US: During its First Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call, DigitalGlobe seemed upbeat about the higher resolution imagery market and in fact, seemed like its pondering over to move up the launch date for its GeoEye-2 satellite.
The satellite imagery provider said that it has picked up optimistic signs from the recent reports which quoted that the intelligence community is in favour of relaxing the restrictions on resolution. Jeffrey R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director, DigitalGlobe, said that with the launch of GeoEye-2 will the company expects a 40% improvement in resolution.
“New capacity, 30-centimeter imagery and short-wave infrared represent important opportunities to drive growth in what has been an area of our business constrained by capacity availability. We're making good progress marketing the new capacity on WorldView-3, and with resolution restriction relief, this customer group in particular, may generate enough incremental demand to justify an early launch of GeoEye-2,” he said.
For the moment, none of DigitalGlobe’s competitors in the United States, Europe, Israel and Asia have satellites that are commercially available and equipped with sensors taking images sharper than 50 centimeters.
Source: seekingalpha.com
