DigitalGlobe has announced plans to build a second high-resolution satellite, WorldView II, to expand its range of Earth-imaging products. WorldView II is planned for launch by 2008, just two years after the first of the company’s 0.5m-resolution satellites, WorldView I, is due for launch.
WorldView I is being built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies for launch next year by Boeing Delta, joining the 1m-resolution QuickBird 2 satellite that has been in orbit since 2001. Payloads for both WorldView satellites are under construction and negotiations are under way with Ball for the second spacecraft.
With QuickBird projected to remain operational to 2009, DigitalGlobe could have three satellites in service at the same time. WorldView I will provide 0.5m panchromatic imaging with a swathe width of 16km (10 miles) and an average revisit time of 1.7 days, allowing rapid targeting and in-track stereo image collection, the company says.
WorldView II will provide both 0.5m panchromatic and 1.8m multi-spectral resolution, with imaging in a total of eight spectral bands allowing precise change detection and mapping, says Longmont, Colorado-based DigitalGlobe. Both satellites will be capable of directly downlinking imagery to customers.
Source: Flight International