Munich, Germany and Longmont, Colo., April 13, 2010 – European Space Imaging (EUSI), a leading supplier of high-resolution satellite imagery to customers in Europe and North Africa, and DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI), a leading global content provider of high-resolution world imagery solutions, announced the commercial opening of the European Direct Access Facility (DAF) on the 9th of April 2010 in Munich, Germany. The DAF is jointly operated by European Space Imaging and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the WorldView Global Alliance – the commercial partnership between European Space Imaging, Space Imaging Middle East and DigitalGlobe.
WorldView Global Alliance customers can now benefit from priority tasking through a direct data uplink and downlink from WorldView-2, the world’s first commercial 8-band high-resolution satellite at 0.46 meter* GSD panchromatic and 1.84 meter* multispectral.
The DAF allows EUSI to take into account local real-time weather data to deliver efficient area collections, improved image quality with reduced cloud cover and same-day production and delivery.
“Local, regional access improves the dynamics of our collection capability, image quality, production and distribution of imagery solutions to all of our customers,” said Adrian Zevenbergen, Managing Director of European Space Imaging. “The launch of this DAF not only makes our offering unique, but it provides us with the platform to continue to provide industry-leading products and services, faster than anyone else.”
“Regional access through the DAF to our advanced satellite constellation allows our partners in the WorldView Global Alliance to provide customers with a number of advantages,” said Rafay Khan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Sales, DigitalGlobe Inc. “Regionally managed large area collections, 8-band high resolution imagery, image capture optimization taking into account regional, real-time weather data and advanced image processing for local production and rapid distribution.”
Through its close partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), EUSI continues to be the only European satellite data provider that operates its own high-resolution satellite ground station for direct satellite tasking and local data downlink.
“We have worked with European Space Imaging for more than seven years now, providing management and optimization of the satellite ground station’s capability,” said Prof. Stefan Dech, Director of DFD. “With the launch of the European DAF, we take the first position in Europe concerning the reception of high-resolution satellite data, and we will strongly promote their application.”
Having successfully completed all site acceptance testing and calibration, the facility at the DLR site in Oberpfaffenhofen is already collecting imagery from WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 for customers.
* Distribution and use of imagery at better than 0.50 m GSD pan and 2.0 m GSD multispectral is subject to prior approval by the U.S. Government.
About European Space Imaging and Space Imaging Middle East
European Space Imaging (http://www.euspaceimaging.com) is a leading supplier of high-resolution satellite imagery to customers in Europe and North Africa. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Munich, Germany. Working in close partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), EUSI is the only European satellite data provider that operates its own high-resolution satellite ground station for direct satellite tasking and local data downlink. Through the close cooperation with its parent company Space Imaging Middle East (http://www.spaceimagingme.com/os/), EUSI’s customers benefit from fast access to data from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
About DigitalGlobe
DigitalGlobe (http://www.digitalglobe.com) is a leading global provider of commercial high-resolution earth imagery products and services. Sourced from our own advanced satellite constellation, our imagery solutions support a wide variety of uses within defense and intelligence, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure management, internet portals and navigation technology. With our collection sources and comprehensive ImageLibrary (containing more than one billion square kilometers of earth imagery and imagery products) we offer a range of on- and off-line products and services designed to enable customers to easily access and integrate our imagery into their business operations and applications. For more information, please visit www.digitalglobe.com. DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.
About DLR
DLR (http://www.dlr.de) is Germany’s national research center for aeronautics and space. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, transportation and energy is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. As Germany’s Space Agency, the German federal government has given DLR responsibility for the forward planning and implementation of the German space programme as well as international representation of Germany’s interests. Approximately 6500 people work for DLR; the center has 29 institutes and facilities at 13 locations in Germany: Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne (headquarters), Goettingen, Hamburg, Lampoldshausen, Neustrelitz, Oberpfaffenhofen, Stuttgart, Trauen and Weilheim. DLR also has offices in Brussels, Paris and Washington, D.C.
More information can be obtained from www.worldviewglobalalliance.com
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