DigitalGlobe Announces Ball Aerospace Is Building WorldView 2 Satellite
DigitalGlobe Leads Industry as the Only Company With Two Second Generation
Digital Imagery Satellites Under Construction; WorldView 2 Adds Improved Capacity, Flexibility and Agility to DigitalGlobe Constellation
DigitalGlobe®, provider of the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information products, today announced that Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation is building WorldView 2. WorldView 2, the third satellite in DigitalGlobe’s constellation of spacecraft, offers the highest collection capacity of Earth imagery, and is the only next generation system to be built independent of U.S. Government financing. The WorldView 2 satellite is scheduled to launch in late 2008; work on the satellite sensor is nearing completion at ITT and work on long lead items on the satellite bus has been underway since early 2006. WorldView 2 is the third remote-sensing satellite built by Ball Aerospace for DigitalGlobe, and will contribute to the company’s already successful high resolution imaging capabilities.
“We have seen significant growth in demand for the use of content-rich geographic applications on the Internet and within the enterprise applications that have ignited the demand for digital satellite imagery in the commercial and government markets. WorldView 2 will enable DigitalGlobe to collect almost five times the imagery of any current commercial system, and is a significant step in our strategic plan to meet increased market demand for geospatial data,” said Jill Smith, DigitalGlobe president and CEO. “The addition of WorldView 2 will provide DigitalGlobe, with higher collection capabilities, more frequent revisit and refresh, more spectral information and greater imaging flexibility.”
Ball Aerospace previously partnered with DigitalGlobe to build its existing QuickBird satellite and is currently completing the construction of WorldView 1, scheduled to be on-orbit in mid-2007. WorldView 2 will operate at an altitude in excess of 800 kilometers and offer target selection flexibility and increased spectral capabilities. Its agility, larger on-board storage and greater communication downlink capabilities will provide DigitalGlobe with significantly more imaging capacity, enabling it to collect up to 950,000 square kilometers of world class half-meter imagery daily, and allow direct tasking and downlinking of imagery to customer locations. Additionally WorldView 2 provides eight bands of multi-spectral for life-like true color imagery and greater spectral applications in the mapping and monitoring markets.
“We have been working with DigitalGlobe on two of its current satellites and are happy our technology is contributing to such a successful application of satellite imagery,” said Ball Aerospace President and CEO, David L. Taylor. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with DigitalGlobe in the construction and launch of WorldView 2, providing its wide range of customers with the most comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date imagery available.”
About DigitalGlobe
Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe (www.digitalglobe.com) is the clear leader in the global commercial Earth imagery and geospatial information market. The company’s technical superiority and innovation, unparalleled commitment to customer service, extensive business partner network and open systems philosophy make DigitalGlobe the preferred supplier of imagery products to government and commercial markets. DigitalGlobe’s QuickBird satellite is the world’s highest resolution commercial imaging system. The company’s next-generation WorldView 1 is scheduled to launch in mid-2007, and WorldView 2 is anticipated to launch in 2008. The company’s updated and growing ImageLibrary contains over two hundred million square kilometers of global imagery for countless mapping and planning needs.
DigitalGlobe is a registered trademark of DigitalGlobe.
