GeoEye-2 Will Provide the World’s Highest Resolution and Most Accurate Color Imagery to Government and Commercial Customers
Dulles, Va., March 11 — GeoEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: GEOY), a premier provider of superior satellite and aerial-based geospatial information and services, announced today it selected Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation (Bethesda, Md., NYSE: LMT) to build GeoEye-2, the Company’s next-generation, high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite system. Lockheed has already begun purchasing long-lead material and labor for the design, engineering and manufacturing of the satellite and the associated command and control system.
Matt O’Connell, GeoEye’s chief executive officer and president, said, "We chose Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company to build GeoEye-2 to ensure high confidence in mission success. They have a 50-year heritage of building imaging systems for the U.S. Government and have built several hundred Earth-imaging satellites—more than anyone else."
Bill Schuster, GeoEye’s chief operating officer, said, "GeoEye-2 will be the same class of satellite as GeoEye-1 but will benefit from significant improvements in capabilities to better serve our customers’ demands for increased quantities of imagery at higher resolution. Some of these improvements include enhanced tasking capabilities and the ability to collect more imagery at a faster rate."
Joanne Maguire, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, said, "GeoEye-2’s increased resolution, along with the need for greater spacecraft agility, leverages our unparalleled experience in delivering highly reliable, precision remote sensing space systems for our customers."
Lockheed Martin built GeoEye’s IKONOS satellite. Launched in 1999, IKONOS has exceeded 10 years of successful on-orbit operations. It continues to provide high-resolution imagery of the Earth to GeoEye’s commercial and government customers around the world.
"The IKONOS satellite, which continues to perform with outstanding results for GeoEye, ushered in the first generation of commercial high-resolution space imaging systems, and we look forward to building a third-generation satellite that will provide even greater remote sensing capabilities for GeoEye’s customers," added Maguire.
In October 2007, GeoEye announced it had contracted with ITT Corporation’s Geospatial Systems Division (Rochester, N.Y., NYSE: ITT) to begin advance work on the camera for GeoEye-2.
Chris Young, president of ITT Corporation’s Geospatial Systems Division, commented, "We designed GeoEye-2’s advanced optics and sensor using a combination of flight-proven and state-of-the-art technologies. We feel confident that our imaging system’s improved resolution and outstanding image quality will offer GeoEye the best sensor and most comprehensive capabilities for years to come."
"This two-year head start on the development of the camera and camera electronics enables us to launch GeoEye-2 in late 2012," added Schuster. "Our goal is to be ready when our government moves ahead with any contracting activity, so our government and other customers overseas have continued access to high-quality satellite imagery well into this decade."
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.
About GeoEye
GeoEye, Inc. is an international information services company serving government and commercial markets. The Company is recognized as one of the geospatial industry’s imagery experts, delivering exceptional quality imagery products, services and solutions to customers around the world. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, the Company has 534 employees, as of December 31, 2009, dedicated to developing best-in-class geospatial information products and services. GeoEye is a public company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol GEOY. The Company provides support to academic institutions and non-governmental organizations through the GeoEye Foundation (http://www.geoeyefoundation.org). Additional information about GeoEye is available at www.geoeye.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limitation, the words "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, including statements relating to growth, expected levels of expenditures and statements expressing general optimism about future operating results, are forward-looking statements. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements and those presented elsewhere by our management from time to time are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in "Risk Factors" included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 2, 2009, and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2009, June 30, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2009, which we filed with the SEC on May 12, 2009, Aug. 10, 2009 and Nov. 9, 2009, respectively. Copies of all SEC filings may be obtained from the SEC’s EDGAR web site, http://www.sec.gov/, or by contacting: William L. Warren, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, at 703-480-5672.