There's an issue with G_SATELLITE_3D_MAP (i.e. Earth mode) in v=2.x
(2.117). We are doing the following:
- Changing our documentation samples to use v=2 (as they should have
been using before)
- Fixing the bug that caused this for the 2.118 release, and adding a
test to prevent it in the future.
- Making sure that the current v=2.x (2.117) never becomes v=2.

What you need to do:

Change your script tag from v=2.x to v=2, i.e.
<script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?
file=api&amp;v=2.x&amp;key=abc" type="text/javascript"></script>

to
<script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&key=abc"
type="text/javascript"></script>

Thanks!
- pamela