NGA Awards NextView Remote Sensing Data Buys

On September 14, 2004, NGA followed up on the success of its ClearView program with the NextView initiative, which now ensures the government access to commercial satellite imagery at 0.5 meter resolution. As a part of the NextView agreements, NGA is partially financing the development costs for the next-generation commercial satellites known as WorldView-1 (owned by DigitalGlobe) and GeoEye-1 (owned by GeoEye). In exchange, NGA gains increased tasking rights, access, and other benefits with regard to the commercial satellites. Like the ClearView contracts, the NextView contracts have a maximum value of $500 million each with options for additional NGA purchases.