By John Timmer
September 08, 2008 - 05:10AM CT

Google has taken the war over exclusive web content into space. Not directly, of course—the satellite that was recently launched into space on a rocket bearing the Google logo was the result of a joint venture between a commercial satellite imaging provider and the department of defense.

In return for undisclosed terms, Google got two considerations: its logo on the side of the launch vehicle, and exclusive use of the mapping images that the satellite produces. The partnerships in the new satellite are extensive. The hardware was built by General Dynamics and put in orbit by Boeing; the funding for the project came in part from a commercial satellite imaging company, Geoeye.

The rest of the funding came from the Defense Department's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which provides map-based intelligence resources. The launch took place yesterday from the Air Force's Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Geoeye is one of a number of commercial satellite imagery providers, and the company provide images to everyone from news organizations to human rights organizations.

The US government has also been known to buy time on the satellites, both in order to use the images themselves and to prevent other companies from getting access to them. As a comparison provided by Geoeye reveals, the new space-going hardware is a significant improvement over previous generations.