GeoEye has suspended image collection on its GeoEye 1 satellite following the detection of a glitch in the equipment the satellite uses to point its antenna.
In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), GeoEye stated that the anomaly…
GeoEye has suspended image collection on its GeoEye 1 satellite following the detection of a glitch in the equipment the satellite uses to point its antenna.
In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), GeoEye stated that the anomaly could negatively affect revenue projections for Q4 2009 and the entirety of 2010 by up to 10%: “assuming we resume normal operations within the next few days.”
To that end, a GeoEye spokesman said: “We have resumed operations and are providing imagery to customers. There are no material changes to what we disclosed in our SEC filing.”
The irregularity on GeoEye 1 was first detected on December 11, 2009. According to the company’s filing, it is limiting the range of movement for the satellite’s downlink antenna, which could affect its ability to image and downlink simultaneously.
The nature of the problem does not affect the spacecraft’s ability to downlink to its own ground stations, which means that its ability to provide services for the US national Geo-Spatial Agency and other US regional entities will not be impaired.
However, problems could arise for overseas customers who have contracted to downlink imagery direct from the GeoEye satellite to their own private ground stations.
GeoEye expects to resume imagery collection “soon”, but cannot gauge the extent to which this fault will affect fiscal performance until the nature of the problem has been fully investigated.
