got geoint?

Welcome to the Wednesday Morning News Kick Off post from got geoint? As our faithful readers know, we typically do our news round-up posts on Monday mornings. Though with the holiday weekend, we have decided to push this post to “hump day” this week. Well, good thing we did. The sheer volume of GEOINT-related news happening this week is astounding. So, as we always say, fire up that second cup of coffee and read on. Happy Wednesday!

More Secrets Of Bin Laden Raid Are Revealed
More details of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound are emerging — this time concerning the long-range communications and planning for the assault — with the sources coming from an intelligence agency and the aerospace industry.

Better Image Tagging Improves Warfighter Situational Awareness
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is making great strides with image metadata tagging, which allows for better situational awareness for the warfighter.

RapidEye Lands Its First NGA Contract
The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has contracted with RapidEye to purchase up to $4.6 million in RapidEye imagery over the next 18 months.

U.S. Army Increases Geospatial-Intelligence for Warfighters with SOCET GXP
The U.S. Army signed a multi-year agreement to add more than 500 new licenses of BAE Systems’ geospatial-intelligence analysis software, SOCET GXP.

Air Force, Boeing Sign New WGS Satellite Contract
The Air Force has awarded Boeing a $1.1 billion contract to expand the constellation of satellites that belong to the Wideband Global Satcom system.

NASA Hosting First West Coast Launch Tweetup for Earth-Observing Satellite
NASA is inviting 25 of its U.S. Twitter followers to a Tweetup expected to culminate in the launch of the first of a new generation of Earth-observing satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California.

Report: NASA Needs More Funds and Staff To Handle Space Junk
The National Academy of Science recently issued a report about the growing problem of space junk, and have concluded that NASA’s programs for handling the issues are both underfunded and understaffed.

Al League Joins ObjectFX as Executive Vice President
ObjectFX recently announced that Al League, a leader in the geospatial intelligence community, has joined the company as Executive Vice President of Operations.

As Troops Draw Down, Intelligence Community Continues to Provide Meaningful Work
As troops are drawing down in Afghanistan and Iraq, many are wondering what is next for the Intelligence Community in the regions. Marv Gordner of MorganFranklin has some interesting insights into the future.

NSF Funds UT Dallas’ Search for New Computer Virus Defense
The National Science Foundation is funding UT Dallas’, a USGIF accredited university, efforts to create cutting-edge cyber-defense research.

Tags: Al League and ObjectFX, BAE Systems and SOCET GXP, Beoing and WGS Satellite Contract, Bin Laden Raid, MorganFranklin, MorganFranklin and Marv Gordner, NASA Tweetup, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, NGA and metadata tagging, ObjectFX, RapidEye, RapidEye and NGA, SOCET GXP, Space Junk