GeoEye-1 imaging satellite considered to be the highest resolution commercial Earth imaging satellite till date, was launched this weekend on a Delta-II rocket, which carried the Google logo alongside the GeoEye logo on its side.

Out of the total cost of $502 million, including engineering, construction and launch, $237 million was borne by GeoEye  as  part of the U.S. National Geospatial Agency's NextView program, to enhance the commercial satellite imaging industry. For the first year and a half of the operations, the agency will buy imaging data from the satellite.

Google, in order to increase the number of its users, will also buy images taken by the satellite to add to the ones already being loaded on Google Earth and Google Maps services.

The GeoEye-1 is capable of capturing 41-centimeter black and white and 1.65 meter color images. The satellite was released at 11.51 a.m. on Saturday morning, It is understood that though the satellite will not provide the perfect resolution, it will still be able to give the commercial customers images at 50cm, better than current best-resolution image available from GeoEye's Ikonos satellite.

GeoEye also supports the Orb View-2 satellite. A third satellite, the Orb View-3, developed technical problems and was commisioned out of service in March last year. The satellite will undergo a series of in-orbit tests before the first images are sold, by the Dulles, Virginia-based GeoEye.