GeoEye-1

GeoEye-1 (also designated OrbView-5) is a very-high-resolution optical satellite launched 6 September 2008 ^[1][2]. It is operated by Vantor (formerly Maxar Technologies, rebranded October 2025 ^[3]). The satellite supports commercial tasking with a 1.7-day average revisit and a 15.2 km swath ^[1][4].

GeoEye-1 launched into a sun-synchronous orbit at 681 km altitude with a 10:30 local time descending node. The orbit was raised to approximately 770 km in summer 2013 per eoPortal, Wikipedia, and WMO OSCAR records ^[1][2][5]; the orbit_type field in the catalogue currently reflects the pre-raise altitude of 681 km. The orbit raise altered the ground-sample distance: panchromatic resolution changed from approximately 0.41 m to 0.46 m, and multispectral resolution from approximately 1.64 m to 1.84 m ^[1][2].

Design life was seven years; the mission entered extended operations well beyond that mark. End-of-life is projected for September 2026 due to propellant depletion, as reported by the CEOS EOHandbook ^[4][2]. The 17-year imagery archive is distributed through Vantor's commercial platform and government program channels. Methodologies include very-high-resolution optical collection and panchromatic-to-multispectral pan-sharpening ^[1].