Last month, our founder and CTO Walter Scott explained why DigitalGlobe’s public-private partnership with the U.S. Government is so unique and valuable to the end users we serve. As a retired Air Force colonel and aviator, this was something I’d known from experience long before I ever joined the company.
But there’s nothing quite like hearing it from the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), who is responsible for providing mission-critical geospatial information to U.S. Government personnel around the world. To commemorate the sixth anniversary of the launch of our WorldView-2 satellite, which set a new bar for commercial satellite imagery, NGA Director Robert Cardillo sent us the following note:
As I'm sure you know, six years ago today DigitalGlobe launched WorldView-2. Since WV-2 began delivering imagery to NGA, its contributions to our mission and the value it provides for our partners are without peer. With almost 500 million square nautical miles collected to date -- over eleven times the Earth's landmass -- WV-2 imagery has supported thousands of national defense and intelligence missions worldwide. WV-2 imagery has also been a critical tool in countless humanitarian aid and disaster recovery efforts, including most notably the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the more recent and sustained initiative to combat Ebola in West Africa. That's the technical side. More importantly, DigitalGlobe is a unique mission partner that satisfies the majority of our Foundation GEOINT imagery needs -- as well as a growing number of our intelligence requirements. Quite simply and profoundly, DigitalGlobe's and NGA's unique partnership is founded in our shared mission and values. For all of NGA, I thank you and your team for your unwavering efforts to secure our Nation. Onward!These shared commitments and values are why so many of us have chosen to spend our careers at DigitalGlobe. There is no higher honor than serving those who serve our country, and this is how we live up to our Purpose of Seeing a better world™. Marcy Steinke is the Senior Vice President of Government Relations at DigitalGlobe.