Full Operational Capability of the European DAF

14 April 2010, 8:37pm

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.

European Space Imaging and Space Imaging Middle East

DigitalGlobe

Geo: International