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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? Yes, we are two weeks away from the Christmas/New Year’s Eve holiday. While many of us have been focusing on holiday preparations on the home-front, this is actually one of the busier times of year for the GEOINT community. So, before your mind lingers off to a world of holiday cheer, we have been kind enough to compile all the GEOINT-related news you need to stay sharp and focused as we round out 2011. As we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on. Happy Monday!

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USGIF member company GeoEye is always on the cutting-edge when it comes to providing imaging products, as well as services and solutions to customers around the world. We were recently fortunate enough to spend some time with USGIF Board Member Mr. Matt O’Connell, who is GeoEye’s CEO and Director. Check out this exclusive podcast with Mr. O’Connell who discusses key trends in the use of commercial imagery, as well as the commendation that GeoEye received today from the Governor of Virginia for its support of Hurricane Irene disaster response efforts.

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We all know that USA Today tends to focus on stories that have mainstream appeal. The newspaper has the highest circulation of any paper in the country. So, needless to say, we get very excited when a GEOINT-related story makes it into the newspaper that is laid out on the front door of pretty much every hotel room in the country. What is this story? It’s all about the growth of commercial satellite imagery and how it has become the new “space race.” Of course, the two competitors in this new “space race” are USGIF member companies DigitalGlobe and GeoEye. DigitalGlobe CEO Jill Smith told USA Today that: “It is a new kind of space race. We are looking at ways to make space images as ubiquitous as possible.” Meanwhile, GeoEye CEO Matthew O’Connell had this to say: “We are hiring like crazy. This is a great time to be in the space-imaging business.” Congrats to both GeoEye and DigitalGlobe for raising the awareness of GEOINT to such a national level. Read the full USA Today article here.

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Perhaps it was the USA World Cup victory yesterday, but we have decided to throw caution to the wind. That is correct, we are doing a news round up on a Thursday — as opposed to the occasional Wednesday round up. But fret not, our dedicated readers who cling to our weekly posting routine, Friday’s Food for Thought will be alive and well tomorrow. So, really, why a news round up on Thursday? Frankly, there is just soo much happening these days that we had to cast a wide net for you. From news about the increase in usage of commercial satellite imagery to the U.S. Marines to double strike planes for ISR, we offer wide variety of news items on this fourth Thursday in June. We hope you enjoy. And, go USA!

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We probably sound like a broken record when we say this: the diversity of GEOINT applications is absolutely astounding. You may recall we did a post recently about GEOINT and ski resorts. Well, this new application takes the cake. British wildlife ecologists are using satellite imagery from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) to track – and do a census of – penguins in Antarctica. The satellite images have such a high resolution that it is possible to count each penguin. We recommend you check out this full article from the Wall Street Journal for more on the penguin census. In addition, we have included a very cool video from WSJ in this post. Read on and enjoy.

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Yesterday, CongressDaily came out with an insightful story about how the Obama administration is moving forward with plans to buy more satellite imagery from private companies while Congress grapples with developing a long-term strategy to ensure that U.S. military and intelligence agencies have access to the images they need. The article highlights how the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) issued a classified request two weeks ago asking firms that operate remote-sensing or imaging satellites for information on how they could meet U.S. government needs. And, as many of our readers know, the agency plans to award major contracts to commercial imagery providers next spring under its EnhancedView program, which is designed to augment the capabilities of powerful U.S. spy satellites.

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Yesterday, GeoEye announced the one-year launch anniversary of GeoEye-1, its ultra high resolution and amazingly accurate commercial Earth-imaging satellite. On September 8, 2008, the satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and according to Bill Schuster, GeoEye’s Chief Operating Officer, “The past year has been an exciting and rewarding one for GeoEye. With the launch of GeoEye-1 last September, we put into service the world’s most advanced commercial imagery satellite, which is delivering the highest resolution, most accurate color satellite imagery available today.”

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