ClearView contract from NIMA to pay for military purchases of QuickBird Images. Space Imaging, which operates the Ikonos commercial remote sensing satellite, also has a ClearView contract but did not win a NextView contract. NIMA said in a statement that it is continuing discussions with Space Imaging and could award the company a contract for a follow-on spacecraft to Ikonos in the future.