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“Google Satellite” Will Have an Orbital View Over Obama’s Inauguration

by Ian O'Neill on January 18, 2009

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Washington D.C. from orbit. The Google Satellile GeoEye-1 will spy on Obama's inauguration (Google)

Washington D.C. from orbit. The Google Satellile GeoEye-1 will spy on Obama's inauguration (GeoEye)

President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Capitol Hill will be the place-to-be on Tuesday (January 20th). According to some news sources, tickets for the event were trading for a price exceeding 5 figures (in one case, according to CNN in November, an online vendor was asking for $20,095 for a single ticket – I hope they get a “free” bottle of Champagne with that!). It would appear that ticket demand outstripped supply, making the 44th presidential inauguration one of the hottest (and most costly) events to attend in 2009.

However, there is a far cheaper (and less crowded) alternative to view Obama and Biden getting sworn into office. A satellite called GeoEye-1 will be orbiting 423 miles above Washington D.C. looking down at the vast crowd minutes before the excitement begins…

GeoEye-1 launch on September 6th 2008 (Reuters)

GeoEye-1 launch on September 6th 2008 (Reuters)

In August 2008, Google signed a deal with the satellite imagery company GeoEye for exclusive use of the images produced by the company’s new GeoEye-1 satellite. GeoEye-1 was launched on board a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on September 6th 2008. The satellite is currently in a Sun-synchronous orbit, over 400 miles above the surface of Earth, imaging the surface in unprecedented detail. A US government licence actually limits the resolution of available images to 0.5 metres (the camera on GeoEye-1 can attain a resolution of 0.41 metres). GeoEye-1′s competitors can resolve objects down to 0.6 metres at the smallest. The GeoEye products are currently used by Google for several projects, such as Google Earth and Google Maps.

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On Tuesday, however, it is not Google that is interested in getting the ultimate birds-eye view of the festivities at Capitol Hill; GeoEye itself is commissioning a high-resolution photography run at 11:19 EST as the satellite buzzes overhead at a speed of 17,000 mph. Usually, the presidential inauguration takes place at noon, so GeoEye-1 will be able to grab a snapshot of the growing crowds of spectators 41 minutes before the new commander-in-chief takes office.

“An image of the Inauguration has been requested by many news organizations,” a GeoEye spokesperson said. “So, if the weather cooperates, the image will be distributed to news organizations and bloggers around the world. The image will be available about three hours after it’s taken.”

I for one, will be hovering over the GeoEye website, waiting for the orbital view of Washington D.C. to appear in the comfort of my office…

Source: VentureBeat

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About

[Follow me on Twitter (@astroengine)]

[Check out my space blog: Astroengine.com]

[Check out my radio show: Astroengine Live!]

Hello! My name is Ian O'Neill and I've been writing for the Universe Today since December 2007. I am a solar physics doctor, but my space interests are wide-ranging. Since becoming a science writer I have been drawn to the more extreme astrophysics concepts (like black hole dynamics), high energy physics (getting excited about the LHC!) and general space colonization efforts. I am also heavily involved with the Mars Homestead project (run by the Mars Foundation), an international organization to advance our settlement concepts on Mars. I also run my own space physics blog: Astroengine.com, be sure to check it out!

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  • Cannon

    HAHA. I thought it was obvious that Jon was being sarcastic. Anyway, if I wasn’t going to be at the event I would definitely be on the website checking out those satellite images. Sounds awesome.

  • Salacious B. Crumb

    Cannon, don’t you mean ironic?

  • Thomas the Doubter

    Just where on their website can you see up to date imagery? I don’t see any links talking about the Inauguration and I don’t find “up to date” links of live or near live imaging. Someone wanna point me in the right direction here, because I seriously doubt they are giving out the imagery for free.

  • Idonotwannabeanamerican

    Really. Who needs satellite imagery, when clearly we just have television. Perhaps instead of worrying about projected images from space, we have to have the U.S. just taking over the entire satellite network carte blanche.
    Whilst a resistant non-resident of the US of A,, here in Australia all the free-to-air networks will be showing it live – blanket coverage – with no alternative programming for viewers at 3pm to 6am in the morning! Methinks Green Day got it right!
    Does the United States want another additional 51st State, because this once independent country is clearly wantonly ripe for the picking!
    Stunningly Appalled !!!

