Google Satellite Image of KU

Earlier this week, GeoEye-1, the world’s highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, began taking high resolution photos.  The photo below of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the FIRST image taken by the newest Google-sponsored satellite.

(click image to enlarge)

How quick and powerful is this newest imaging satellite?  From Wired:

“The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 centimeters — close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye’s vice president of communications and marketing.”

Is this some sort of spy satellite that has been created under the guise of creating Google imagery? According to Wired:

“This is the opposite of a spy satellite,” Brender said in a phone interview. “Spies don’t put info on the internet and sell imagery. We’re an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground.”

Despite this, I still find it very strange that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (U.S. government agency involved with national security) is the main funding body for this craft… Maybe I am just paranoid.