WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The Pentagon's National Imaging and Mapping Agency has extended for another 30 days its contract locking up all commercial satellite images of Afghanistan with Space Imaging, Inc., and will keep the photos out of the public's hands until at least Jan. 5, 2002, NIMA spokesman John Iler said.
The deal first signed last month was worth more than $1 million to struggling Space Imaging and gives NIMA "checkbook shutter control" over the 1-meter resolution IKONOS satellite for the duration of the campaign in Afghanistan, much to the frustration of media outlets who rely on Space Imaging for low-cost satellite photos.
When Space Imaging launched IKONOS in 1999, it granted the government "shutter control," allowing it to censor the imagery during wartime. If invoked, shutter control could have set off a First Amendment court battle by media outlets arguing "prior restraint," a form of censorship the government would find difficult to defend.
NIMA avoided that problem by simply signing a commercial contract with Space Imaging and requiring the photos be kept out of the public domain until it gave its consent. It has set that date now at Jan. 5, 2002.
NIMA renewed the monthly contract on Nov. 5 and the payment plan remains the same -- $20 per square kilometer for a minimum of 10,000 square kilometers. Under this contract, however, NIMA can terminate the deal at any time.
Iler refused to say how much it paid Space Imaging last month and how much was collected. According to Space Imaging, it can produce at least one 1-meter, 2-meter or 3-meter resolution image per day.
This represents about a 15 percent increase in imagery available to the Pentagon, intelligence expert Jeffrey Richelson said.
Given the unusual coalitions being cobbled together for the war on terrorism, the unclassified imagery is particularly vital because it can be shared with former adversaries and untested new allies without fear of compromising secret military spy satellite capabilities.
The imagery is so precise that it can help the military identify critical information about terrain -- where trucks may get bogged down in sand, or places adversaries may be hiding under vegetation cover. The imagery can then be overlaid with road maps to provide complete imagery of the area.
The imagery can also be used to make realistic flight simulation programs, allowing a pilot to practice a particular mission and recognize key landmarks without having to enter his aircraft.
