RapidEye Imagery For USGS

RapidEye, the only geospatial solutions provider to own and operate a constellation of five identical Earth Observation satellites, announced today that they have penned a contract with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to image a substantial portion of the state of Colorado.

“USGS will be replicating a study that was done in 2008 to better understand how climate changes are impacting the conifer forest conditions in Colorado, and we are excited that our higher resolution imagery and unique Red Edge band have been chosen, which should give them improved results,” commented Joerg Widmer, Sales Team Member of RapidEye.

The contract stipulates that over 130,000 km² (about 50,200 mi²) of imagery collected from June through August 2009 over the state of Colorado will be delivered to the USGS this month. The imagery will be used to support the 2009 Colorado Forest Heath Assessment project, which is being led by the USGS and the Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center (RMGSC). Additionally, the contract is open for the same time frame in 2010.

RapidEye's remote sensing based solutions for the forest industry range from supporting carbon credit trading to customized alert services. Drawing on the experience of their forestry experts, RapidEye has developed a series of products and services specifically designed to meet the information requirements of individual foresters, private and governmental forest managers, and international institutions.

More about RapidEye's Forest Industry solutions can be found by visiting their website at www.rapideye.de/home/solutions/forestry/index.html, or by sending an inquiry via email to sales@rapideye.de.