phil has a blog - Google Maps API - Set map type to use the satellite view from Google Earth

Google Maps API - Set map type to use the satellite view from Google Earth

November 15, 2008

You can also replace G_SATELLITE_MAP with G_HYBRID_MAP to show both the normal and satellite views together. 

var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas"));
map.setMapType(G_SATELLITE_MAP);