GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has announced the Air Force 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base has now approved the September 4th launch date for GeoEye-1 clearing the way to complete final preparations for launch. The previously reported retest of a booster range safety antenna was successfully completed on Aug. 14th. The next step in the pre-launch sequence is the mating of the GeoEye-1 spacecraft with the Delta II booster, which will occur early this week.

GeoEye-1 will have the highest resolution of any commercial imaging system -- 0.41-meters or 16 inches for panchromatic (black and white) imagery and multispectral (color) imagery at 1.65-meter resolution. However, due to U.S. Government licensing restrictions, commercial customers will have access to imagery at half-meter ground resolution. The satellite is designed to offer three-meter accuracy, which means that end users can map natural and man-made features to within three meters of their actual locations on the surface of the Earth without ground control points. GeoEye-1 was financed in part by GeoEye's approximate $500-million contract with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).