The Denver area has become a center of satellite imagery providers in recent years. Proposed steep cuts in the U.S. Department of Defense budget could affect satellite-imagery providers DigitalGlobe, headquartered in Longmont, and GeoEye,based in Virginia with a processing and operations center in Thornton. Combined, the companies have about 1,200 employees.
This satellite image made available Sept. 26, 2009, by DigitalGlobe shows the suspected Iranian nuclear facility of Fordo near the holy Shiite city of Qom, where Iran is has begun enriching uranium, according to the U.N. atomic watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency. (AFP/Getty Images file)