  • RL

    I think watching the inauguration via satellite will make me feel like I’m in an episode of “24″. Cool.

  • Silver Thread

    Salacious, honestly, shouldn’t you be trolling youtube or something?

  • Astrofiend

    Idonotwannabeanamerican Says:
    January 19th, 2009 at 10:54 am

    “Whilst a resistant non-resident of the US of A,, here in Australia all the free-to-air networks will be showing it live – blanket coverage – with no alternative programming for viewers at 3pm to 6am in the morning! Methinks Green Day got it right!”

    With some notable programming exceptions from ABC and SBS, TV in Australia completely and utterly sucks anyway. This will just make it suck that little bit more. Perfect opportunity to get out under the stars I reckon.

  • Random63

    Oh Puleeze! Can’t the Dear Leader stay off the space sites? Please remember, nearly half of our country did not vote for this man and will NOT be tuning in tomorrow to see his farce of a coronation. Can’t Universe Today keep the political stories on the political sites and let us regular folks have some sort of sanctuary to go to without hearing his name?

  • Jon

    “he had a strange way of doing it but i think the guy was trying to make some sort of a joke. the clue is in how he equates liberals and science.”

    “Lol, I think I get it now pantzov… Sorry Jon if I took you out of context. I’ve been slammed so many times for including political articles on UT, I’ve become a little hardened to humorous comments :-D ”

    “HAHA. I thought it was obvious that Jon was being sarcastic. Anyway, if I wasn’t going to be at the event I would definitely be on the website checking out those satellite images. Sounds awesome.”

    Politics or any reference to politics rarely appears in UT (thankfully) so I could not help myself.

    Cheers :-D

  • Carl Johnson

    “Please remember, nearly half of our country did not vote for this man and will NOT be tuning in tomorrow to see his farce of a coronation.”
    I can’t believe all of the Wah, Wah, crybaby stuff coming out of of conservative mouths. It’s been comical and embarrising to hear Rush Limbaugh whine like a tortured brat for the past two months.

  • troy

    thought maybe I could avoid it by scanning through my science articles.

    GUESS NOT!!!

  • megan

    I can’t wait to watch Obama show just how badly Bush and his conservative allies messed up this country so badly and how it will be fixed properly.

    As if we needed any more proof of how inept and dangerous Bush was.

    So long and good riddance, cowboy!

  • Sofia

    We saw the inauguration here in Greece also.
    I liked him, he spoke very nice. I liked the points on ethical reasons, the friendship between countries, the need to intere on the market mentality that grew up enormously last century. His thoughts about the environment, about the investments and the creation of decent work for the people.
    Becouse world economy is not based anymore on the produttivity of work. It moves on money games that are just paper at least.
    Investments on work for the people is the best thing to do.
    All here are impressed and talk about a new America ‘ s era. Congratulations again.

  • Sofia

    correction : interfere on market mentality

  • Salacious B. Crumb

    Actually seen these Geo-Eye-1 images. The media reports the people looked “like ants swarming around a lump of sugar.”
    Amazingly some portions of the White House have still been blurred to protect the occupants. After all the fuss of these events, really the truth is Obama words after him inauguration echoed more of the moment than some image of nameless bunch of supporters.
    Still. His words of support for science and technology auger well for the future of America and the World – and probably more interested readers of Universe Today.

  • Mike Jackson

    I liked it when Obama’s benediction choice, Rev. Lowery, prayed for a day when “when white will embrace what is right”.

    I guess we can always hope that one day white men, women and children will seek to be decent human beings, but…

    As frosting on the cake Sen. Robert Byrd, Senior Senate Democrat and retired Klansman collapsed at the inauguration of first black man as President.

  • MikeM

    Here’s a link to the GeoEye web page about the inauguration:

    http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/gallery/detail.aspx?iid=218&gid=45

    The page shows a low-res picture, but you can click on a link to download a hi-res version, which is about 8000 pixels square and about 6.7MB in size.

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