ikonos_prelaunch_990923Ikonos II, the world's first spy-quality Earth imaging satellite owned by a private corporation, was successfully launched and delivered to its orbit 680 kilometers (426 miles) above the planet Friday afternoon.
The satellite sent its first location signal -- a sign of success -- to ground controllers at around 2:50 p.m. ET Friday. Its solar panels have unfurled, and the systems are now powering up.
"Everything that should be going well is doing as well as it can," said Pat Cooper, spokesman for Lockheed Martin, whose Athena II launch vehicle sent up the satellite.
Ikonos II apparently avoided the problems faced by its predecessor, Ikonos I, which failed to reach its orbit when a rocket failed to separate from the satellite after its launch in April.
The satellite was launched at 2:22pm ET Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Analytical Graphics has prepared a QuickTime animation of the launch and delivery of Ikonos (high res:
240x180 pixels, 3.8 Mb; low res: 120x90 pixels, 864k). The private sector and the
military both anxiously await the activation of Ikonos II, which will transmit extremely detailed views of Earth. A press conference is scheduled for 4:30pm ET.The first images from the satellite's cameras will be available two or three months after the launch.
Ikonos will be able to see objects as small as one meter, making it a close rival to the U.S. government's own
spy satellites, which reportedly have a resolution of several inches. While Ikonos does not have the power to discern individual people, it will be able to see boats, trucks, roads, and individual trees. Its applications include
refugee camp planning, legal defense, education, economic development, and virtually any other use where pictures of Earth could be useful. Ikonos was originally scheduled to go into orbit in April, but an Athena II rocket failed to deliver the original satellite to its planned orbit during launch. Nevertheless, Space Imaging, the company which made Ikonos, is confident of a successful liftoff this time.
The launch likely marks the beginning of a new era in Earth imaging satellites, where anyone, for the right price, will be able to purchase images of Earth once only available to spies and military officers with top secret security clearances.
While the U.S. government retains the right to block out images from Ikonos, it has not yet ordered Space Imaging to have the satellite avoid sensitive areas, like military sites, according to the company's
CEO. And as more satellites similar to Ikonos are built -- two are scheduled to be launched in 2000 -- the government will likely lose its ability to restrict the flow of detailed satellite images of Earth.
Currently, some of the best images available for commercial sale come from
India, which offers to the public images from its Earth-imaging satellites, which have a resolution of up to five meters. Of course, the U.S. government has no legal backing to restrict the sales of images from India's -- or any other foreign country's -- Earth-imaging satellites.
In fact, the U.S. military is looking to commercial satellites like Ikonos to satisfy its own needs for detailed Earth images.
Ikonos, which weighs around 1,600 pounds, will take pictures of Earth from a distance of 423 miles. The best resolution images will be taken by its black-and-white camera, though its color camera will have the ability to discern objects as small as four meters.
The satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, will zoom around the Earth at four miles per second, allowing it to take a picture of the same spot on Earth once every few days.
Ikonos' cameras were designed and built by the Eastman Kodak Company.
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