Photo: Microsoft Bing on a rocket

The company last week marked a new partnership with imagery company DigitalGlobe by participating in the launch of its WorldView-2 satellite at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Microsoft said the deal will give it more imagery to include in its Virtual Earth program.

"We'll finally be able to backfill areas around the world where people have come to my blog and complained about Virtual Earth not having good imagery or photos in their countries - Poland, Hungary, Russia, Taiwan, Mexico, to name a few," wrote Microsoft's Chris Pendleton, in a blog post.

Microsoft is also debuting a related educational program called 10,000 Rockets, soliciting drawings of rockets from schoolchildren that will be used to create a book and, in some cases, 3D models.

Boeing launched the satellite on a Delta II rocket.

CNet News.com notes that Google will also benefit from the new satellite, based on its existing partnership with Digital Globe. The search king had its logo on a rocket last year.

(Thanks to the tipster who pointed this out.)

About Todd Bishop

Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.

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